By David Simpson
Old Dominion University has been ranked 17th nationally and No. 1 in Virginia by Newsweek and global data firm Statista in their America's Top Online Colleges 2023 ratings.
Old Dominion was one of six schools from the state ranked among the top 200. The others were VCU (No. 49), Liberty (No. 57), TCC (No. 134), NSU (No. 159) and ECPI (No. 163).
ODU moved up from No. 85 in the 2022 rankings.
“This latest acclaim confirms what our online students already knew: ODU offers superior instruction, high-quality courses and a broad selection of academic programs at your fingertips,” said Austin O. Agho, provost and vice president for academic affairs.
ODUGlobal’s learners are scattered across the country and around the world, but also include those at the University’s four campuses who take a mixture of face-to-face and online courses.
“The high ranking acknowledges the hard work of our fine faculty; the talented design teams that help them craft their online courses; and the whole Digital Learning division, with its network of coaches, advisors, military outreach and other services," said Nina Rodriguez Gonser, interim vice president for digital learning.
ODU was awarded five stars out of five in the report, indicating the University's final score value was above the median score of all honored institutions. Schools received four stars if their score was below that threshold.
Statista surveyed about 9,000 people in the United States between June 20 and Aug. 29, 2022, according to the methodology summary. Respondents rated institutions using criteria such as organization and accessibility, support and service, cost of program, perceived organizational reputation, expected success and practical relevance of contents. They also indicated how satisfied they were with the organization and to what extent they would recommend it to others.
ODUGlobal, formerly known as ODUOnline, boasts more than 120 academic offerings, the most of any school in Virginia. They include bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral and education specialist programs, along with certificates and endorsements. The ODUGlobal website reports a 97.2% satisfaction rate among online students surveyed on their overall experiences with Old Dominion. Eighty-six percent said they would recommend ODU to others.
The Newsweek/Statista recognition is just the latest honor for the University this year.
In January, five ODU distance-learning programs were named among the best in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.
In March, Old Dominion earned a Gold ranking as a Military Friendly® School for 2022-2023 from militaryfriendly.com.
In April, ODU was recognized as a top-tier institution in the Center for World University Rankings' Global 2000 list.
In May, the school was recognized as a global leader for addressing inequality, tying for 65th in the world and ranking fifth among U.S. institutions for reducing inequalities in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings for 2022.
In June, the University was awarded the No. 1 ranking in Virginia in a new Economic Mobility Index created by the public policy think tank Third Way. Also that month, ODU was named one of the nation's Colleges of Distinction for the 2022-23 academic year.
In September, ODU's online master of business administration program was rated No. 24 in the East Coast and No. 4 in Virginia in the Online MBA Report's 2022 rankings. That same month, ODU was named one of the top institutions in U.S. News & World Report's Best Colleges rankings for the fifth straight year.