The Heller School for Social Policy and Management was one of only three New England-area graduate schools to place in the U.S. News and World Report’s 2017 top 50 graduate schools for public affairs. In the ranking, which was released on March 16, Heller came in at 45th for graduate schools for public affairs and 10th for graduate schools for social policy.

Heller was founded in 1959 as the University’s first professional school. It currently houses seven academic programs, awarding both masters and doctoral degrees. According to its website, it had 533 students enrolled as of fall 2015, with students hailing from 65 countries. Along with Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and the University of Connecticut’s Department of Public Policy, it is one of three New England area schools to crack the top 50 in the ranking.

“We are enormously pleased that Heller continues to rank among the top graduate schools in the country,” said Interim Dean Marty Krauss, according to a March 16 post on the Heller website. “Heller has a distinctive reputation for our core commitment to social justice and addressing critical social areas that is reflected in these ratings.”

Indiana University’s School of Public & Environmental Affairs tied with Syracuse University’s Department of Public Administration & International Affairs for first place on the list, with Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government coming in at third.

Heller tied with 10 other graduate schools for 45th place: Portland State University’s Mark O. Hatfield School of Government, the University of Connecticut’s Department of Public Policy, the University of Delaware’s School of Public Policy Administration, the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Department of Public Administration, the University of Pennsylvania’s Fels Institute of Government, Cleveland State University’s Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, Baruch College’s School of Public Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Public Policy, North Carolina State University’s School of Public & International Affairs and Northern Illinois University’s Division of Public Administration.

According to the U.S. News and World Report’s website, the methodology used to determine the ranking involved surveying deans, directors and department chairs representing 272 master’s programs in public affairs and administration. These surveys were conducted in the fall of 2015 by Ipsos Public Affairs, a global market research company. The U.S. News and World Report website noted that two surveys were sent to each of the 272 schools, and respondents were asked to rate the academic quality of the master’s programs on a scale of one to five, one being “marginal” and five being “outstanding.” Scores for each school were then totaled and divided by the number of respondents who rated that school, with a response rate of 43 percent. Heller received a ranking of 3.1 out of a maximum of 5.

The ranking for graduate schools for social policy was classified as a subcategory of the ranking for graduate schools for public affairs, with the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy coming in at first.

The U.S. News and World Report previously ranked the University the 34th best college in the nation in its 2016 rankings of undergraduate programs. The University also came in 27th in the best value school ranking.