U-Md. Baltimore County serves its students well - The Washington Post: THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND Baltimore County has received national acclaim for its success in preparing African Americans for careers in science, technology, engineering and math. The credit is deserved for the university and its charismatic president, Freeman Hrabowski III. But the attention has masked other significant accomplishments at an institution that combines the best of a major research center while keeping its focus on undergraduates.
Recognition of UMBC as one of the nation’s premier universities was recently affirmed with the release of U.S. News & World Report’s influential list of best places for undergraduate learning. As The Post’s Daniel de Vise reported, UMBC this year tied with Yale for fourth place in the judgment of college leaders who pick the nation’s top institutions for undergraduate teaching. UMBC opened in 1966 as a minimally selective commuter school; its story needs to be studied as U.S. higher education aims to prepare graduates for a competitive world economy.
