The four campuses of the University of Nebraska again ranked well among their peer institutions by the U.S. News and World Report’s 2010 edition of Best Colleges.

In each category, data of up to 15 indicators of academic quality are gathered from each school and analyzed according to the magazine’s own methodology. Among them include peer assessment, graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, class size, student-to-faculty ratio, financial resources and alumni giving.

Here’s a highlight of this year’s rankings by campus:

University of Nebraska-Lincoln
For the seventh year in a row, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln was ranked among the Top 50 public national universities in U.S. News and World Report’s annual assessment of Best Colleges.

UNL also was among the top U.S. national universities, public or private, according to the magazine’s rankings.

UNL is tied with four others at 47th on the list of Top 50 public universities, placing it among the top one-fourth of all public universities. UNL also is ranked near the top third of all public or private national universities, tied with six others at 104th.

Read more about UNL’s ranking

University of Nebraska at Kearney
For the first time, the University of Nebraska at Kearney is ranked a “Top 10 Public Regional University” in the Midwest by U.S. News & World Report.

With a rank of nine, UNK is the only Nebraska university in this category on the Top 10 list. UNK was ranked the number 15 public university in the same category for the past two years.

UNK also moved up from number 62 to 43 in the full list of 107 Best Regional Public and Private Universities in the Midwest, a category defined last year as best master’s-level universities.

Read more about UNK’s ranking

University of Nebraska at Omaha
The University of Nebraska at Omaha received a first-tier regional best ranking by U.S. News & World Report. It came in at 17th among public regional universities in the Midwest region.

Improvements in UNO’s graduation rate helped in moving the university into the highest tier. The best regional universities category is for institutions that provide a full range of undergraduate and graduate programs.

Read more about UNO’s ranking

University of Nebraska Medical Center
The University of Nebraska Medical Center continued its solid rankings by U.S. News & World Report in areas such as primary care and rural health. The College of Medicine tied for 14th among top schools of medicine–primary care. Its rural health medicine program tied for 17th, and UNMC ranked 71st in the best medical schools-research ranking.

The medical center’s climb in extramural research funding, which topped $100 million in extramural research funding last year, also was recognized among the magazine’s research rankings.

In addition, UNMC was ranked by The Scientist Magazine as being among the top 40 places to work in academia in the United States, making an impressive gain of 32 spots in the prestigious national ranking. Results from a survey of faculty and staff at academic institutions around the nation show UNMC ranked number 39, up 32 spots from its number 71 ranking in 2009.

Read more about UNMC’s ranking