The Government Accountability Office has concluded that the U.S. News Best Law Schools rankings are one the key factors behind skyrocketing law school tuitions. That's according to an October report by the GAO entitled "Higher Education: Issues Related to Law School Cost and Access."

The GAO said that, "according to law school officials, the move to a more hands-on, resource-intensive approach to legal education and competition among schools for higher rankings appear to be the main factors driving the cost of law school, while ABA accreditation requirements appear to play a minor role. Additionally, officials at public law schools reported that recent decreases in state funding are a contributor to rising tuition at public schools."

We've just started the data collection for the upcoming 2011 edition of America's Best Graduate Schools, which will be published in early spring 2010. The statistical survey data collection for business, law, engineering, medicine, and education programs began at the end of October on our password-secured website. The deadline to complete the statistical surveys is in early December 2009.

The grad school peer assessment surveys also have gone out in the field. Our goal was to have all the first mailings sent out by October 30. The peer surveys have roughly eight weeks in the field, with a second survey mailing going to those who don't respond the first time. U.S. News works with a contractor, Synovate, to administer the peer survey mailings.

I have just returned from the International Conference on World University Ranking and Quality Assurance of Higher Education 2009, which was held in Taipei and Pingtung, Taiwan. The conference was organized by the National Pingtung University of Science and Technology and by the Higher Education and Accreditation Council of Taiwan. There were participants from many universities from all parts of Taiwan.

I spoke on U.S. News's America's Best Colleges rankings and the impact those rankings have had in the United States in terms of prospective students and of the colleges themselves. I also discussed some of the implications of the U.S. News ranking experience for universities in Taiwan. In addition, I talked about the reasons behind and implications of the current phenomenon that has led to college rankings being published in over 30 countries around the world. Finally, I discussed in great detail the recently launched second annual U.S. News World's Best Universities rankings, explaining why U.S. News is doing global university rankings and how global university rankings differ from rankings of the colleges in just one country.

U.S. News has just published our second annual World's Best Universities rankings. These rankings are based on data from the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings, which were produced in association with QS Quacquarelli Symonds. One of the world's leading networks for careers and education, QS Quacquarelli Symonds has been publishing world rankings since 2004.

The World's Best Universities rankings include the following lists:

If you are looking for schools that have some unique academic programs and also provide an especially rich academic environment on campus, then you may want to visit the Academic Programs to Look For list that's part of America's Best Colleges 2010.

For the eighth consecutive year, U.S. News is publishing a list of schools with outstanding examples of academic programs that are commonly linked to student success at college.

Why did we choose these particular types of programs? We felt that it was important to look at innovative things that schools do that go beyond the rankings that we publish. With the help of education experts, including staff members of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, we identified eight such types of programs that have been shown to enhance learning experiences. Next, we invited college presidents, chief academic officers, deans of students, and deans of admissions from more than 1,400 schools to nominate up to 10 institutions with stellar examples of each program type. We list in alphabetical order the ones that were mentioned most often.

What do you do if you are a high school student with less-than-dazzling grades and SAT/ACT test scores and you still want to go to a very good school? U.S. News has an answer, and it's not looking at our main 2010 edition of America's Best Colleges rankings.

You should instead head to our exclusive list of "A+ Schools for B Students" for quality colleges that accept a significant number of applicants in the average-to-above-average range.

These schools welcome and challenge serious B students with a desire to achieve. The list features more than 300 schools that are both respectably rated by U.S. News in the 2010 edition of America's Best Colleges and that students without straight A's will have a decent chance at entering. We worked with college admissions deans to help brainstorm the criteria that should be used for this list of strong schools that regularly admit potentially promising applicants.

See the lists of A+ Schools for B Students in each of the following categories:

College rankings are having an impact in the marketplace. As a result, colleges ought to use rankings responsibly as a policy tool and not as the sole basis for judging themselves against other institutions. These conclusions come from a recently published analysis, "The Role and Relevance of Rankings in Higher Education Policymaking," compiled by the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP), a public policy think tank based in Washington, D.C.

The report's key findings on rankings are:

1. A durable fixture in the marketplace of information on colleges, rankings inform public notions of college quality. College rankings are one way stakeholders of higher education obtain information on institutions and construct notions of educational quality.