U.VA. INFORMATION SYSTEMS TEACHING PROGRAM
BEST IN NATION, SAY CORPORATE RECRUITERS

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Jan. 27 -- Corporate recruiters have
rated the University of Virginia's McIntire School of Commerce best
in the nation in the teaching of business information systems, in a
survey published by Computerworld magazine this month.
	U.Va. was ranked first overall by executives at 25 major
firms that recruit the majority of new American college graduates
into the business information systems field, the magazine reported.
	Information systems is the use of computers and other
electronic technology to monitor and analyze business operations.
It's a management tool for making decisions and solving problems.
 	Computerworld management writer Alan R. Earls said that
recruiters were asked to name the best schools and say what makes an
institution exceptional. Their choices focused on a few key areas of
corporate concern, he said, including:
	¥ Academic strength of the business degree program as a
whole.
	¥  Sophistication and depth in information technology.
	¥ Cooperative education in partnership with private industry.
	¥  Diversity of student body to increase minority graduates.
	Location of the school convenient to prospective employers.
Companies near the nation's east and west coasts, and especially in
the northeast, are now the major recruiters and employers of
information systems graduates, Earls pointed out.
	U.Va.'s top ranking was based on a "right mixture of basic
technical and business skills" as well as the academic strengths of
the University, Earls wrote. For almost all of the recruiters
"technical qualities were but part of the equation," he added.
	Only three of the top 10 schools in the survey had "truly
national" visibility for their technical expertise, he noted:
Carnegie Mellon Institute in Pittsburgh, the University of Southern
California campuses and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
	Other schools ranked in the top 10 were Virginia Tech, the
University of Pennsylvania, Purdue, State University of New York,
Howard University and the University of Maryland.
	"We are pleased to know that our information systems program
is highly regarded by recruiters, whose jobs make them experienced
and pragmatic judges of the quality of our graduates," said Bonnie
Guiton Hill, dean of the McIntire School.
	"Feedback such as this helps us further develop our approach
to business education, which emphasizes a broad learning experience,
partnerships with private enterprise and diversity among the
talented and dedicated individuals we seek as students."
	Hill said special credit for the recognition should go to
the faculty and staff of the Management Information Systems program,
headed by professor of commerce Robert H. Trent.
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January 26, 1995