PROVO — Brigham Young University and the University of Utah led Utah schools this year in the annual U.S. News & World Report rankings of top graduate programs.

The graduate accounting program at BYU's business school broke into the top 10 in that specialty. Business school deans and MBA program directors from around the country ranked BYU's program the nation's ninth best. The University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign ranked first and BYU was right behind New York University and ahead of Ohio State University.

The Wall Street Journal ranked BYU's accounting program fourth in rankings released last fall.

"Our accounting faculty has done a terrific job building an innovative and practical curriculum," said Ned Hill, dean of the BYU Marriott School of Management.

BYU's law school moved up one spot to 34th and the business school moved up six spots to 34th.

"Although no ranking system can fully evaluate a program, we are pleased to be consistently ranked in the top 20 percent of law schools in the United States," said Kevin Worthen, dean of BYU's J. Reuben Clark Law School.

The U. grabbed top 50 spots in at least four categories, including the School of Medicine's research division and the School of Chemistry. The David Eccles School of Business also made the top 100 at 63rd and the S.J. Quinney College of Law landed in the top 100 rankings, although the law school's perch at 57th is down from 49th last year.

"Our goal is to offer a world-class business education to the citizens of Utah, and the rankings confirm we are living up to this expectation," said Jack Brittain, dean of the business school.

The U.S. News rankings are based on two types of data — expert opinion and statistical measurements of the quality of faculty, research and students.

Last fall, the magazine conducted surveys of more than 1,200 programs and 9,600 academics and professionals.

Rankings by U.S. News and other organizations have generated criticism in the higher education community from some who say the methodology is arbitrary and fails to measure real education. At least three colleges and universities have refused to cooperate with U.S. News.

"It gets the community excited, but as far as kind of a reflection of the value of a medical school, no one up here takes it too seriously," said Chris Nelson, spokesman for the U.'s Health Sciences Center.

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