The Terry College of Business is ranked No. 1 for Risk Management and Insurance by U.S. News & World Report and its familiar Best Colleges guide.
U.S. Newshas ranked specialized fields in business every year since the 1990s, and the Terry College’s Risk Management and Insurance (RMI) program is perennially ranked as a Top 5 program nationally. The new ranking marked the second time in five years that the Terry College of Business claimed the top spot.
“Our top-ranked program started in 1965, so we have the advantage of a long history, and we are the largest undergraduate program by enrollment in the U.S.,” said Robert Hoyt, the Dudley L. Moore Jr. Chair of Insurance and head of the Department of Insurance, Legal Studies and Real Estate. “But quantity doesn’t mean much without quality. The employers who hire our graduates tell us that they are more advanced in their education and better prepared to do the work that is asked of them and to be leaders within their organizations. That’s our reputation.”
Best Undergraduate Insurance Programs
(According to U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges 2019 Edition)
#1 University of Georgia Terry College of Business
#2 University of Wisconsin – Madison
#3 Georgia State University
#4 Temple University
#5 Florida State University
The U.S. News ranking is the latest among several honors UGA’s Risk Management and Insurance program received this year, Hoyt said.
- A.M. Best Co. named UGA a “Top Performer” in Risk Management and Insurance based on a survey of hiring managers and industry professionals. Only three other universities received the “Top Performer” rating in 2018 from Best’s Review.
- Twenty universities worldwide were designated as “Global Centers of Insurance Excellence” by the International Insurance Society in the program’s inaugural year. The certification program recognizes outstanding risk management and insurance programs based on an analysis of their course offerings, graduation rates, employment success and professional involvement.
The Terry College’s RMI program is the largest in terms of current enrollment and graduates, according to the most recent survey conducted by Business Insurance magazine. More than 600 UGA students currently major as undergraduates in risk management and insurance, and more than 200 are graduating from the program every year. Hoyt said new graduates are well equipped to take a variety of positions in the industry, such as insurance adjusters and underwriters, insurance brokers and agents, actuaries, personal financial planners, as well as analysts in corporate risk management.
“We also have a Risk Management concentration in the Georgia MBA program, and we are home to one of the largest PhD programs in the U.S., producing future risk management and insurance professors,” he said.
UGA’s Risk Management and Insurance program emphasizes the importance of career placement for all students, making it a top priority. Each year, the program hosts a Risk Management and Insurance Careers Day with over 60 employers recruiting students for full-time and internship positions.
The largest insurance firms and corporate risk management departments that typically do the most hiring are multinational organizations, which gives many promising insurance graduates opportunities to take on international assignments, and many do. “College students don’t necessarily think of insurance as a career that can take you anywhere in the world, but it can,” said Hoyt, who has served as vice president of the International Insurance Society.
UGA’s program is growing in new ways, Hoyt said. The program established an undergraduate certificate in Actuarial Science three years ago. “It has brought even more talented students to the program from a number of other majors at UGA, including statistics, mathematics and finance,” he said. “More than 100 students are currently enrolled in the certificate program.”