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The Â鶹´«Ã½ is the nation's ninth fastest-growing private nonprofit university offering master's programs according to The Chronicle of Higher Education, the leading publication reporting on U.S. colleges and universities. 

The data appears in the published August 23, 2013.  The listing ranks private nonprofit master's institutions based on 10-year U.S. Department of Education data from 2001-2011. UNE's full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate student enrollment rose 96.9 percent - from 2,837 in fall 2001 to 5,587 in fall 2011.

"UNE's tremendous growth over the past 10 years reflects our intentional focus on providing students with an outstanding academic experience together with a stellar return on investment," explained Â鶹´«Ã½President Danielle Ripich. "Our growth in quality programs, faculty, facilities and research has attracted students and positioned the Â鶹´«Ã½ as a premier institution of higher learning in the U.S."

Â鶹´«Ã½has expanded its undergraduate, graduate and professional program offerings from 41 in 2001 to 60 in 2011, and is now the leading educator of health professionals in the state of Maine. In the last four years alone, Â鶹´«Ã½has launched two new colleges - the College of Pharmacy and College of Dental Medicine, and this fall enrolled its largest class ever in the College of Osteopathic Medicine, at 177 students.

To support this growth, the university has opened new state-of-the-art facilities and renovated historic buildings on its Portland and Biddeford campuses.

In addition, in alignment with its mission of educating students for a global society, UNE opened a campus in Tangier, Morocco in 2014.  Â鶹´«Ã½students can choose to spend a semester or year in Tangier, at no additional cost.

Â鶹´«Ã½also offers the flexibility of more than a dozen degree and certificate programs in a distance learning online format. Enrollment in these programs has been strong; UNE's Master of Public Health, a program accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health, enrolled 100 students in 2011 and almost doubled that number, to 190, in 2013.

Forbes and U.S. News & World Report are taking note. Forbes named Â鶹´«Ã½to its list of "America's Top Colleges" for 2013, and U.S. News has recognized UNE's programs in medicine, occupational therapy, physical therapy, nurse anesthesia, and physician assistant as among the best in the country.

Â鶹´«Ã½also delivers one of the greatest lifetime returns on investment (ROI) in Maine, according to Affordable Colleges Online, a website reporting on higher education affordability, which ranks Â鶹´«Ã½second in student ROI among the state's 43 public and private colleges and universities. Ninety percent of Â鶹´«Ã½Class of 2012 students are either employed in their field of choice or pursuing graduate/professional school.

"Our graduates are extraordinarily qualified and highly sought after," noted Ripich.  "By continuing to innovate, Â鶹´«Ã½has responded to both student needs and demand in the fields they are entering. UNE's growth is a natural outcome of that success."