ARCADIA, KANSAS – Kansas Governor Sam Brownback told the Kansas Board of Regents Wednesday that the leaders of the state’s public universities and colleges to must take bold steps to improve the quality and academic rankings of our schools. The Governor met the board members during their annual retreat.

“Our universities and colleges are engines of our state’s economy. We must do better. We must alter course and find ways of making them more competitive,” Governor Brownback said. “Though we face some difficult economic times, I feel that we have some excellent opportunities to improve our position in the national standings. Our administration will be a partner in this effort.”

To improve school academic rankings, Brownback said the Regents should consider setting measurable goals, focus funding on key educational programs, and get input from leaders of Kansas.

“In order for our Regents institutions to be successful, we can learn a few lessons from our student athletes. We must adapt a game-plan that plays to our strengths and fully utilizes our talent,” Brownback said. “From there, we must work as a team and execute our strategy. The people of Kansas are rooting for us and we cannot let them down. If we have a team mentality, we will win.”

The Kansas Board of Regents oversees 32 universities, colleges, community colleges and technology schools with a combined attendance of nearly 200,000 students.

According to U.S. News and World Report’s 2010-2011 University ranking system, this is how Kansas universities ranked.

How Kansas’ three national universities rank out of 260. The University of Kansas ranked 104th, down from 96th in 2009. Kansas State University ranked 134 th, down from below 130th in 2009. Wichita State University ranked in the bottom 25%, no change from 2009.