The University of Virginia's College at Wise (also known as UVa-Wise, or University of Virginia at Wise) is a public, four-year, liberal arts college of the University of Virginia, and a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges, located in Wise, Virginia, United States.

It was established in 1954 as Clinch Valley College of the University of Virginia.

It is the westernmost public college in Virginia.

A liberal arts college is a college with an emphasis on undergraduate study in the liberal arts and sciences.

A liberal arts college aims to impart a broad general knowledge and develop general intellectual capacities, in contrast to a professional, vocational, or technical curriculum.

Students in a liberal arts college generally major in a particular discipline while receiving exposure to a wide range of academic subjects, including sciences as well as the traditional humanities subjects taught as liberal arts.

Although it draws on European antecedents, the liberal arts college is strongly associated with American higher education, and most liberal arts colleges around the world draw explicitly on the American model.

Southwest Virginia, often abbreviated as SWVA, is a mountainous region of Virginia in the westernmost part of the commonwealth.

It is a distinctive cultural region known for its craft, music and natural beauty.

Southwest Virginia has been defined alternatively as all Virginia counties on the Appalachian Plateau, all Virginia counties west of the Eastern Continental Divide, or at its greatest expanse, as far east as Blacksburg and Roanoke.

Another geographic categorization of the region places it as those counties within the Tennessee River watershed.

Regardless of how borders are drawn, Southwest Virginia differs from the rest of the commonwealth in that its culture is more closely associated with Appalachia than the other regions of Virginia.

Historically, the region has been and remains rural, but in the 20th century, coal mining became an important part of its economy.

With the decline in the number of coal jobs and the decline of tobacco as a cash crop, Southwest Virginia is increasingly turning to tourism as a source of economic development.

Collectively, Southwest Virginia's craft, music, agritourism and outdoor recreation are referred to as the region's "creative economy.".

College and university rankings are rankings of institutions in higher education ordered by various combinations of various factors.

Rankings have most often been conducted by magazines, newspapers, websites, governments, or academics.

In addition to ranking entire institutions, organizations perform rankings of specific programs, departments, and schools.

Various rankings consider combinations of measures of funding and endowment, research excellence and/or influence, specialization expertise, admissions, student options, award numbers, internationalization, graduate employment, industrial linkage, historical reputation and other criteria.

Various rankings mostly evaluating on institutional output by research.

Some rankings evaluate institutions within a single country, while others assess institutions worldwide.

The subject has produced much debate about rankings' usefulness and accuracy.

The expanding diversity in rating methodologies and accompanying criticisms of each indicate the lack of consensus in the field.

The variety of academic rankings provide a comprehensive overview and insightful overlook of different academic institutions on composite capabilities in academia.

Whilst United Nations advocates for the beneficial role that higher education could be the common good of social leverage and educating skills to equip everyone participated, yet college ranking is a transparent tool for a fair evaluation for the public.

A public university is a university that is predominantly funded by public means through a national or subnational government, as opposed to private universities.

Whether a national university is considered public varies from one country (or region) to another, largely depending on the specific education landscape.