Tulane University is ranked 13 spots higher at number 41 overall in the 2016 U.S. News and World Report’s Best College rankings released Wednesday. The undergraduate A.B. Freeman School of Business was ranked 38^th overall.

“This is obviously a tremendous achievement in which we are all delighted,” Tulane President Michael Fitts said in a press release from the university. “In addition to this, our efforts to enhance the student experience, increase our academic collaborations, improve our financial efficiency and implement our campus master plan, position us to provide a leading model in higher education.”

According to a 2014 article in Research in Higher Education, rankings are difficult to change and remarkably stable, especially within the top tier. This year’s ranking reflects a 13-position boost, while last year’s ranking, 54^th overall, reflected a two position drop from the previous year.

Fitts attributed the jump to the efforts of the Tulane community.

“This is a testament to the hard work and determination of everyone at Tulane,” Fitts said. “While rankings such as this should always be taken with a grain of salt, it is certainly a clear sign that we are a top university and recognized as such.”

In the years following Hurricane Katrina, when the university was forced to close for an entire semester (the only major research university to do so since the Civil War), the rankings suffered, possibly due to low 6-year graduation and retention rates after the storm. Efforts to improve the ranking, such as the Tulane Class Challenge, which aimed to increase the number of undergraduates donating to the university, and increased graduation rates, up 7 percent to 83 percent overall this year, have contributed to a significant improvement in the university’s rank since 2006, right after Hurricane Katrina.