U.S. News & World Report has ranked UCSB No. 11 in its annual listing of the “Top 50 Public National Universities” in the country, and No. 42 on its list of the “Best National Universities.”

Private institutions usually dominate the “Best National Universities” list, with Harvard, Princeton and Yale taking the top three spots this year. The highest-ranked public institution is UC Berkeley, at No. 21. UCSB is tied at No. 42 with UC Davis, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institution of New York and the University of Washington.

In addition, the undergraduate program in UCSB’s College of Engineering is ranked No. 34 on the U.S. News & World Report list of “Best Programs at Engineering Schools Whose Highest Degree is a Doctorate.”

The magazine has just released its annual college rankings online at USNews.com. Highlights of the college rankings will be published in the September issue of U.S. News & World Report, available on newsstands Monday. The 2010 “America’s Best Colleges” guidebook goes on sale Tuesday.

To rank colleges and universities, U.S. News & World Report assigns institutions to categories developed by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. UCSB’s category, national universities, includes only institutions that emphasize faculty research and offer a full range of undergraduate majors, plus master’s degree and Ph.D. programs.

UCSB’s rank among public universities was one place higher than last year, and its rank on the list of all national universities was two places higher.