Indiana University of Pennsylvania has been ranked in the top 20 nursing programs in the nation by the website Best Nursing Programs.

The website specifically recognizes IUP's work to help licensed practical nurses achieve a bachelor's degree in nursing. Rankings are determined by data from the National Center for Education Statistics and information published on a university's website.

The Best Nursing Programs website is designed to recognize programs that have “the working nurse in mind and make completing the undergraduate work easy through flexible scheduling.”

More than 160 students graduated from IUP's Nursing and Allied Health program in the 2019–20 academic year. IUP students continue to excel on the NCLEX-RN, which is used by all state boards of nursing across the United States to help assess a student's competency and is required for licensure.

In 2019, IUP had an overall annual passing average of 93.54 percent, compared to the national and Pennsylvania averages of 87 percent for first-time test takers. It is in the top 20 of Pennsylvania colleges and universities ranked by NCLEX-RN passing rates.

IUP's program offers state-of-the-art home health, birthing, and critical care simulation suites equipped with computerized mannequins, and exposes students to the real-life world of nursing by placing them in various clinical environments for three of a student's four academic years. IUP's bachelor of science degree program in nursing is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education.

In addition to this recent recognition, IUP's nursing degree program has been selected for inclusion in a number of national rankings, including as one of the top 20 nursing programs in Pennsylvania by RegisteredNursing.org.

IUP is routinely included in national publications for excellence, including U.S. News & World Report's “Best Colleges” list and Washington Monthly's national ranking of universities based on contributions to society; was selected by Forbes Magazine as one of “America's Top Colleges”; and has been included in the Princeton Review's Best Colleges guidebooks for more than two decades. In July, IUP was been selected as one of the top 10 colleges and universities in Pennsylvania by the College Magazine, a national publication for students wishing to know more about college and university life.