(Updated, 3:45 p.m.)

PROVIDENCE – Brown University ranked 16th for the second year in a row on U.S. News & World Report’s annual list of America’s best national universities, which was released yesterday.

Harvard University and Princeton University tied for the top spot on the list, the 10th straight year one or both of the institutions led the list of national research institutions. Yale University placed third.

Brown fell to 16th on the list last year, from 14th in 2007. The school accepted 13.7 percent of students last fall, and tuition and fees total $38,848 for 2009-2010, according to the magazine.

U.S. News has ranked schools since 1983 based on data such as graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, financial resources, student selectivity and alumni giving. Also playing a part in the calculations is a reputation survey that the magazine sends to top college officials. School officials have criticized the lists as arbitrary and incomplete, but they remain influential.

Providence College edged up a spot from last year to take second on the top master’s universities in the North list, behind only Villanova University in Pennsylvania and ahead of Loyola University Maryland.

Bryant University placed 16th on the same list, unchanged from last year, while Salve Regina University moved to 30th place from 35th a year ago. The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth placed 62nd on the regional master’s list.

Roger Williams University advanced one slot to 7th place on the list of best baccalaureate colleges in the North.

Wheaton College in Norton, Mass., ranked 58th on the list of top liberal arts schools nationwide, unchanged from last year. Wheaton accepted 38.8 percent of students last fall and its tuition and fees total $39,850 in the coming school year, the magazine said.

Stonehill College in Easton ranked 112th on the liberal arts list, with a 45 percent acceptance rate and total tuition and fees of $31,210 for 2009-2010. Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., placed first on the list, followed by Amherst College in Amherst, Mass., and then Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania.

The University of Rhode Island was again listed as a “tier 3” school in the national universities list, a level below the top 100 schools.

“It's gratifying to see Roger Williams University recognized in U.S. News for academic quality,” Roger Williams president Roy J. Nirschel said in a statement. “The university showed considerable progress in assessment from our peers in higher education as well as improvements in selectivity and student-faculty ratio.”

Additional information is available at usnews.com and whatwilltheylearn.com.