San Diego, California - New rankings name the University of California, San Diego the fourth best public university in the U.S. and the 21st best university in the world. The rankings by the Center for the World University Rankings (CWUR) are based on quality of research, faculty, influence, enterprise and successful alumni.
The fourth-annual global rankings also list UC San Diego as the 16th best university in the U.S. among both private and public colleges. In the category of “influence,” which measures the number of research papers appearing in highly-influential journals, UC San Diego places as the 5th best university in the world.
“It is an honor for UC San Diego to be named among the best and most influential universities in the world, based on our work and the achievements of our campus members,” said Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla. “UC San Diego is committed to fostering an educational experience that enables our scholars to solve complex problems, and lead and innovate in a diverse and interconnected world.”
The methodology for the CWUR’s 2015 rankings analyzed the world’s top 1,000 universities, measuring eight indicators designed to give the most accurate assessment of universities’ quality of education and training of students as well as the prestige of the faculty members and the quality of their research. According to CWUR, the rankings do not rely on opinion-based surveys, but rather they take a transparent and quantitative approach by measuring the following:
- Quality of Education, measured by the number of alumni who have won major international awards, prizes and medals relative to the university’s size.
- Alumni Employment, measured by the number of alumni who have held CEO positions at the world’s top companies relative to the university’s size.
- Quality of Faculty, measured by the number of academics who have won major international awards, prizes and medals.
- Publications, measured by the number of research papers appearing in reputable journals.
- Influence, measured by the number of research papers appearing in highly-influential journals.
- Citations, measured by the number of highly-cited research papers.
- Broad Impact, measured by both the productivity and the impact of published work.
- Patents, measured by the number of international patent filings.
Universities were ranked in each of these categories and their combined totals equate to the individual college’s overall global ranking. UC San Diego earns high marks in the categories of influence (5th), broad impact (15th), citations (15th), publications (16th), patents (17th) and quality of faculty (19th).
The complete list of CWUR’s top 100 universities in the world can be found here.
