Gophers present, former and future should be proud of their association with the University of Minnesota – given it is one of the top universities in the world.
The Center for World University Rankings have placed the U in the top 50 for the world’s best higher education facilities – 48th to be precise – albeit in rankings heavily dominated by U.S.-based institutions (the U of M is 31st nationally).
Its ranking is no surprise, CityPages notes, considering the U has appeared in the 40s for the past three years in the CWUR’s list – and adds that it still has a way to go to catch its Big Ten football rivals the University of Michigan (19th), Northwestern (22nd) and Wisconsin-Madison (25th).
Each university is judged on eight measures, with their ranking based on the total, but more weight is given to categories for the number of alumni who win major international awards; the number of alumni who hold top CEO positions; and the number of academics who have won international prizes.
Other areas the universities are judged on include the number of patents and published research papers it produces.
Minnesota scored highest for publications appearing in reputable journals, and the “broad impact” of the research undertaken by its academics. It scored lower for the number of alumni who become CEOs (130th in the world).
Despite the high ranking, CityPages argues that there are some glaring omissions in its methodology, “like affordability and raddest house parties.”
Nonetheless, it’s not unusual for the U of M to rank high among the world’s universities. In its 2015 list, Times Higher Education ranked the U at 46th in the world, though the QS Top Universities rankings had the U somewhat lower in its 2014/15 list, at 119th.
Top of the CWUR list this year is Harvard University, with the top five filled out by Stanford and MIT, followed by England’s Cambridge and Oxford universities, respectively.
