Discussion about university rankings seem to be getting a lot of press worldwide over the past few years, an interesting development because it used to be mostly an American obsession. Part of the reason - in my opinion -is that in the past, most people outside the US could afford to ignore rankings on the grounds that they were biased toward criteria that make the most sense in an American setting.
ARWU Rankings
All the ignoring (well a good portion of it anyway) went out of the window in 2003 when a Chinese university (Shanghai Jiao-Tong) made a comprehensive ranking of world universities (apparently in an attempt to evaluate where Chinese universities stand and to eventually get them to the highest level). The criteria that this ranking uses is purely based on metrics that signify world class research such as Nobel Prizes, publications in top journals, citations of publications, etc. As subjective as they are, it turns out that these rankings are harder to ignore because every good university pretty much cares about such metrics. This has especially become a sore point in Continental Europe (and China and India) because just as in the other rankings, not many representatives are present. These rankings are updated every year and here are the 2012 numbers near the top and also for a few universities that I care about:
1. Harvard
2. Stanford
3. MIT
4. Berkeley
5. Cambridge
6. CalTech
10. Oxford
17. Johns Hopkins
20. Univ of Tokyo (Highest rated Asian university)
22. Michigan
23. ETH, Zurich (Highest rated European university)
38. Maryland
Some interesting facts:
- No Chinese or Indian universities in the Top 150
- Only one European univ in Top 25
- 17 of the Top 19 and 36 of the Top 50 are in the US
- 3 of the Top 6 and 6 of the Top 18 are in California
I would think that these numbers may be biased towards science-specific schools but then, rankings of specialized areas are also detailed (since 2007). Here are the Engineering rankings:
1. MIT
2. Stanford
3. Berkeley
4. Illinois
5. Texas
6. Santa Barbara
7. Michigan
13. Toronto (first non-US university)
14. Maryland
15. Cambridge
18. ETH Zurich
19. CalTech (no clue how this happened)
One Indian university (Indian Institute of Science) appears in the Top 50 and Top 100 in some disciplines.
Times World University Rankings
A broader set of criteria "teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook" are apparently considered in the Times Higher Education Rankings. These rankings are also quite meticulous as Thomson Reuters seems to have put in a lot energy. Here is how this looks
1. CalTech
2. Oxford
3. Stanford
4. Harvard
5. MIT
7. Cambridge
9. Berkeley
12. ETH, Zurich
16. Johns Hopkins
20. Michigan
33. Illinois
97. Maryland (somewhat understandable as undergraduate programs aren't as highly regarded)
So what do I make of this? First of all, ranking universities isn't a very scientific thing to do and comparing universities across countries is so incredibly difficult. But you can definitely be assured that a Top 25 or a Top 50 university in either of the above rankings is among the absolute best in the world.
US News Rankings (of American Universities) : Undergraduate program
These rankings are no more scientific than anything else (but perhaps more reliable because standardized criteria apply much better in a national setting), but these matter a great deal as the American obsession with rankings plays a practical role (in school selection, hiring, etc unless you're talking Ivy league). While most university administrators (and department chairs) will pooh-pooh these rankings, I can guarantee you 100% that they care about these and very deeply so. Department chairs and school Deans make improved showing in these rankings as one of their main job responsibilities. Here are the 2013-14 overall rankings (most Americans go by these numbers when they quote a ranking):
1. Harvard
1. Princeton
3. Yale
4. Columbia
4. Chicago
6. MIT
6. Stanford
10. CalTech
13. Johns Hopkins
21. Berkeley !
29. Michigan !
46. Illinois !
58. Maryland
Needless to say, every single school in the Top 20 is a private institution.
US News Ranking of Engineering schools (Graduate programs):
As a professor (or a grad student) these rankings start getting very relevant (criteria include acceptance rate, research funding per faculty member, membership in National Academies, etc)
1. MIT
2. Stanford
3. Berkeley
4. CalTech
5. Illinois
9. Michigan
19. Maryland
25. Johns Hopkins
US News Ranking of specific departments (Graduate level)
When each subject gets ranked, it gets pretty serious and department chairs (while they may publicly dismiss it as beauty pageants) get a bit nervous. Here are the Aerospace Engineering rankings.
1. CalTech
1. MIT
3. Stanford*
3. Michigan
5. Georgia Tech
6. Purdue
7. Illinois
8. Texas
11. Maryland
* Case in point: Last year we were #1 and we got self-congratulatory emails and discussion in faculty meetings. This year, rankings dismissed.
All said and done, people also use their own judgement to a good degree when choosing a school or a department, but rankings play a considerable role in reducing clutter.
