For the past two years, UF has dropped in Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
UF ranked No. 143 this year, a decrease from UF’s previous ranking of 134.
The rankings are based on five categories: teaching, research, citations, international outlook and industry income, according to the Times Higher Education website. Of those five areas, UF dropped in the teaching and citations category.
Of Florida universities, UF is first, followed by the University of Miami and then Florida State University.
The largest increase came from the industry income category, with a score of 80.7 out of 100, an increase of 15 points from last year’s score of 65.7. The industry income category examines how much research income a university earns compared to the number of staff employed.
UF remained stagnant in its overall score of 56.6.
UF spokesperson Steve Orlando said he could not provide an exact reason for why UF dropped in this year’s rankings.
“As to what the cause was, it is not entirely clear at the moment,” Orlando said. “We haven’t really had a chance to sit down and look at them, but we will in the near future.”
More universities were included in this year’s rankings, which could be a possible reason for UF’s drop, Orlando said. Twenty-nine out of 62 U.S. institutions in the top 200 dropped in world rankings.
Austin Buholtz, a business administration freshman, believes the drop could be due to the location of UF.
“We’re definitely the best university in the state, but regardless of our academics, you can’t change the location of the university,” the 18-year-old said. “There’s not a lot of opportunity for job growth in Gainesville compared to universities in California, Massachusetts or New York.”
