UF is working toward becoming a top 10 university in the nation — but it has yet to make the top 100 for worldwide rankings.
Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings 2013-2014 came out Wednesday and placed UF at 128 out of 400. The rankings, powered by information company Thomson Reuters, judged universities on teaching, research, industry income, citations and international outlook.
UF dropped six places from the 2012-2013 study and three from 2012-2011. The university was unranked in the 2010-2011 listing.
California Institute of Technology was ranked No. 1 for 2013-1014, followed by Harvard, Oxford and Stanford. University of Wyoming was last. Universities are excluded if they don’t have an undergraduate program or have fewer than 1,000 research articles from the last six years.
UF spokesman Steve Orlando said there are many ranking systems out there, each with its own methodology, and not all of them necessarily carry the same weight.
U.S. News & World Report’s 2014 list of the top 30 public universities in the nation, recently ranked UF at 14.
“We compare extremely favorably to the top institutions in the country,” Orlando said. “We provide an incredible value for the education our students receive.”
According to the Times Higher Education’s site, all the schools consented to being ranked and provided the data used. If any data is missing for “low-weighted” indicators like industrial income, a low estimate is entered. Orlando said he wasn’t sure if UF provided information or if the ranks were based on public data.
Calvin Lu, an 18-year-old UF chemical engineering freshman, said he believes UF should be ranked higher, but feels the university could be doing more to achieve it.
“I heard they’re building a new mansion for the president,” Lu said. “Why don’t they put that money back into the school for the students?”
A version of this story ran on page 1 on 10/4/2013 under the headline "UF ranked 128th best university in the world"
