The University of Arizona is one of the top higher education institutions in the United States, according to Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings.

UArizona tied for No. 68 overall and tied for No. 29 among public universities in the first QS U.S. University Rankings, released May 20. QS considered 769 U.S. colleges and universities for its final list of 300 schools, with UArizona's overall score placing it in the top 8.8% in the QS ranking.

"I am extremely encouraged to see the University of Arizona earn such positive recognition in these inaugural rankings," said University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins. "Our university takes tremendous pride in being a global land-grant university, serving a diverse population on an international scale, and providing a world-class learning environment alongside our cutting-edge research initiatives."

Universities were evaluated on 17 metrics falling into four categories: employability; diversity and internationalization; learning experience; and research. UArizona earned its top score in the diversity and internationalization category.

Universities also were ranked within each category. UArizona's highest category ranking was in research, where it was ranked No. 49 overall and No. 24 among public universities.

Employability (27% of the overall score) looks at the employment prospects of students graduating from U.S. institutions using metrics that include the results of the QS Employer Reputation Survey, alumni outcomes and salary after graduation.

Diversity and internationalization (25% of the overall score) attempts to classify to what extent a higher education institution is striving toward being as inclusive as possible, while promoting an environment that seeks to achieve two United Nations sustainable development goals, gender equality and reduced inequality. This category includes the following indicators: gender pay gap, faculty gender diversity, ratio of undergraduates receiving Pell grants, students' ethnicity mix, number of Fulbright students and proportion of international students.

Learning experience (22% of the overall score) aims to reflect the overall learning environment through the level of support the college or university offers all its students regardless of socioeconomic background, as demonstrated through metrics, including retention rate, student-faculty ratio, average instructional expenditure per full-time student and graduation rates of Pell grant recipients compared with other students.

Research (26% of the overall score) is designed to demonstrate how the research of a higher education institution is having an impact and contributing to knowledge creation. It focuses on the quality of the research and how open and internationally collaborative an institution's research outputs are, whether within academia or with industry. This category includes academic reputation, citations per paper, partnerships with employers and the International Research Network indicator.

The QS World University Rankings began ranking global institutions in 2004. UArizona was ranked No. 262 in the 2019 world rankings (No. 81 in the U.S) and No. 20 overall in the engineering-mineral and mining category. QS will post its 2021 World University Rankings on June 10.