UArizona Receives Top Scores in Two International Rankings
The University of Arizona earned praise for its research and teaching expertise from a pair of global rankings – the Center for World University Rankings and Round University Rankings.

By Nick Prevenas, University Communications
April 27, 2021

The University of Arizona has earned its place alongside the world's top higher education institutions in a pair of highly regarded global rankings.

UArizona is ranked No. 93 out of nearly 20,000 global colleges and universities in the annual Center for World University Rankings, released Monday. The university ranked No. 48 among U.S. institutions and No. 27 among public colleges and universities. This ranking also places UArizona among the top 0.47% of universities worldwide.

UArizona also was given excellent marks in the RUR 2021 World University Rankings, released Tuesday by Round University Rankings. UArizona was ranked No. 53 in the U.S. and No. 168 globally.

"At the University of Arizona, we pride ourselves on being a global, land-grant university, where our service creates impact on a worldwide level, through both our efforts to educate and train the next generation of problem solvers, as well as in our many groundbreaking, multidisciplinary international research endeavors," said University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins. "We are grateful to see these efforts recognized in these global rankings."

CWUR uses the following indicators to rank the world's universities. The percentages indicate the weight given to each indicator.

  • Quality of education, measured by the number of alumni who have won major academic distinctions relative to the university's size (25% of the overall ranking).
  • Alumni employment, measured by the number of alumni who have held top executive positions at the world's largest companies relative to the university's size (25%).
  • Quality of faculty, measured by the number of faculty members who have won major academic distinctions (10%).
  • Research performance:
    • Research output, measured by the total number of research articles (10%).
    • High-quality publications, measured by the number of research articles appearing in top-tier journals (10%).
    • Influence, measured by the number of research articles appearing in influential journals (10%).
    • Citations, measured by the number of highly cited research articles (10%).

UArizona's overall score (82.1 out of 100) was bolstered by its global quality of faculty rank (No. 71) and research performance rank (No. 106).

RUR uses the following indicators in its international rankings:

  • Teaching (40%)
    • Academic staff per students (8%)
    • Academic staff per bachelor's degrees awarded (8%)
    • Doctoral degrees awarded per academic staff (8%)
    • Doctoral degrees awarded per bachelor's degrees awarded (8%)
    • World teaching reputation (8%)
  • Research (40%)
    • Citations per academic and research staff (8%)
    • Doctoral degrees per admitted doctoral student (8%)
    • Normalized citation impact (8%)
    • Papers per academic and research staff (8%)
    • World research reputation (8%)
  • International diversity (10%)
    • Share of international academic staff (2%)
    • Share of international students (2%)
    • Share of international co-authored papers (2%)
    • Reputation outside region (2%)
    • International level (2%)
  • Financial sustainability (10%)
    • Institutional income per academic staff (2%)
    • Institutional income per students (2%)
    • Papers per research income (2%)
    • Research income per academic and research staff (2%)
    • Research income per institutional income (2%)

UArizona's best RUR rankings came in the research (No. 120 globally) and financial stability (No. 173 globally) categories.

UArizona also was recognized recently by Forbes as a national leader in workforce diversity in the publication's annual "Best Employers For Diversity" list and was included in The Princeton Review's annual "Best Value Colleges."

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Nick Prevenas

Director, Media Relations, University Communications