Academics

Penn State improves place among top 50 in 2014 world universities list

Credit: Patrick Mansell / Penn StateCreative Commons

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State has moved up four spots among the top 50 of the Center for World Universities Rankings (CWUR) list of global higher education institutions, advancing its placement for the third consecutive year. Penn State, No. 46, is 29th among all U.S. colleges and universities.

CWUR describes itself as “the only global university ranking that measures the quality of education and training of students as well as the prestige of the faculty members and the quality of their research without relying on surveys and university data submissions.” It released its annual list on Tuesday (July 15), including eight U.S. Ivy League and other private schools and two British universities in the top 10.

In the United States, 229 institutions were honored among the world’s top 1,000 universities. Eight Big Ten universities placed in the top 50, along with the University of Pennsylvania, the only other school in the commonwealth to achieve the top 5 percent, at No. 14. The University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University are No. 53 and No. 54, respectively.

The Center for World University Rankings’ methodology, as listed on its website, uses seven indicators to produce its rankings: quality of faculty, publications in top journals, highly influential research, citations, patents, academic training of students and professional future of alumni. Its aim is “to measure the quality of education and training of students as well as the prestige of the faculty and the quality of their research.”

The complete list and detailed methodology can be found at http://cwur.org.

Last Updated July 21, 2014