William & Mary ranked among top universities in the world
A top university A new worldwide ranking by Times Higher Education (THE) places the College of William & Mary among the best universities on earth. Photo by Stephen Salpukas
Joint degree program In May the College announced a new joint degree program with the University of St Andrews in Scotland. The program, which will begin in fall 2011, is one of the few in the world and will enable students to complete two years at each institution and earn a single diploma - a Bachelor of Arts, International Honours - with the insignias of both institutions. Graphic by Cindy Baker
A new worldwide ranking by Times Higher Education (THE) places the College of William & Mary among the best universities on Earth.
Released Thursday morning, William & Mary is listed 75th in the magazine’s 2010-11 World University Rankings. The top-200 list focuses on three core areas of a university’s mission – research, teaching, and knowledge transfer, according to a release by the London-based magazine.
The Times completely revamped its methodology for this year’s list, which is now based on data provided by Thomson Reuters and reputation surveys conducted by Ipsos Mori, a market research company based in London. The rankings are based on performance indicators across five broad categories: teaching (30 percent), citation impact (32.5 percent), research (30 percent), international mix (5 percent) and industry income (2.5 percent). American universities dominated the top tier of the rankings. Harvard University finished first and seven of the top-10 schools were from the United States. Among other schools in the Commonwealth in the top 200, the University of Virginia ranked 72nd. The Times rankings also provide a regional breakdown of universities. William & Mary ranked 49th among all schools in North America.
The news comes on the heels of a number of other rankings published in recent weeks that focused on institutions in the United States. In August, the College learned it moved up two spots to 31st overall in the country, according to the latest list by U.S. News & World Report. William & Mary remained the sixth-best public university and moved up to fifth on the U.S. News list of universities with a strong "commitment to teaching," up one spot from last year. The report also revealed that William & Mary is a favorite among high school guidance counselors, who ranked the College tied for 30th. The undergraduate business program also did well in U.S. News, ranking 42nd overall this year. The program was ranked 48th last year. U.S. News also ranked the business program 24th among public universities.
The U.S. News rankings followed favorable reports earlier in the month by Princeton Review and Forbes.com, which ranked W&M its second-highest state supported university. Forbes listed the College as the second highest state-supported school and 46th overall, up two spots from 48th last year. Additionally this year, the Princeton Review praised William & Mary's faculty, libraries and undergraduate happiness level in its annual college guidebook. The Review listed W&M at 12th in the "Happiest Students" category; eighth in both the "Professors Get High Marks" and "Best College Library" categories; and the College's "green rating" improved from a 90 last year to a 93 this year.
Also in August, Washington Monthly ranked William & Mary number one for service and 10th overall, and Parade Magazine listed the College among its "A List" for top small state schools.
Earlier this week, new rankings by Newsweek and the Kaplan College Guide recognized the College. This year, the guide debuted its first ever top-25 rankings in a number of different categories. William & Mary ranked ninth among “Most Service-Minded Schools,” and 21st in both “Most Desirable Suburban Schools” and “Best Schools for Future Power Brokers.”
The Times Higher Education worldwide rankings come as the College continues to build on its strong international reputation. Last fall, a survey by the Institute of International Education found that William & Mary has a greater percentage of undergraduates who participate in study abroad than any other public institution offering doctoral degrees in the United States.
In March, the College was chosen as one of 10 institutions in the nation to participate in a federal pilot program geared toward developing and expanding educational partnerships in India. The next month, the College and its Reves Center for International Studies hosted the International Mercury Expo, which culminated three years of interdisciplinary, collaborative and international research by faculty and students on the environmental hazards of the heavy metal. And in May the College announced a new joint degree program with the University of St Andrews in Scotland. The program, which will begin in fall 2011, is one of the few in the world and will enable students to complete two years at each institution and earn a single diploma - a Bachelor of Arts, International Honours - with the insignias of both institutions.
