UW-Madison ranked highly among global universities by U.S. News & World Report

The University of Wisconsin–Madison was ranked 29th by U.S. News & World Report’s ranking of Best Global Universities. Last year, UW–Madison was ranked 26th.

The third annual rankings evaluate the top 1,000 research universities — up from 750 last year — spread across 65 countries. The new edition includes country, regional and subject-specific rankings, including in engineering, computer science, and economics and business.

U.S. News & World Report says that the rankings provide insight into how universities compare globally because an increasing number of students plan to enroll in universities outside of their own country

Criteria used to compile the rankings included publications, books, conferences, total citations, frequently cited publications, global and regional research reputation and international collaboration. UW–Madison placed highly in several categories, including 25th in total citations, 25th in number of publications that are among the 10 percent most cited, 27th in publications and 28th in global research reputation.

In the subject-specific rankings, UW–Madison ranked eighth in microbiology, 16th in mathematics, 17th in environment/ecology, 17th in plant and animal science, 18th in geosciences, 19th in agricultural sciences, 20th in arts and humanities, 22nd in physics, 22nd in biology and biochemistry, 23rd in social sciences and public health, 29th in chemistry, 40th in psychiatry/psychology, tied for 52nd in economics and business, 54th in space science, 59th in neuroscience and behavior, 61st in pharmacology and toxicology, 70th in computer science, 72nd in immunology, 84th in molecular biology and genetics, tied for 85th in materials science, tied for 85th in clinical medicine and tied for 94th in engineering.

In a separate ranking issued in September using different methodology, UW–Madison was ranked 10th among public institutions in U.S. News & World Report‘s college rankings. Overall, UW–Madison ranked 44th in a six-way tie. Last year, UW–Madison ranked 11th among publics and 41st overall in a six-way tie.