UCLA stands out in prestigious Times Higher Education reputation rankings

UCLA's reputation continues to rise, according to new international rankings released today.

 

UCLA placed eighth — up one spot from last year and up four places from 2011 — in the London Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings, which orders schools according to international prestige. The top 10 institutions this year, in order, are Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, UC Berkeley, Stanford University,　Princeton University, UCLA, the University of Tokyo and Yale University.

 

Established three years ago, the rankings are based on a survey of more than 16,500 academics in 144 countries. The academics — all experienced, published scholars who are selected to be statistically representative of their geographical region and academic discipline — were asked their views on the excellence of research and teaching in their particular academic field at institutions of higher learning throughout the world.

 

"This ranking is based purely on subjective judgment, but it is the expert judgment of those who know excellence in teaching and research better than anyone else — experienced, informed and engaged academics," said Phil Baty, editor of the Times Higher Education rankings. "Almost 50,000 academics have provided their expert insight over just three short annual rounds of the survey, providing a serious worldwide audit of an increasingly important but little-understood aspect of global higher education — a university's academic brand."

 

The reputation rankings are a spin-off of the annual Times Higher Education World University Rankings, which uses 13 mainly objective indicators to deliver a multifaceted and balanced picture of university performance. The reputation survey data used to create the reputation rankings form two indicators used in the overall World University Rankings.

 

The new rankings reinforce UCLA's reputation as one of the top schools in the world. U.S. News & World Report's recent graduate school rankings listed several UCLA graduate and professional schools and programs among the best in 2012.