University of Alberta sees best placement ever in prestigious global ranking
The University of Alberta cracked the top 100 and improved its standings in the 2023 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), a prestigious global ranking that evaluates thousands of world-class institutions annually.
U of A placed 91st in the world and fourth in Canada, its best showing in the ranking’s history and an improvement over 2022, when it finished 92nd in the world and fifth in the country.
More than 2,500 institutions were evaluated for this year’s report, with Harvard, Stanford, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology making up the top three.
Other Canadian universities to make the top 100 include the University of Toronto, which placed first in Canada and 24th globally; the University of British Columbia, second in Canada and 44th globally; McGill University, which ranked 70th globally and third in Canada; and McMaster University, rounding out the top five in Canada and placing 98th overall.
Academic Ranking of World Universities
“This is great news for the U of A as we continue to move up the ARWU ranking — one of the most highly regarded university rankings in the world. This year’s result marks our best-ever ARWU ranking, a reflection of the outstanding research and teaching happening at the U of A,” University of Alberta president Bill Flanagan said.
“Our researchers are recognized as among the best in the world for innovative ideas and advancing solutions to some of the world’s greatest challenges. It’s a proud moment for all of us at the U of A.”
Six indicators are used for the ARWU ranking, which includes the faculty quality and the number of alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals. The number of highly cited researchers at an institution is another heavily-weighted factor.
The U of A credits virologist Michael Houghton’s Nobel Prize win in 2020 and 13 researchers from the U of A found on Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers list as significant factors for the university’s placement.
“We are home to some of the brightest students and researchers in the world. With the talent at the U of A, I have no doubt that we will continue to advance in global rankings with even greater impact in the world,” Flanagan continued.
Other criteria the ARWU considers include research output based on the number of Nature and Science publications over the previous five years and the number of papers indexed in the Science Citation Index Expanded and the Social Citation Index during the last year.
The University of Alberta’s strong performance in the 2023 ARWU rankings follows strong showings in other global rankings. Earlier this year, the U of A cracked the global top 10 in the THE Impact Rankings, which measures the universities against the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
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