Boston University has been ranked the 32nd best global university by U.S. News and World Report, the publication announced Tuesday. BU’s rank climbed five places from 37th, its ranking in U.S. News’ first annual report last year.
BU received a global score of 74.7 out of 100, based on a calculating method by Thomson Reuters’ InCites research tool, a press release stated. The score was based on 12 indicators, including global and regional research reputation, number of publications, normalized citation impact and international collaboration, according to the release.
This year’s rankings included 750 universities from 57 countries. American universities claimed the top four places with Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University ranking first, second, third and fourth, respectively.
Robert Morse, chief data strategist at U.S. News, said in an email that although BU’s rank hiked five places this year, it is “worth noting that this is only the second year U.S. News has published Best Global Universities.”
Compared to peer universities, Morse said, BU’s rise in ranking can be attributed to the university’s emphasis on research.
“BU makes a strong showing as an academic research institution — placing in the top four percent of the top 750 overall global universities and in 13 of 22 subject rankings,” Morse said.
Amanda Miller, managing director of BU Global Programs, said the BU Study Abroad program and diverse international student population increased its competitiveness on the global stage.
“We send roughly over 2,400 students for study as well as internship to 34 different locations around the world annually,” she said in an email. “We have the international diversity found on campus with over 8,300 international student and 1,100 international scholars from 134 different countries.”
Miller added that BU’s strong performance is also tied to BU President Robert Brown’s Strategic Plan introduced in 2007. The plan set goals to strengthen BU’s leadership as an urban and global research university, she said.
“The global connectivity of research from individual faculty as well as numerous centers on campus, such as the Center for Global Health & Development and the Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, continued to enhance BU’s reputations as global research University,” Miller said.
Andy Andres, a professor of natural science at the College of General Studies, said that the report, which ranks BU as 97th best in publication and 20th best in normalized citation impact, indicates the high quality of the university’s research.
“Across [the] university, the faculty here publishes as much as they can quite extensively. The key though, beyond publication, really is the citation impact … that is an indication of the quality of our research,” he said. “The fact our number of publication is lower than citation impact is in indicator that the research happening at the university is quite outstanding.”
Several students said they are glad to know that BU is known as a diverse and internationally recognized university.
Gena Su, a graduate student in the College of Fine Arts, said that ranking was a considerable factor in determining her choice of graduate school.
“I emphasize more on the major rank,” she said. “Boston University has a big [reputation] in China, and when we mention Boston University, my parents or my other classmates, they will express ‘Wow, that must be a great university.’”
Tina Wang, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, also from China, said she has gained knowledge from the variety of cultures present on campus.
“[In my dorm last year] there is one student from China, and one from California but she speaks Korean,” she said. “There’s another one, and she’s Indian, but she moved a lot and she lives in Singapore now.”
Joon Yong Choi, a junior in Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, was born in Korea but raised in New Jersey, and said although he doesn’t think BU’s rank will alter the way he receives education on campus, he is proud of what BU has achieved.
“Considering the five-point jump, I don’t know how it would affect how I study or exactly how I approach my classes,” he said. “But it does feel good to know that BU does keep climbing.”
