UNITED STATES—UC Berkeley is the #1 public university in the nation, with UC San Francisco ranked close behind at #6, according to the Center for World University (CWUR) 2015 Rankings.
The annual list ranks the top 1000 universities in the world, and is “the only global university ranking that measures the quality of education and training of students as well as the prestige of the faculty members and the quality of their research without relying on surveys and university data submission,” according to the CWUR website.
Their methodology to determine the rankings relies on a combination of eight factors, including the number of a university’s alumni and faculty members who have won distinctive international awards and medals, the number of university research papers appearing in reputable or highly-influential journals, the number of a university’s alumni who have held CEO positions at the world’s top companies and the number of international patents filed by the university or its affiliates. All factors are considered relative to the university’s size using a mathematical formula.
A complete technical description of the CWUR’s evaluation methodology can be read here.
UCLA is ranked as the #2 public university, and UC San Diego is #4.
In relation to the rest of the world, which includes both public and private universities from all nations, UC Berkeley is ranked #7, and UCSF #26. San Francisco State University also made the list at #712.
Stanford University is #2 in the top 1000 universities in the world, just behind Harvard.
Last year, the Academic Ranking of World Universities named UC Berkeley as #4 and UCSF as #16 in the nation for their 2014 top 500 universities list. Their 2015 rankings are scheduled to be published on August 15.
UCSF was also recently named the number three best medical school for primary care, and tied with Johns Hopkins University for the spot of number three best medical school for research, according to the 2016 Best Graduate Schools Rankings by U.S. News & World Report.
