News

UC Berkeley top public and No. 4 best overall in U.S. News rankings

October 24, 2019
By: Yasmin Anwar
Cal Flag
UC Berkeley is the best public school in the world, according to a new ranking from U.S. News and World Report. (UC Berkeley photo by Elena Zhukova)

For the fifth straight year, UC Berkeley tops the list of public universities in global rankings by U.S. News & World Report.

And, for the third year in a row, the campus ranks fourth-best overall among publics and privates.

U.S. News’ 2020 rankings evaluated 1,500 universities across 81 countries based on published academic research and reputation, among other criteria.

Just as they did last year, Harvard, MIT and Stanford claimed the top three spots, with the UK’s University of Oxford right behind Berkeley to round out the top five.

The California Institute of Technology held on to sixth place, with Columbia, Princeton, the University of Cambridge and the University of Washington in Seattle finishing out the top 10.

Three other UC campuses made the top 20, with UCLA placing 14th, UCSF, 15th and UC San Diego 19th.

As for the top five public universities, UC Berkeley ranked first globally, followed by the University of Washington, UCLA, UCSF and the University of Michigan.

The U.S. News & World Report’s sixth-annual Best Global University Rankings, issued this week, use more than a dozen indicators to measure a university’s international and regional reputation and performance in academic research. On a scale of zero to 100, Berkeley’s global score this year is 90.3. The campus placed fourth for its global research standing and fourth for regional research reputation.

Across 23 subject ratings, UC Berkeley ranked first in chemistry; second in environment/ecology; third in economics and business, space science and in physics; fourth in biology and biochemistry and in plant and animal science; and fifth in mathematics, materials science and in engineering.

Each September, U.S. News & World Report issues its national university rankings, not to be confused with the global rankings announced each October.