The University of Illinois System has two universities that are among the top 15 public institutions in the nation, according to a newly designed set of rankings highlighting institutions that best serve the needs of students and are effecting positive social and economic change, such as equitability and sustainability.
The rankings were developed by QS Quacquarelli Symonds, a global higher education research company that has published the QS World University Rankings for nearly two decades. The new rankings target the best in the U.S., and rank the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as 10th among public universities, with the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) at 14th.
Urbana ranked ahead of all public universities in the Big Ten except the University of Michigan, UIC was ahead of all Big Ten publics except Michigan and Rutgers, and both schools were ahead of many peers in the Association of American Universities, which is made up of the nation’s leading research universities.
“Our core mission from the very beginning has been focused squarely on impact for the public good – creating the human and intellectual capital that drives progress,” said Tim Killeen, president of the U of I System. “I am honored that both of our top-tier research universities are regarded as pacesetters, and we will continue channeling their resources to serve the needs of Illinois and beyond.”
The inaugural QS World University Rankings: USA were developed to assess how the nation’s research universities are responding to pressing social and economic challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic. Universities are ranked based on research performance, learning environment, career outcomes for students and social impact indicators such as efforts to foster diversity, inclusion and parity. Indicators range from percentage of undergraduates receiving Pell grants to faculty gender diversity and gender pay gap.
QS initially looked at more than 750 U.S. institutions before compiling its list of the nation’s top 300 public and private universities.
