UCI ranked fourth among 100 young universities worldwide

Times Higher Education has ranked UCI fourth in a list released Wednesday, May 30, of the 100 best universities under 50 years old worldwide, making it the highest-placing U.S. university measured. UCI will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2015 and is the youngest institution in the prestigious Association of American Universities. The “100 Under 50” ranking aims to show which nations are challenging the U.S. and the United Kingdom as higher-education powerhouses – and offers insight into which institutions may become future world leaders. The same 13 performance benchmarks were used as in the “World University Rankings,” but subjective indicators of academic reputation carried less weight. East Asian countries contributed six institutions to the top 20. The U.K. has more universities on the list than any other nation, with 20. Writing in the Times Higher Education supplement that accompanies the ranking, Jamil Salmi, former tertiary education coordinator at the World Bank, notes that the creation of new universities with global ambitions is an important trend in higher education.