UT Climbs Higher in World Reputation Ranking

By Andrew Roush in Promote & Protect on March 5, 2013 at 11:34 am | No Comments

A new ranking puts UT among the most prestigious universities in the world.

Reputation is a hazy, hard-to-define idea. Colleges and universities, however, rely on their reputation to attract students, researchers, professors, and administrators. That’s why UT’s celebrating a new ranking from London’s Times Higher Education (THE) World Reputation Rankings. The University of Texas at Austin ranked 27th in the world this year, up from 32 in 2012.

The rankings, devised through an invitation-only poll of more than 16,000 scholars in 144 countries, represent the collective opinion of a select group of higher education experts. Data for THE’s rankings are provided by global news and information group Thomson Reuters.

“This ranking is based purely on subjective judgement, but it is the expert judgement of those who know excellence in teaching and research better than anyone else—experienced, informed and engaged academics,” wrote rankings editor Phil Baty prior to the release of the rankings.

The subjective reputation rankings are meant to supplement the more objective World University Rankings, also compiled by Times Higher Education. In the 2012 World University Rankings, UT jumped into the top 25 best universities in the world. Universities in east Asia have seen improvement in both Times rankings in recent years, though American and British universities still made up nearly three-quarters of the top 50 universities ranked in 2012.

Still, officials see importance in the positive recognition.

“The most valuable assessment is that of one’s peers, and I’m extremely proud that we continue to rise in reputational rankings,” said UT-Austin president Bill Powers. “This is a clear reflection of the excellence of UT Austin’s dedicated faculty, staff, and students.”

Tags: THE, Thomson Reuters, ut austin