Campus News

UB ranks 31st among U.S. public colleges in WSJ/THE rankings

Students walking on the North Campus.

This year’s Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education rankings take into account approximately 174,000 responses from students to the Times Higher Education U.S. Student Survey. Photo: Douglas Levere

By DAVID J. HILL

Published September 5, 2019 This content is archived.

Print

While earning high praise from students for value and its learning environment, UB ranks No. 31 among the nation’s top public universities in the 2020 Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education College Rankings, released Wednesday night.

UB is ranked No. 5 among public universities in the Northeast and No. 48 among all colleges in the Northeast, an improvement of eight spots from last year. UB comes in at No. 110 out of 801 U.S. universities, up 10 spots from last year’s rankings.

UB also rated highly in the category of resources, which measures the spending that schools invest in instruction and student services. UB topped all public universities in the Northeast in this category.

The WSJ/THE rankings differ from other ratings in that their methodology incorporates student success and learning by including the results of the Times Higher Education U.S. Student Survey.

This year’s rankings take into account approximately 174,000 responses from students to survey questions, including whether they feel inspired and motivated by their classmates, whether they think their college is worth what they and their families are paying, and if they’d choose the same school if they had to start all over again.

Student survey responses give UB high marks for each of the three sentiments measured on a scale of zero to 10, with 10 representing strongest agreement. Here’s how UB fared:

  • 8.1/10: Do you think your college will be worth what you and your family are paying?
  • 7.9/10: If you could start over, would you still choose this college?
  • 7.5/10: Does your college provide an environment where you feel you are surrounded by exceptional students who inspire and motivate you?

The WSJ/THE rankings emphasize how well a college will prepare students for life after graduation. The overall ranking is based on 15 factors across four main categories.

Forty percent of each school’s overall score comes from student outcomes, including measures of graduate salaries and debt burdens. Academic resources account for 30%, while 20% is derived from how well a university engages its students. Diversity accounts for 10%.

The rankings are currently available on the Wall Street Journal website with a subscription. They will be available to everyone on the Times Higher Education website Sept. 25.