Maryland universities named in list of top global institutions

Several Maryland universities have been ranked among the best in the world by a group that looks at 20,000 institutions of higher learning.

The Center for World University Rankings lists the top 2,000 of the 20,000 universities it scores. Six Maryland universities made the list, including Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland, College Park. Both achieved top-100 rankings.

The list was released Aug. 5.

Johns Hopkins was placed among the best universities in the world, ranking 18th on the center’s list. The University of Maryland, College Park cracked the top 100 with a 99th-place ranking.

The University of Maryland, Baltimore, which includes the School of Medicine and the School of Law, placed 253rd on the list.

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County ranked 642nd, helped by a strong research background.

“I am pleased that the impact of our faculty research continues to be recognized on the national and global scale,” Karl Steiner, UMBC’s vice president of research, said in a statement. “As one of the top 170 U.S. institutions in this CWUR review, we find ourselves in good company with many other well-known institutions.” 

The university said its ranking placed it in the top 3.3% of universities globally.

Towson University also made the list, ranking 1,650th. The school said that placed it in the top 9% of universities worldwide.

“TU continues to be not only a first-choice institution in our region of the United States, but among the most-respected in the world,” Kim Schatzel, the university’s president, said in a statement. “Our students partner with award-winning faculty and engage in world-changing research and experiences that allow them to thrive through their academic experience into the world of work.”

The United States Naval Academy in Annapolis also made it onto the list, with a global rank of 1,220.

The Center for World University Rankings, based in the United Arab Emirates, looks at four categories when compiling its rankings: the quality of education, alumni employment, research output and citations.

The United States typically does well in the rankings. This year the country had 358 of the top 2,000 universities in the world.

Harvard University; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Stanford University; Columbia University; Princeton University; the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Pennsylvania; and the University of Chicago all made the top 10. 

The University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford in Great Britain were the only non-U.S. universities to be ranked in the top 10.

China also placed several universities in the top 2,000, with 249 listed.