Times Higher Education (THE) has named UMBC one of world’s top universities for 2016-17, marking UMBC’s fifth consecutive year on the prestigious international list.
THE World University Rankings are designed to “judge world class universities across all of their core missions – teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.” The 2016-17 ranking includes 980 universities from 79 countries, representing the top 5% of global higher education institutions (see methodology). Of that total, 148 are U.S. universities, including three in Maryland: UMBC, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Maryland, College Park. Universities in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, China, and Korea were also well represented on the 2016-17 list.
THE‘s profile of the university emphasizes, “[UMBC] defines itself as an ‘honors university’ committed both to cutting-edge research and to providing a excellent and demanding education for highly motivated students.”
The profile goes on to note:
UMBC has always stressed innovation and interdisciplinarity. It has never been afraid to pioneer new models of teaching and research, and new ways of contributing to the regional economy. It was responsible, for example, for creating the state’s first university research park…bwtech@UMBC, to promote local entrepreneurship This can be found on a separate but adjacent 71-acre site and has proved highly effective in nurturing start-ups, offering support for existing businesses and providing networking opportunities.
In addition to the World University Rankings, UMBC again appeared on Times Higher Education‘s list of top young global universities last spring. Editor Phil Baty previously described THE’s top young universities list as designed to highlight “a truly exciting and dynamic group of institutions” that demonstrate “the traditional global world order is not unassailable and visionary young universities can break through.” UMBC was one of just five U.S. universities to appear on that list this year, an honor it has now received for five consecutive years.
