Pitt jumps in international rankings

Pitt jumped past almost 50 other universities to a world ranking in the 60s this year, according… Pitt jumped past almost 50 other universities to a world ranking in the 60s this year, according to a British publication.

The University of Pittsburgh was ranked 15th among U.S. public universities, 38th out of all U.S. universities and 64th worldwide by a Times Higher Education World University Rankings issued Sept. 16.

Pitt’s standing worldwide has jumped from its placement as 114th in the world for 2009 and 97th in the world for 2008’s rankings in the publication.

Times Higher Education analyzed the schools based on five criteria including teaching, international mix, industry income, research and citations.

Thomson Reuters, home to over 12,000 journals dating back to 1900, provided the data used in the magazine’s tables. Richard Reynolds, a researcher for Times Higher Education, said the researchers were able to use this information to calculate how often academics were cited.

“The magazine’s researchers came up with the system. However, the rankings are a result of consultation with a huge range of people,” Reynolds  said.

Reynolds said that an editorial board made up of worldwide experts in higher education and a platform group of 50 leaders in higher education provided feedback on the researchers’ methodology.

“Our method is extremely quantitative. We believe our tables give a fair showing to the public sector of the United States,” Reynolds said.

Student leaders and administrators applauded Pitt’s jump in rankings.

“It’s interesting to look at the tradition and history of Pitt,” Student Governtment Board president Charlie Shull said about the rankings. “It was 15 years ago when the University started to turn itself around. If you look at the population of the student body in 1995 in the Honors College, it is comparable to what the general population is today.”

Pitt Provost Patricia Beeson approved of the ranking and was quoted in an e-mail from Pitt spokesman John Harvith.

“It is very rewarding to have our strengths and our efforts recognized by others,” she said. “The University has a very strong community of students, staff and faculty, and we invest our limited resources both carefully and strategically.”

President of the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly Nila Devanath cited student research and student life as two improvements at the University in the past year.

“I think the advent of the OCC has helped to get all undergrads involved. It gives them an incentive — something tangible to be able to show a degree to an employer,” Devanath said.

Pitt is not the only ranked school in the Oakland area: Carnegie Mellon, a private university, placed 16th in the nation overall and 20th in the world.

“Carnegie Mellon University’s rating as a top university in the world validates many of the wonderful things we know about this institution – it is a strong global university with firm local roots in Pittsburgh,” Ken Walters, CMU’s senior media relations director, said.

In the past decade, Pitt and CMU have collaborated on hundreds of projects such as the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse, the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition and Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center, officials from both universities said.

“These innovations have significantly raised the quality of life in the region and beyond,” Walters said.

Some Pitt students were not surprised by Pitt’s impressive performance.

“Am I shocked that we’ve placed 38 out of all universities in the country while Penn State came in at number 61 and West Virginia is missing from the list? Not at all,” sophomore Kathryn Boyk said. “Everyone in the Pitt community should be very proud.”