Wall Street Journal and Times Higher Education name UMBC a top university, excelling in student engagement

Published: Sep 24, 2020

UMBC has again been named one of the top U.S. universities in this year’s newly-released Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education (THE) College Ranking. The ranking describes itself as “designed to put graduate success and student learning at its heart.” UMBC comes in at #270 nationwide, and in the top 800 worldwide.

UMBC spirit pack with pins, stickers, and other giveaways
UMBC welcome pack for new students, fall 2020.

Areas of leadership

Across key areas measured, UMBC performs particularly well in student engagement and campus environment. 

A portion of the ranking relies on the THE Student Survey, which reflects feedback from 170,000 U.S. college students on their educational journeys. UMBC’s strength in student engagement reflects feedback from this survey. This includes positive ratings from students on how likely they are to recommend the university to family or friends. It also includes their views on if courses are challenging and to what extent UMBC supports critical thinking.

Under environment, UMBC has particularly strong scores in student and faculty diversity. This echoes UMBC’s recent U.S. News rankings. In addition to naming UMBC #11 for undergraduate teaching and #9 for innovation nationally, U.S. News again recognized UMBC as one of the top schools in the nation for ethnic diversity.

International rankings

UMBC has also recently appeared in other prominent rankings by international groups, including other rankings by London-based THE. The 2020 Times Higher Education Golden Age ranking places UMBC in the top 150 global universities established between 50 and 80 years ago. This ranking highlights universities that have made an exceptional impact while still being relatively young institutions.

Additionally, UMBC ranked in the top 3.5 percent of 20,000 universities worldwide in the Center for World University Rankings’ 2020 – 21 list.

Featured image: UMBC’s Albin O. Kuhn Library, 2016. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

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