UC San Diego was named on Monday the 17th best institution of higher learning in the world in the World University Rankings, four spots higher than last year.
The fifth annual list by the Saudi Arabia-based Center for World University Rankings was based primarily on quality of education, measured by the number of alumni who have won major international awards, prizes and medals relative to the university's size; alumni employment, measured by graduates who have held CEO positions at the world's top companies relative to the university's size; and the number of faculty who have won major international awards, prizes and medals.
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UCSD was the 14th best university in the U.S., and third best public college in the nation.
"It is an honor to once again be recognized as one of the world's most prestigious and influential universities," said UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep Khosla. "UC San Diego's faculty, students and scholars challenge conventional thinking and expectations in the pursuit of excellence, an inherent trait of the university since our founding in 1960."
Harvard University ranked first, followed by Stanford, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and two universities in England, Cambridge and Oxford.
San Diego State University was the only other local college within the top 1,000, coming in at No. 376.
Other criteria used to compile the rankings were publications, the number of research papers appearing in reputable journals; influence, or the number of research papers appearing in highly-influential journals; citations, the number of highly-cited research papers; broad impact, which measures productivity and impact of published work; and patents, the number of international patent filings.
UCSD ranked fifth in the world in the influence category.
