CWUR ranks U of A among top 0.5% of world universities

June 9, 2025

The Center for World University Rankings recognizes the University of Arizona as one of the world's best research universities.

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The Center for World University Rankings puts the University of Arizona among the top 50 universities in the United States.

The University of Arizona was ranked No. 102 overall in the 2025 edition of the Center for World University Rankings, released June 2. The U of A also placed No. 49 among U.S. institutions and No. 26 among public colleges and universities. 

The ranking placed the U of A among the top 0.5% of more than 21,400 colleges and universities worldwide. 
CWUR uses the following categories to rank the world's universities. The percentages indicate the weight given to each indicator:

  • Quality of education, measured by the number of alumni who have won major academic distinctions relative to the university's size (25% of the overall ranking)
  • Employability, measured by the number of alumni who have held top executive positions at the world's largest companies relative to the university's size (25%)
  • Quality of faculty, measured by the number of faculty members who have won major academic distinctions (10%)

The Center also ranks based on research performance:
•    Research output, measured by the total number of research articles (10%)
•    High-quality publications, measured by the number of research articles appearing in top-tier journals (10%)
•    Influence, measured by the number of research articles appearing in influential journals (10%).
•    Citations, measured by the number of highly cited research articles (10%).

The number of faculty members who have been awarded major academic distinctions contributed to the university's showing, with the U of A placing No. 75 overall in this category. The U of A earned an overall score of 81.9 out of a possible 100, as well as a global ranking of No. 117 in the research performance category.

CWUR places equal emphasis on student-related and faculty-related indicators, with no reliance on surveys and university data submissions. According to CWUR, this year's ranking incorporated more than 74 million outcome-based data points.