UIC a top 10 best value, top 25 public university in Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education’s national rankings
The University of Illinois Chicago continues to be one of the nation’s top best value universities, according to the 2021 edition of the Wall Street Journal and Times Higher Education rankings, which were released last week.
According to the latest rankings, UIC remained in the top 25 public universities in the country — ranked 22nd among the 340 U.S. public universities — and was placed ahead of seven Big Ten universities.
The Wall Street Journal and Times Higher Education also published a “Best Values” list based on overall ranking, tuition, fees, housing, and federal and institutional aid for the top 250 ranked public and private universities. UIC was included among the top 10 best value universities for the third year in a row, the only university in the state of Illinois to be recognized in this capacity.
“Since their inception in 2018, the Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education rankings have consistently recognized UIC’s continuing growth and evolution and included our University among the leading public research universities in the country,” UIC Chancellor Michael Amiridis said. “We are providing proof that affordability and academic excellence can coexist in an inclusive and thriving academic environment built to promote student success.”
The WSJ/THE overall rankings are based on 15 institutional performance factors across four pillars: resources, engagement, student outcomes and environment. The ranking also relies on public data and other sources, including the annual Times Higher Education U.S. Student Survey, which gathers more than 170,000 responses to examine “students’ engagement with their studies, their interaction with their teachers and their satisfaction with their experience.” The student survey was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, so the data for the three student-engagement metrics use the scores obtained by institutions last year.
UIC also was ranked 13th overall among both public and private universities in the environment category, which considers student and staff diversity, student inclusion and the proportion of international students.
Last week UIC climbed by eight spots to 52nd among public national universities in the latest rakings from U.S. News & World Report, which also placed the university among the top 30 ethnically diverse and top 30 economically diverse universities, among both public and private institutions. U.S. News & World Report ranked UIC 10th in the social mobility category, which assesses the graduation rates of students who receive Pell Grants, which are given to students whose total family incomes are less than $50,000 annually.
UIC, the second-largest university in Illinois, set a new record for the sixth year in row for the largest enrollment in its history. Total enrollment for the 2020 fall semester reached 33,518 students.
