Shanghai Ranking Boosts Engineering

NC State improved in the field of “engineering/technology and computer sciences” on a prestigious international scorecard of universities, jumping two spots from last year to rank No. 27 in the world for 2013.

The Center for World-Class Universities at Shanghai Jiao Tong University has published a list of the world’s top 500 universities every year since 2003. In recent years it has identified the top 200 universities in specific fields, such as engineering, social sciences, economics and business, and medicine.

Known as the Shanghai ranking–or more formally as the Academic Ranking of World Universities–the lists are based on a methodology that tracks six objective indicators. Unlike the better known ranking of “Best Colleges” marketed by U.S. News & World Report, the Shanghai ranking does not include subjective measures of an institution’s reputation.

Instead, metrics include the number of alumni and faculty winning a Nobel Prize or Fields Medal, number of highly cited researchers selected by Thomson Scientific, number of articles published in the journals Nature and Science, number of articles indexed in Science Citation Index Expanded and Social Sciences Citation Index, and per capita performance with respect to the size of an institution.

Good News Across the Board

NC State’s position on the engineering list is on the rebound. In 2007 and 2008, the university ranked in the top 25, then fell to 34th in 2009. It has improved every year since then, ranking 32nd in 2010, 30th in 2011 and 29th last year.

Engineering isn’t the only bright spot for NC State in the Shanghai ranking this year. The university scored in the top 75 for mathematics, the top 75 for economics and business, and the top 100 for both social sciences and computer sciences.

Overall, NC State ranks among the top 200 world universities for 2013. It debuted on the list in 2003 at No. 99.