In the most recent U.S. News & World Report, the University of Iowa dropped 45 spots in the Best Global Universities Rankings, while Iowa State University’s ranking dropped 81 spots.
The University of Iowa ranked 180th last year, but dropped to 225th in 2024. Iowa State University was ranked 263rd in 2023, but is now ranked 344th.
The list of the world’s best universities takes into account 2,250 university campuses in 104 countries. Last year, there were only 2,000 in 95 countries.
The University of Northern Iowa was not included in the rankings in either year.
More: Iowa City is one of 21 communities to receive HUD’s multimillion-dollar affordable housing grant
The US News and World rankings use strict criteria
The US News and World Report Best International Universities ranking assesses the quality of international universities based on 13 key criteria.
These statistics include:
Global research reputation (12.5%), Regional research reputation (12.5%), Publications (10%), Books (2.5%), Conferences (2.5%), Normalized citation impact (10%), Total citations (7.5%), Number of publications that are in the top 10% most cited (12.5%), Percentage of total publications that are in the top 10% most cited (10%), International collaboration, relative to country (5%), and Number of highly cited articles that are in the top 1% most cited articles in their respective field (5%).
More: Iowa City Jazz Festival returns with fireworks and Grammy-nominated acts
Global vs. National Rankings
The University of Iowa achieved an overall score of 63.8, while Iowa State University achieved a score of 59.8.
The Global University Ranking differs from the more common National University Ranking for the United States, however. The University of Iowa is ranked 93rd among national universities, and Iowa State is ranked 115th. The criteria for ranking positions vary globally and nationally.
University of Iowa spokesman Steve Schmadeke said in an email to the Press-Citizen that the school is increasingly focused on its global position.
“Because the global rankings focus on such a narrow scope (one that doesn’t consider access, success, or student outcomes) and have such opaque criteria, the university doesn’t put much emphasis on them,” Schmadeke said. “In contrast, U.S. News collects all of its own data for its Best Colleges and Best Graduate Schools rankings, which rely heavily on student- and school-specific data, such as admissions test scores, graduation rates, retention rates, class sizes, and financial resources.”
The Global University Report relies heavily on academic reputation surveys conducted by Clarivate, a British-American publicly traded analysis firm, the methodology guide says. Other lists come directly from U.S. News and World Report.
More: Iowa City is one of 21 communities to receive HUD’s multimillion-dollar affordable housing grant
How do the University of Iowa and Iowa State University compare to their peers?
In 2014, the Iowa Board of Regents approved a list of peer institutions for each university to use in their report cards. The board updated the list of institutions for the University of Iowa and Iowa State University last year.
In the rankings, the University of Iowa is ranked lower than the 10 other schools designated by the Iowa Board of Regents, while Iowa State University is in the middle of the rankings, with five schools ranked lower than ISU.
The only Big Ten university and the University of Iowa to appear in the top 20 of the global list is the University of Michigan, which ranks No. 19. Six of the University of Iowa’s peers were in the top 100, and all 10 of its peers were in the top 150.
Notable rankings in the University of Iowa peer group:
19. University of Michigan (83.7)
47. University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (76.7)
61. Ohio State University (74.9)
63. University of Minnesota-Minneapolis (74.7)
74. University of Wisconsin-Madison (73.7)
100. University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign (71.9)
225. University of Iowa (63.8)
Notable rankings in Iowa State’s peer group:
123. Michigan State University (69.3)
167. Purdue University (67.0)
262. North Carolina State University (62.0)
278. Virginia Polytechnic & State University (61.3)
311. Colorado State University (60.0)
344. Iowa State University (59.8)
Jessica Rish is an entertainment, food and business reporter for the Iowa City Press-Citizen. She can be reached at JRish@press-citizen.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rishjessica_
This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Where Iowa Universities Rank in the 2024 U.S. News Global Rankings
