The Young Universities Summit wrapped up at the University of South Florida Thursday. But before that, the United Kingdom-based publication sponsoring the summit, Times Higher Education, released its annual list of the best "young universities."
Among "Golden Age" schools - those founded between 1945 and 1967 - USF was tied for fifth in the U.S. and 36th worldwide with the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Phil Baty, the Times' editorial director for global rankings, spoke to WUSF's University Beat via Skype about some of USF's strengths.
“USF, I think really came out to us as a university that is very passionate, very driven, very much committed to constant improvement, committed to global partnership," Baty said.
He added that his publication uses the same method to rank young universities as it does in its rankings of the top 1,000 universities in the world.
“We use 13 different metrics," Baty said. "We’re looking at teaching excellence, research excellence, we’re looking at international collaboration, and we also look at a university’s interaction with business and industry.”
All four American schools finishing in front of USF on the Golden Age list are from the University of California system, led by University of California San Diego, which topped the worldwide list as well.
Times Higher Education doubled the list from 100 to 200 this year because of rapid university expansion and increasing investment in research. However, the new entries are grouped 101-150 and 151-200 instead of being individually ranked.
Florida Atlantic University and Florida Institute of Technology placed in the 101-150 group.
That expansion means Japan is now the most-represented country in the table, with 28 universities, up from just one last year.
The UK is second with 23 representatives, up four from last year. China also improved greatly, going from five universities on the list to 17.
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