Shanghai Jiao Tong University has been publishing its Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) since 2003. This year they published for the first time their rankings by broad subject fields. Illinois was ranked third globally in the Engineering/Technology and Computer Sciences and twentieth in Natural Sciences and Mathematics.
The criteria for rankings are the number of Nobel Laureates, Fields Medals, and highly-cited researchers or papers published in Nature or Science among the institutions' alumni and faculty. Also taken into account is the per capita academic performance of an institution. More than one thousand institutions were ranked in each broad subject field.
Of the top 100 universities that made the engineering/technology and computer sciences list, only MIT and Stanford University ranked ahead of Illinois. University of Michigan tied with Illinois, also ranking third.
Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) was instigated by some Chinese universities' interest in learning their world rank.
To read the complete list of rankings, visit the ARWU Web site at http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/ARWU-FIELD.htm.
