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Indiana University programs highly ranked in annual Academic Ranking of World Universities

For Immediate Release Aug 30, 2018

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana University Bloomington programs in library and information science, communication, public administration and business finance ranked among the top 10 in the world, according to the 2018 Academic Ranking of World Universities.

Also ranked highly were the IU School of Nursing program in Indianapolis and IU Bloomington programs in business management and administration, sociology, economics, education, psychology, tourism management and law.

The Academic Ranking of World Universities, an assessment of the top 500 institutions across the globe, is produced by the ShanghaiRanking Consultancy. It uses a methodology that includes faculty and alumni awards and faculty publications. The 2018 report was released this month.

Exterior of Luddy Hall
Luddy Hall, home of the School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering and IU’s second-ranked program in library and information science.

“The Academic Ranking of World Universities provides additional evidence that Indiana University’s academic programs are among the best in the world,” IU President Michael A. McRobbie said. “Rankings don’t reflect the breadth of teaching, learning and research that take place across the university, but measures such as this affirm the excellent work being done by faculty in many IU programs.”

At IU Bloomington, library and information science ranked second in the world, behind Harvard. Communication ranked sixth and public administration seventh. Business programs ranked eighth in finance, 11th in administration and 15th in management. Sociology ranked 13th.

The rankings refer to academic disciplines. At IU Bloomington, the library and information science program is in the School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering. Public administration is in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Communications programs are largely in The Media School. Business programs are in the Kelley School of Business. Sociology is in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Other top-50 programs included nursing at IUPUI and economics, education, psychology, tourism management and law at IU Bloomington. Additional programs at both campuses were included in the top 75 or top 100 worldwide.

The annual Academic Ranking of World Universities was first published in 2003. ShanghaiRanking Consultancy, an independent ranking organization, has produced the rankings since 2009. It rates programs on five indicators: alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals; highly cited researchers identified by Thomson Reuters; articles published in Nature and Science; articles indexed in Science Citation Index-Expanded and Social Sciences Citation Index; and per-capita performance.

More than 1,200 universities are ranked every year, and the top 500 are published.

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