The inaugural global university rankings released by US News and World Report (USN&WR) last week have caused some confusion. Here is a clarification on what these rankings mean and how they reflect on SPH and on BU.

First, and most importantly, these global university rankings do not rank schools of public health. In fact, a majority of the institutions listed don’t even have a school of public health. Rather these new rankings look at universities and at broad subject areas within universities. Second, the university rankings for “Social Sciences and Public Health” are not focused on public health. As defined by USN&WR, this broad subject area includes “…many different topics related to the people and organizations around us. Topics include communication, environmental studies, political science, social work, sociology, law, education, and tourism and hospitality.”

That being said, BU (not SPH) is ranked 25th in the world for its reputation and research in social sciences and public health. That ranking is substantially above the global ranking for BU as a whole (37th).

We can all be proud of the contribution that SPH has made to this high international ranking, but we must recognize it is not a ranking of our school. In the current schools of public health ranking, SPH is tied for #11. Surveys for the next school of public health rankings are now circulating, and the results and will be published in spring 2015.

For a more in-depth look at the USN&WR global university rankings, see BU Today.

Bob Meenan

 

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