Accountability Report 2023

Chapter 13:

 

Overview

Honors and rankings are one way to demonstrate the University’s performance. They reflect reputations and help to position the University nationally and internationally. This chapter first presents metrics of faculty awards and National Academy memberships. These represent some of the highest aspirations of research faculty, signaling noteworthy participation and contribution to research and scholarship in a particular area of expertise.

The University of California provides students across the economic spectrum with access to an educational and research environment comparable to the nation’s finest private institutions but on a significantly larger scale.

Universities are ranked in numerous ways, with publishers of rankings choosing criteria based on different audiences and different aims. U.S. News and World Report (USNWR) focuses on academic reputation, graduation rates, student selectivity, and financial resources to create its list of America’s Best Colleges. The Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities ranks institutions around the globe, primarily using faculty research productivity. Additional rankings for UC campuses are available at the link in the section below. While recognizing that these rankings may be useful sources of information, UC does not endorse any particular ranking system nor does it have specific goals with respect to any of them.




UC faculty receive prestigious awards as leaders in their fields.

13.1.1 Nobel Prizes by campus affiliation

Seventy faculty and researchers affiliated with the University of California have won 71 Nobel Prizes.

Learn who UC's Nobel prize winners are at the UC Laureates website

Chemistry

Economics

Literature

Medicine

Physics

Peace

Berkeley/ Berkeley Lab

10

6

1

1

9

Irvine

2

1

Livermore Lab

1

UCLA

3

1

1

2

Riverside

1

1

San Diego

5

3

6

2

1

San Francisco

6

Santa Barbara

2

1

4

Santa Cruz

 

 

1

 

 

 

 

 


13.1.2 Prizes, medals, and awards won by UC faculty
13.1.2

 

In addition to the prizes, medals, and awards presented in the chart above, many UC faculty are members of prestigious National Academies, providing leadership in service and general welfare to the nation.

National Academy of Sciences: 693

National Academy of Engineering: 285

National Academy of Medicine: 268

National Academy of Inventors: 123




Of the top ten national public universities in the U.S. News and World Report ranking, six are UC campuses and all nine undergraduate campuses are in the top fifty.

13.2.1 U.S. News: America’s Top National Public Universities, 2023

 

Public

National

UCLA

1*

20*

Berkeley

1*

20*

Santa Barbara

7

32

San Diego

8*

34*

Irvine

8*

34*

Davis

10

38

Santa Cruz

35

83

Riverside

38

89

Merced

42

97

*tie

The U.S. News and World Report, in its 2023 national university rankings, focused on academic reputation, financial resources, and selectivity in undergraduate admissions. Its assessment on these metrics placed UC campuses among the very best public universities in the country:

Note: Numerical rankings can provide false precision based on very small actual differences among campuses. Campuses are first assigned a score, and the scores are ranked. When the scores are clustered closely, a small change in score can have a large effect on the rank.




Three campuses rank in the top ten among all public and private universities for social mobility.

13.2.2 U.S. News: Top Performers on Social Mobility, 2023

Riverside

2

Merced

5

Irvine

7

Santa Barbara

15

Santa Cruz

18

Davis

27

UCLA

46

San Diego

53

Berkeley

105

The social mobility rankings are based on two ranking factors: Pell Grant graduation rates and how Pell Grant students graduate compared to those not receiving a Pell Grant.
The U.S. News website explains how the 2022-23 rankings were calculated.




Four UC campuses appear in the top 25 of the Academic Rankings of World Universities.

13.2.3 Shanghai Ranking Consultancy: Academic Rankings of World Universities, 2022

 

Global

National

Berkeley

5

4

UCLA

13

11

UCSF

19

15

San Diego

21

16

Santa Barbara

57

32

Irvine

61

33

Davis

101–150

40–54

Santa Cruz

151–200

55–62

Riverside

201–300

63–85

Merced

401–500

107–127

The rankings are based entirely on measures of research strength and faculty honors and awards.

This ranking system emphasizes research outputs, such as total research expenditures. Because research outputs are not normalized by number of faculty, larger institutions tend to rank more highly than smaller ones. Institutions with strong research programs, especially in the sciences, also tend to score higher than those whose major strengths are in the humanities and social sciences.




13.2 RANKINGS

Washington Monthly ranked five UC campuses in the top 50 institutions. 

13.2.4 Washington Monthly Research University Ranking, 2022

National
Berkeley 9
Davis 11
San Diego 20
UCLA 21
Merced 49
Irvine 56
Santa Barbara 66
Riverside 69
Santa Cruz 126

Washington Monthly ranks “National universities — four-year institutions that award a significant number of doctoral degrees — based on their contribution to the public good in three broad categories: social mobility, research, and promoting public service.”