In its inaugural World’s Top Universities list released last month, TIME magazine ranked the University of Mississippi No. 359 out of the top 500. The list took into account academic performance, innovation, economic impact and international reach of the university.
TIME collaborated with German statistical analysis company Statista to release its first list of top universities. To qualify, universities had to be older than three years, enroll more than 2,000 students and offer bachelor’s degrees.
Institutions moved forward in the ranking process if they met one or more of the following criteria:
- At least one of the highly cited researchers listed by bibliometric firm Clarivate is among their faculty.
- They are among the most renowned and frequently mentioned institutions.
- They applied through the open call published on TIME’s website.
Per TIME’s methodology, academic capacity and performance made up 60% of a university’s score, innovation and economic impact made up 30% and global engagement 10%.
UM received a score of 44.60 out of a possible 100 in academic capacity and performance, 49.81 out of 100 in innovation and economic impact and 23.87 out of 100 in global engagement, resulting in a total score of 44.09.
The university was one of two Mississippi institutions featured on the list, the other being Mississippi State University, which placed 445th.
Junior journalism major Divinity Ham feels that the university was ranked correctly.
“I think that Ole Miss deserves this ranking, (but) if they were ranked higher, I wouldn’t be surprised,” Ham said. “Ole Miss has a lot going for it. There’s always something going on on campus or in Oxford. Their academics are pretty good, too. I’m glad I’m able to go to a school where I feel challenged academically and also get to be a part of such a well-rounded community.”
Jordan Clarke, a junior English major, also pointed to the community as a strong point for UM.
“I think we deserve to be a little higher. I feel like Ole Miss is underappreciated,” Clarke said. “I feel like people assume we aren’t good enough because (Ole Miss) is a Mississippi school and assume we’re only a party school. We’re more than that. We care for our community — our Ole Miss family. It really showed during the winter storm, so I think we deserve to be higher.”
Junior mechanical engineering major Nick Slater approved of the university’s spot on the list. The university’s ranking, Slater said, does not matter as much as aspects that cannot be measured in data, such as the campus life and the sense of belonging.
“It’s not just the institution,” Slater said. “It’s all the people who surround the institution. When I decided to come here, I wasn’t just planning on doing four years of school. I was planning on being a part of Oxford for four years. It had to be more than a classroom. It was a feeling. When I was here, I didn’t want to leave.”
