Michigan State University is ranked in the top 8% of higher education institutions in the nation, according to QS Quacquarelli Symonds, a global higher education research company and publisher of the QS World University Rankings. QS released its inaugural ranking of America’s top universities today, with the institutions’ commitment to diversity, employability and internationalization driving the results.
“I am pleased Michigan State’s excellence and competitiveness once again are validated with a high rank among our research university peers,” MSU President Samuel L. Stanley Jr., M.D., said. “The criteria considered in this new ranking comprise a broad look at the quality of an institution, which I think would be of interest to students and families considering options for higher education.”
The first QS World University Rankings: USA was designed to assess how well universities are responding to the social, intellectual and economic challenges of our time, including the global pandemic.
“QS has been surveying prospective university students since the start of the global pandemic, with more than 33,000 students sharing the impact of the emergency on their plans,” said QS CEO Nunzio Quacquarelli. “Though COVID-19’s effects on higher education will resonate for years to come, our ongoing research reveals that students are not deterred from pursuing their education and career goals.”
Universities are ranked according to their research performance and career outcomes for students, as well as a range of indicators assessing each institution’s social impact and efforts to foster equitability. Such indicators include gender pay gap, faculty gender diversity, the ratio of undergraduate students receiving Pell Grants and retention rate.
“It is our hope that this inaugural ranking will provide prospective students with an insightful comparative tool and point of view as they prepare for the next steps in their educational journey,” Quacquarelli said.
In total, QS initially considered 769 institutions and named 300 institutions as the best four-year universities in the United States; MSU ranks #56 overall. The four key metric groups evaluated in the survey were research, learning experience, employability, and diversity and internationalization.
“As the global graduate jobs market becomes even more competitive, our research suggests that students are placing a greater emphasis on this information,” said Ben Sowter, research director at QS. “With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic further disrupting the graduate employment market, we predict that concern about the relationship between education and employability will intensify.”