2 International Rankings Place UMD Among Best Universities

The University of Maryland placed in the top 2% of more than 2,500 universities worldwide and No. 13 among U.S. public institutions in the 2026 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) released by ShanghaiRanking on Friday.

The ARWU ranks institutions each year on academic and research excellence, weighing factors such as Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals earned by alums and faculty, the number of highly cited researchers, publications in top journals like Nature and Science, and overall research performance. This year, UMD saw the greatest improvement in its number of highly cited researchers. 

UMD also ranks among the top 0.5% of universities in the world — and in the top 25 among U.S. public universities — in the 2026 Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) Global 2000 list, released in June. 

Now in its 15th year, CWUR evaluates more than 20,000 institutions using seven indicators across four areas: education, employability, faculty and research. These metrics assess alum achievements, faculty distinctions, and research output, quality, influence and citations to provide a comprehensive measure of global university performance.

The university continues to excel in global ranking recognitions. In U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 Best Global Universities rankings, released in June, UMD placed among the top 4% of universities worldwide, No. 13 among public U.S. institutions and No. 32 overall nationally.