Time Names UMD Among World’s Top Universities

The University of Maryland was recognized in Time magazine’s inaugural list of the World's Top Universities of 2026, which highlights institutions that exemplify academic excellence globally. In addition to its top 100 global recognition, the university ranked No. 17 among U.S. The World's Top Universities of 2026 | TIME public institutions. 

Institutions were evaluated on three pillars: academic capacity and performance, innovation and economic impact, and global engagement. Across the 18 factors considered in the ranking, UMD performed exceedingly well for its resources devoted to teaching and research, scholarly output and academic excellence, ranking No. 9 among U.S. public universities. 

This ranking is the latest to recognize UMD’s stature as a top 20 U.S. public university. These accolades include: 

• No. 16 in U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges list, the university’s highest-ever ranking
• No. 10 on Forbes’ America’s Top Colleges list
• No. 10 for graduation rates in a report by The Chronicle of Higher Education
• No. 11 among U.S. public institutions—our highest ranking to date—and No. 29 overall in the nation in U.S. News & World Report’s list of 2025-26 Best Global Universities
• Top 2% of more than 2,500 universities in the 2025 Academic Ranking of World Universities.
• No. 9 among public institutions in research spending in the National Science Foundation’s Higher Education Research and Development survey