I’m sure this comes as no surprise to my fellow Wolverines, but US News and World Report has just released their rankings of the top 400 world universities, and UM is both #14 overall and #1 among public universities.  You heard right: the US News folks think that the University of Michigan in the best public school in the world.  I guess we really do deserve the title “Harvard of the Midwest.”  Maybe the Sorbonne should start calling itself the “Michigan of France.”

Of course, the methodologies behind these rankings are infinitely debatable, and another organization using slightly different criteria might rank UM at a somewhat lower position– perhaps somewhere in the top 5 or top 10.  I’m no expert on these evaluations, so I can’t speak to US News’ methodology.  But if UM shows up as the top public university on any list, I’d say that means we’re doing a pretty good job.  If you click through to Michigan’s own page, you’ll also see that it’s the excellence of Michigan’s arts and humanities programs (as well as social sciences) that lands them in the top spot.  As a History and English major, I’m pretty proud of that as well.

But readers, I’m curious: what do you think makes Michigan the finest public institution of higher education anywhere?*  Weigh in with your comments!

*No, sadly, “our football team” is not an acceptable answer here.

2 Comments

• Steven says:

  October 20, 2011 at 2:33 am

  maybe it’s the basketball team then…

  Reply
  • Aaron Bekemeyer says:

    October 20, 2011 at 10:07 am

    We’ll soon find out!

    Reply