The University of Florida ranked No. 1 overall among the nation’s “prominent” public and private colleges, according to the City Journal College Ranking, released Oct. 22.
UF ranked No. 1 in the College Ranking category for “commitment to meritocracy” and “student free speech.” It ranked No. 2 in the “payback education investment” category.
“This recognition for UF is something we should all be proud of. It demonstrates that at the University of Florida, we have anticipated the re-thinking of the true value of a university education and have invested strategically in our programs and in our culture to seize this moment of opportunity,” UF Board of Trustees Chair Mori Hosseini and UF Interim President Donald W. Landry wrote in an email sent to UF students, faculty, staff and alumni.
City Journal evaluated 100 colleges using 68 measures across 21 categories related to “leadership quality,” “educational experience,” “outcomes,” and “student experience” to produce its inaugural College Ranking.
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City Journal’s College Rankings combine data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), the Department of Education’s College Scorecard, and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s College Free Speech Rankings. Researchers also developed their own measures to “holistically evaluate the nation’s most prominent schools”, according to John D. Sailer and Keven Wallsten, fellows at the conservative think tank Manhattan Institute who worked on the College Rankings.
Similar measures were grouped into categories, with more important categories given higher point caps and less important categories given lower point caps.
For example, the student ideological pluralism category, measured by self-reported student ideology and the left-right balance of student groups on campus, accounts for 5% of a school’s overall score while the payback education investment category, measured by how many years it will take a student to recoup their educational investment to attend college, accounts for 12.5%.
The most important measures in the rankings included values added to education (15%), heterodox infrastructure (13%), payback education investment (12.5%), commitment to meritocracy (10 percent) and value added to career (10%).
Overall scores were calculated using total points across 21 categories, with point caps adding up to 100. Total scores near 100 indicate stronger overall performance and scores near 0 indicate weaker performance.
UF received an overall score of 72%. The university received a score of 4 out of 20 for educational experience, 17 out of 20 for leadership quality, 29 out of 40 for outcomes, and 11 out of 20 for student experience.
City Journal’s analysis rewarded institutions that had more ideological diversity among faculty, did not receive recognition for diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, produced higher-than-expected earnings outcomes for students, and gave students coursework that was “easy to manage.”
City Journal acknowledged UF for its high rates of graduation and retention. It also praised the university’s commitment to free speech, dismantling of DEI, and the efforts of the new Hamilton School of Classical and Civic Engagement, which focuses on American civics and western civilization.
Two other Florida colleges made the list. Florida State University ranked No. 7 overall, and the University of Miami ranked No. 52 overall.
The U.S. News & World Report recently ranked UF the No. 7 public university in the nation.
City Journal is a public policy magazine published by the conservative think tank Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: University of Florida ranks No. 1 in new City Journal College Ranking