UC Irvine Ranks 8th In The Nation's Best Public Universities

IRVINE, CA — The University of California, Irvine is ranked eighth among the nation’s public universities in U.S. News & World Report’s 2021 list of “Best Colleges,” released this week.

This is the sixth consecutive year in which UCI has placed in the top 10.

UCI is 35th among all American universities – public and private – and rose to second in the subcategory of social mobility, which takes into account the graduation rate of students awarded Pell Grants.

The annual U.S. News list, which started in 1983, has ratings derived from 15 indicators of academic quality and diversity.

Evaluators considered 1,922 institutions for the 2021 report.

Chancellor Howard Gillman had this to say about the report:

“I am delighted that U.S. News & World Report has once again recognized UCI’s overall excellence by including us in its listing of the top 10 public universities in the nation,” Gillman says. “This ranking is testament to the hard work and dedication of our extraordinary faculty, outstanding staff and talented students.”

Certain undergraduate programs were evaluated in the report, including a new category of undergraduate computer sciences, where UCI came in 25th. The school jumped up two slots from last year to 37th in engineering and rose six slots from 2019, as 32nd in business.

In addition, UC Irvine is now rated 15th-best in the country, as a college for veterans, 19th for most international students, and 42nd for most innovative schools.

Available online at www.usnews.com/colleges, these results come on the heels of placing 13th nationally (sixth among public institutions) in a Money review – and previous rankings of No. 1 on Sierra magazine’s “Cool Schools” list of sustainability leaders in U.S. and Canadian higher education and No. 1 among America’s public universities for best value by Forbes, according to the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce.

And twice in a row, for its commitment to upward mobility, UCI has topped The New York Times’ College Access Index of U.S. universities “doing the most for the American dream.”