UW ranks 30th worldwide in CWUR list

The University of Wisconsin–Madison was ranked 30th worldwide and 20th in the United States in the 2025 edition of the Global 2000 list by the Center for World University Rankings.

That puts UW in the top 0.2% of the 21,462 universities ranked worldwide.

“We at UW–Madison gain our greatest satisfaction from helping our students reach their highest potential, generating new knowledge through research and creative endeavors in many disciplines, and creating a mutually reinforcing learning environment across our community,” said Provost Charles Isbell. “It’s icing on the cake when our quality is noticed in university rankings.”

CWUR assesses the quality of education, employability, quality of faculty, and research without relying on surveys and university data submissions. Equal emphasis is put on student-related and faculty-related indicators.

UW’s rank in each of the four categories worldwide was 38th in education, 115th in employability, 34th in faculty and 45th in research.

CWUR is a consulting organization providing policy advice, strategic insights and consulting services to governments and universities to improve educational and research outcomes.

The ranking was created in 2012 with the aim of ranking the top 100 global universities. In 2019, the ranking expanded to list the top 2,000 universities worldwide.

In another recent ranking, UW–Madison was ranked 41st worldwide and 24th in North America in the Strategic Trends in Academic Global Excellence 2025 World University Rankings. Universities were ranked on Student Outcomes (25%), Teaching Quality (20%), Access & Equity (15%), Global Impact (20%) and Safety & Bias (20%).