Duke ranks 18th in Times Higher Education world rankings

Duke was ranked 18th in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, one spot lower than its placement of 17th last year.

The World University Rankings, which was founded in 2004, is one of the most widely observed rankings for schools around the globe. 

More schools from the U.S. joined the rankings this year, up from 157 last year to 172 institutions on the list of 1,250 schools. However, U.S. schools across the rankings tended to either retain or fall in rankings—only 42 U.S. schools actually improved their ranking.

The World University Rankings applies a methodology that uses 13 performance indicators to obtain their final list. These performance indicators are grouped into five areas: teaching, research, citations, international outlook and industry income. Between these areas, teaching, research and citations each make up 30 percent of the total score, while international outlook and industry income combine to round out the last 10 percent. The calculations of the rankings is also audited by the professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. 

For the third year in a row, the University of Oxford topped the rankings thanks to its high ratings in the research field. Cambridge and Stanford University also kept their positions, maintaining second and third respectively in the rankings. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill retained its position from last year at 56th.

In a ranking of only U.S. schools from THE, Duke placed 13th.