The beginning of the University of Utah’s 2025-2026 academic year is still more than a month away.
But already, the state’s flagship college is receiving Dean’s List-worthy marks — largely for its medical research endeavors.
Coming in at No. 141, the university is counted among the top 7% of the 2,250 “top universities” ranked in 2025’s U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Global Universities.”
The University of Utah secured “Top 100” rankings in several academic/research subjects — including cardiac and cardiovascular systems, clinical medicine, oncology and surgery.
“We are excited to see the University of Utah’s stellar research reputation recognized in this international context,” said Randy McCrillis, the school’s senior international officer.
“As students around the world refer to these rankings to make their college choices, we welcome them to consider the ‘U’ as a welcoming, well-supported place for them to contribute to research that unleashes human potential in service of a better world.”
Two other Utah schools, Brigham Young University and Utah State University, were also included in the “Best Global Universities” rankings — listed as No. 817 and No. 827, respectively.
No surprise, the digital publication’s 2025 top 10 list includes plenty of august educational institutions.
Harvard University is at the top of the hill — followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford and the United Kingdom’s University of Oxford and University of Cambridge.
Rounding out the top 10 list are University of California Berkeley, University College London, University of Washington, Yale and Columbia.
About 40% of the schools ranked in the list’s Top 100 are American institutions.
The U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Global Universities” also posted regional university rankings.
South Africa’s University of Cape Town, for example, is listed as the best university in Africa — while Brazil’s Universidade de Sao Paulo claimed the top spot in Latin America.
China’s Tsinghua University is the highest ranked university in Asia.
The University of Toronto was Canada’s top-ranked institution — coming in at No. 16 in the global rankings.
So how did the American-based digital media company U.S. News & World Report attempt to define that somewhat elusive term “Best”?
They begin by offering a significant caveat: Their rankings focus “exclusively” on institutions’ overall academic research and reputations — and not on their separate undergraduate or graduate programs.
Would-be students, according to the site, should consider the “Best Global Universities” ranking when applying for schools. “But personal considerations — including location, campus culture, strength of a particular program and cost — are also very important considerations.”
A key methodology component of the rankings included 13 indicators and weights that U.S. News & World Report chose to calculate and measure global research performance.
Ranking indicators included global research reputation, publications, books, conferences, international collaboration, and the percentage of total publications that are among the top 1% of most highly cited papers.
The U.S. News & World Report emphasizes the role research plays in an institution’s global reputation and comes at a volatile moment for higher education in the United States.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration announced policy changes at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that would limit how much overhead researchers could ask for when applying for grants.
Those policies have been challenged in the courts, but remain cause for anxiety for research institutions such as the University of Utah.
In 2023, the Utah school received $291 million in NIH grants. School leaders worry that policy changes at the NIH could cost the school tens of millions in annual research dollars.
Research funding anxiety stretches far beyond the labs and administrative offices of the Salt Lake City campus.
Confusion at the NIH “has paralyzed many of the 2,500 universities and institutes that rely on the NIH to fund their research,” CBS News reported.
Also, U.S. News & World Report noted that their “Best Global Universities Rankings” can be utilized by students, worldwide, to explore higher education options that exist beyond their own countries’ borders.
Given the large number of American universities scoring high on the “Best Global Universities” rankings, it’s no surprise that the United States remains a popular destination for international students.
More than 1 million international students from more than 190 foreign countries studied at U.S. colleges and universities during the 2023-2024 academic year.
Meanwhile, 3,500-plus international students and scholars are associated with the University of Utah. And students from over 100 countries are enrolled at Brigham Young University.
But matriculating at American colleges and universities has become more challenging in recent months.
In May, the Trump administration halted the scheduling of new visa interviews for foreign students. Such visa interviews are resuming, but applicants are now required to make their social media profile public to allow screeners to vet applicants who may pose a threat to U.S. national security.
