SLU Named One of the Best U.S. Universities for Excellence, Equity and Employability

05/20/2020

QS Quacquarelli Symonds, global higher education research company and publisher of the QS World University Rankings, released their inaugural ranking of America’s top universities with diversity, employability and internationalization driving the results.

Saint Louis University ranked second in Missouri. In total, QS has named 300 institutions as the best four-year universities in the United States.

The QS World University Rankings: USA is designed to assess how well universities are responding to the social, intellectual and economic challenges of our time. Universities were ranked according their research performance and career outcomes.

“QS has been surveying prospective university students since the start of the global pandemic, with more than 33,000 students sharing the impact of the emergency on their plans. Though COVID-19's effects on higher education will resonate for years to come, our ongoing research reveals that students are not deterred from pursuing their education and career goals,” said Nunzio Quacquarelli, CEO of QS. “It is our hope that this inaugural ranking will provide prospective students with an insightful comparative tool and point of view, as they prepare for the next steps in their educational journey.”

QS evaluated universities on four key metric groups, each answering a question of central importance to students from the U.S. and abroad. They are:

• Research: Which universities produce the most impactful and high-quality research?
• Learning Experience: Which universities do the most to offer a high-quality learning experience to their students?
• Diversity and internationalization: Which universities are most global in their outlook – and which are most diverse, in gender and in the socio-economic status of their student and faculty cohorts? 
• Employability: Which universities most nurture graduates and are highly-regarded by employers worldwide, and ensure that their students receive an economic return on their educational investment?

Universities were also ranked on a range of indicators assessing each institution’s social impact and attempts to foster equitability. Those indicators include gender pay gap, faculty gender diversity, ratio of undergraduate students receiving Pell Grants and retention rate. The methodology also evaluates universities based on the efforts they are making to support the 17 UN Sustainable Development goals.

QS Quacquarelli Symonds

QS Quacquarelli Symonds is the world’s leading provider of services, analytics, and insight to the global higher education sector, whose mission is to enable motivated people anywhere in the world to fulfill their potential through educational achievement, international mobility, and career development. The QS World University Rankings portfolio, inaugurated in 2004, has grown to become the world’s most popular source of comparative data about university performance.

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Saint Louis University is a Catholic, Jesuit institution that values academic excellence, life-changing research, compassionate health care, and a strong commitment to faith and service. Founded in 1818, the University fosters the intellectual and character development of more than 13,000 students on campuses in St. Louis and Madrid, Spain. Building on a legacy of now more than 200 years, Saint Louis University continues to move forward with an unwavering commitment to a higher purpose, a greater good.