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Three Illinois Universities Recognized Among World's Best Schools

The report ranked all universities that have Nobel laureates, Fields Medals and highly cited researchers

Three universities in Illinois have been recognized as among the best schools in the world.

The Academic Ranking of World Universities (also known as the Shanghai rankings) released their annual report last week. The University of Chicago, Northwestern University in Evanston and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign all claimed at least one top-20 spot in the rankings.

The organization ranks colleges and universities in five categories: natural sciences and mathematics, engineering/technology and computer sciences, life and agricultural sciences, clinical medicine and pharmacy and social sciences. They do not rank every institution in the world, but instead choose only those that have Nobel laureates, Fields Medals and highly cited researchers.

The University of Chicago was ranked the ninth best university in the world in the overall rankings.

The university also rated an impressive No. 2 in the social sciences category, with the university's next best ranking in natural sciences and mathematics (No. 15.) The university also claimed spots in the medicine and pharmacy category (36) and in the life and agricultural sciences list (47).

Where the University of Chicago failed to make an impression — engineering/technology and computer sciences — the University of Illinois picked up the slack with a No. 4 ranking. It also ranked No. 38 in natural sciences and math, No. 21 in life and agricultural sciences and No. 38 in social sciences.

Lastly, Northwestern University also claimed some top spots, most notably on the engineering and social sciences lists, where the university ranked No. 11 and No. 13, respectively. Northwestern also earned a No. 23 spot on the natural sciences and mathematics list and a No. 29 spot on the medicine and pharmacy list.

Harvard University seemed to fare the best in this year's rankings, with three No. 1 spots, a No. 2 spot and a No. 32 spot (in engineering). The university also ranked No. 1 overall for the 13th year in a row, according to ARWU.

The top 10 universities in the world, according to ARWU, are, in order: Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Berkeley, Cambridge, Princeton, Caltech, Columbia, University of Chicago and Oxford.

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