AMES, Iowa — Iowa State University’s agricultural programs have been ranked among the world’s best by a British organization.
For the fourth straight year, Iowa State was ranked in the top 10 for programs in agriculture and forestry by the QS World University Rankings. QS ranked Iowa State 10th worldwide and seventh nationally. In the past four years, ISU has ranked as high as fifth worldwide.
QS, short for Quacquarelli Symonds, today released its annual ranking, which measures academic reputation; employer reputation; faculty research papers cited by other researchers; and a measure of the productivity and impact of the published work of a scientist or scholar. The ranking is online at: http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/university-subject-r…
Wageningen University in the Netherlands was ranked first in agriculture and forestry.
Last fall, the Iowa State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences set its fourth consecutive annual enrollment record, with 5,375 students, making it the third largest of its kind in the country. The college and its 15 departments offer more than $3 million in scholarships to students each year.
The college has had a placement rate of 97 percent or better for 18 straight years. Nearly 72 percent of graduates begin their careers in Iowa. The college’s career fair is the largest of its kind in the nation. Last fall’s career day attracted a record 277 employers and 2,650 students, including students from 19 other schools.
The college offers 27 undergraduate majors preparing students for careers spanning the study of food, environment, energy, climate, nutrition and science and technology.
Each year the college provides a global perspective to more than 400 students through study abroad programs. In the next year, the college’s travel courses will take students to all seven continents.
The Agriculture Experiment Station, administered by the college, is Iowa’s only public agricultural research program and has served the state for more than 125 years. Agricultural scientists at Iowa State generate innovations, technologies, and solutions to immediate needs in food security, human health, economic development and environmental stewardship. Science-based information from the Agriculture Experiment Station reaches every county in Iowa through ISU Extension and Outreach and research and demonstration farms guided by local stakeholders. Technologies developed by college research generated more than $10 million dollars in royalties the past five years.
Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension and Outreach last year helped farmers and agribusiness professionals make informed decisions in their operations through more than 180,000 contacts. Extension and the Egg Industry Center helped the state’s and nation’s poultry industry respond to last year’s avian flu crisis.
For this fifth edition of the QS World University Rankings by Subject, the firm evaluated more than 3,500 universities and ranked 894 of those institutions in 36 subject areas. QS got its start as the data provider for the annual Times (of London) Higher Education rankings and now produces its own university rankings.