JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The University of Florida is among the top five public universities in the nation, according to the annual rankings released Monday by U.S. News & World Report.
UF tied with the University of California-Santa Barbara and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill for fifth in top public universities. UF was also tied for 30th among national universities.
UF has advanced nine spots on the public university list since 2017, and this year was the first time that the university has reached the top five. Florida was ranked No. 6 on last year’s list.
UF President Kent Fuchs was joined by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at a news conference Monday morning in Gainesville to celebrate UF’s rise in the rankings.
“We’ve provided support at the state level, but really the folks here have helped make it happen, and I can tell you, if you didn’t have the leadership you did, if you didn’t insist on the academic rigor like you have, a lot of those funds would probably not have ended up leading to the positive results that we’ve seen,” DeSantis said. “We’re also very happy that we not only have a top-five public university in the state of Florida now, we have one that’s very affordable for Florida families.”
The top four public universities ranked by U.S. News & World Report are:
1. University of California-Los Angeles
2. University of California-Berkeley
3. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
4. University of Virginia
The publication ranked Florida State University 19th among top public universities and 55th among national universities.
The University of North Florida was also recognized on the list of best national universities. Jacksonville University was ranked among the best universities in the southern U.S.