Woodbury Remains First for International Students in U.S. News Rankings

For the second year in a row, U.S. News & World Report has ranked Woodbury first among all western regional universities in percentage of international students. In the publication’s annual rankings of colleges and universities, Woodbury tops the field of more than 130 institutions in the West, with 21 percent.

“Diversity is fundamental to the American educational experience, and we at Woodbury are proud to be a beacon for international students,” said Woodbury President Dr. David Steele-Figueredo. “Woodbury is and has always been a welcoming place, where diversity and inclusion have long been hallmarks. The 2019 U.S. News & World Report rankings affirm our strategic focus on these values. We are committed to cultivating students’ innate talents and providing the tools and guidance they need to become innovative professionals.”

“International students can add diversity to a college or university, enriching the experience of other students on campus,” U.S. News noted. “Schools with a strong global presence often have a wealth of cultural groups and events, allowing international students an opportunity to share their food, music and traditions with their U.S. peers. International students attending one of these schools may also benefit from a large foreign community when trying to acclimate to American life.”

First published in 1983, the U.S. News ranking system uses quantitative measures that education experts have proposed as reliable indicators of academic quality. Schools are categorized by their mission as defined by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in 2010. Institutions in Woodbury’s “Regional University” category offer a broad scope of undergraduate degrees and some master’s degree programs but few, if any, doctoral programs. Regional universities are further divided and ranked in four geographical groups: North, South, Midwest and West. U.S. News then gathers data from each college on up to 16 indicators of academic excellence. Each factor is assigned a weight that reflects its judgment about how much a measure matters. Finally, the colleges and universities in each category are ranked against their peers, based on their composite weighted score.