2025 - 2026 University Rankings

Based in Washington, DC the Global University Visibility (GUV) rankings measure the visibility of 1,000 universities around the world. The GUV rankings are a comparative measure of university brand strength and prominence in a 12-month time period.

How Do We Do This?

To rank universities by brand visibility, our team of researchers evaluate dozens of data points across several key metrics to determine the most visible universities globally. All of the information analyzed does not rely on university self-reporting to ensure rank transparency and accountability.

A major component in global visibility is the overall number of News Mentions (how many times the university is mentioned in mainstream news in a one year period) this is weighted the most heavily in the GUV ranking calculation. The Public Interest score is a very important indicator as it requires action on the part of the individual to actively seek out information on the university. This is the second most weighted metric in the GUV ranking calculation and is measured by average monthly volume of searches for the university.

Social Media (the total amount of fans and followers on the university Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn channels) demonstrates not only university reach, but also action taken to follow the university channels. This is calculated as the total number of followers across the aforementioned channels since launch. Website Visitors (the number of people who visit the university website each month) is a very valuable and important metric in the visibility calculation and the number is a snapshot of a given month of web visitors. Video Views have been added for this year thanks in part to the availability of YouTube across age groups and its prominence on TVs around the world.

The current visibility score is calculated as a weighted measure of = NM+PI+SM+WV+VV

Metrics Include

1. News Mentions - This is based on the number of news mentions in the past 12 months. It consists primarily of national and international newspapers, print and online journals, television and radio broadcasts, newswires and blogs.

2. Public Interest - This gauges the public's interest in the university, based on the number of people searching for information about the university on major search engines (e.g., Google) in an average month. Both domestic and international interest in measured.

3. Social Media - This number consists of the combined total amount of followers on the official university Instagram, Facebook, Twitter (X), and LinkedIn channels. Note: TikTok is not included since many universities lack a presence on the platform, thus not allowing for consistent apples-to-apples comparisons. 

4. Website Visitors - This reflects the approximate number of people who spent time visiting the main university website in a given month.

5. Web References - This information is based on the number of unique online links to the university website. This parameter is based upon the algorithm first popularized by Google's PageRank and can also be referred to as a citation.

6. Online Footprint - The university's digital footprint reveals the amount of online information publicly visible and freely accessible as pertains to the university and is not paywalled.

7. Video Views - YouTube's influence is profound: it is the second most visited site in the world as well as the second biggest search engine. YouTube reaches every age group and is available on nearly every TV. Video views as a ranking signal measures the combined total number of views on the official university channel.

CONTACT 

Would you like to learn more? Drop us an email: hello@americancaldwell.com 

Disclaimer: the Global University Visibility Rankings are based on publicly available data, American Caldwell takes no responsibility for any misrepresentation or under-reporting.