Texas A&M ranked in top 6% of world’s foremost universities for architecture, built environment

Texas A&M is listed in the top six percent of the world’s top universities for architecture and the built environment in a new [ranking] (http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/university-subject-rankings/2015/architecture#sorting=rank+region=+country=+faculty=+stars=false+search=) compiled by [Quacquarelli Symonds] (http://www.qs.com/) , a British company providing higher education guidance and career services.

In the company’s first ever subject ranking of architecture and the built environment, Texas A&M tied with the University of Michigan at sixth place among public universities in the United States, and tied with UM at 49 ^th place internationally, among the 800 institutions surveyed worldwide.

The QS World University Rankings are published annually to help students identify leading schools in their chosen field of study. They are [based] (http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings-articles/university-subject-rankings/qs-world-university-rankings-subject-methodology?page=0) on universities’ academic reputations, employers’ perceptions of an institution’s graduates, and the frequency and impact of published work from university faculty.

“I am pleased that the hard, scholarly work of our faculty and students in a wide variety of disciplines serving architecture and the built environment, as well as the accomplishments of so many former students around the world, have been recognized in this ranking,” said Jorge Vanegas, dean of the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University. “One aspect that sets us apart from many programs is our unique blend of disciplines addressing, not only the built environment, but also the natural and virtual environments while also demonstrating a clear commitment to research, creative work, scholarship and high-impact learning and teaching.

Of all U.S. schools in the QS “architecture and the built environment” subject survey, Texas A&M placed 13 ^th , again tied with the University of Michigan.

The rankings reflect survey responses from academics, employers and an index of citations from scholarly journals. Academic reputations were determined by responses from more than 85,000 academics who were asked to list the top research institutes in their respective specialties. The study determined how favorably an institution’s graduates are viewed by surveying more than 41,000 employers. And, the impact of published scholarly work was measured from an index that included researchers’ most cited papers and the number of citations their papers have received.

The 2015 QS World University Rankings [by Subject] (http://www.topuniversities.com/subject-rankings/2015) highlights the world’s top universities in a range of 36 popular subject areas. The survey has been published annually since 2011.

The release of the QS subject ranking on architecture and the built environment follows two other favorable rankings for the Texas A&M College of Architecture, which listed its Department of Visualization’s [animation] (http://one.arch.tamu.edu/news/2015/5/4/texas-m-uss-top-animation/) and [game design] (http://one.arch.tamu.edu/news/2015/3/24/viz-gaming/) offerings among the nation’s best.