UC Riverside has been named among the top 15 public universities in the West in the 2020 Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education College Rankings released Jan. 22.

UCR placed No. 15 among public universities in the region and No. 189 overall for public and private universities out of 800 surveyed. The campus placed No. 216 last year.

Seven out of ten UCR graduates surveyed said they made the right choice, found the campus to be an inspiring environment, and that it was worth the cost.

The rankings are based on 15 indicators in four categories: outcomes, resources, engagement, and environment, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The rankings evaluated graduates’ salaries and debt burden to gauge outcomes; amount budgeted for instruction and student services to measure resources; student surveys about interaction with faculty and other students to measure engagement; and campus diversity to account for environment.

The results are based on a survey of more than 170,000 current university students and multiple government data sources.