UMass as a system came in at a strong 56 out of the world’s 200 best universities in new rankings by The Times of London. It was the region’s only public university to make the top tier and was in good company along with Harvard, MIT, and Tufts from New England. Read the boston.com report here. UMass was the 33rd highest university in the US on this list. Very impressive. So, the Times of London says UMass is the 33rd best university in America. It’s number 14 among public universities in the US on the Times’ list. These are good numbers for current students, alumni, and prospective undergraduates and graduate students to see. It would be better to be higher, but that leaves room for improvement. With Massachusetts so associated with education and intellectual achievement, the state as a whole should be driving its public university to a higher orbit. Being number one among public universities is not a far-fetched goal.