The University of Michigan leads the list of public universities in the U.S. in TIME’s new ranking of the world’s top universities, which was released Jan. 28. U-M was ranked ninth overall among the world’s top 500 universities, including both public and private institutions.

In comparing universities from around the world, TIME sought to emphasize the extent to which students achieve extraordinary success and contribute the most to society by patenting new inventions, rising to leadership roles in business, or otherwise influencing world events.

Institutions that were at least 3 years old, offered bachelor’s degrees and enrolled more than 2,000 students were eligible for inclusion in the rankings.

Each was evaluated and scored on three specific pillars:

• Academic capacity and performance (60%)
• Innovation and economic impact (30%)
• Global engagement (10%)

U-M scored especially well in the innovation and economic impact category, which analyzed the quantity and value of an institution’s intellectual property portfolio and assessed how the success of top-performing graduates compared to their counterparts at other universities.

In reporting the findings, TIME wrote, “U.S. and U.K. universities continue to lead in academic performance, while China’s universities are catching up in innovation and economic impact.”

Among public universities worldwide, U-M is fourth, behind the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge and the Imperial College of London.