materials science (third-best), mechanical engineering (seventh-best), philosophy (ninth-best), physics (sixth-best), Spanish (eighth-best), and statistics/biostatistics (fourth-best). The council ranked Cornell's College of Arts and Humanities faculty as fifth-best in the nation, its Mathematics and Physical Sciences faculty as sixth-best, and its College of Engineering as fifth-best.
=== 21st century ===
In 2000, Cornell began expanding its international programs. In 2004, the university opened Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar in Education City in Al Rayyan, Qatar. The university also developed partnerships with academic institutions in India, the People's Republic of China, and Singapore.
In August 2002, a graduate student group, At What Cost?, was formed at Cornell to oppose a graduate student unionization drive run by CASE/UAW, an affiliate of the United Auto Workers. The vote to unionize, held in October 2002, was rejected, and At What Cost? was considered instrumental in the unusually large 90% …