Rankings & KudosWhat starts here changes the world. The University of Texas at Austin makes the world a better place by leveraging its research and knowledge to address the needs of the state, the nation and the world. This list of some of our recent rankings and kudos highlights the university’s depth of resources, talent and technology, as well as how the city of Austin—as a national creative center—and the university complement one another. If you’ve run across a ranking or other expression of kudos that might fit with this list, send the information along to the university’s Office of Public Affairs.
The University of Texas at Austin’s schools of Business, Engineering and Law and its College of Education each rank among the nation’s top graduate programs in this year’s U.S. News & World Report magazine survey. Using quantitative and qualitative measures, the magazine annually ranks graduate school programs in business, education, engineering and law. Certain other Ph.D. programs and specialty programs are ranked in alternate years based on ratings of academic experts, including faculty and administrators. All fields are not surveyed every year by U.S. News & World Report. The university’s programs in accounting, archives and preservation, Latin American history and petroleum engineering rank No. 1 in reputational surveys. Several Ph.D. and graduate programs were ranked among the nation’s top five in the magazine’s reputational survey. The University of Texas at Austin’s graduate school rankings, based on quantitative and qualitative measures:
The University of Texas at Austin’s LBJ School of Public Affairs, and programs in the School of Information, School of Nursing, College of Pharmacy and School of Social Work were ranked among leading public affairs graduate programs using solely qualitative measures:
Rankings of The University of Texas at Austin’s graduate programs and fields of study (some from previous years), based on opinions of deans, department heads and other senior faculty:
The University of Texas at Austin ranks sixth in the nation in producing undergraduate degrees for minority groups, according to the May 31, 2007 edition of Diverse Issues in Higher Education magazine. In addition to the overall standing, the university ranks 10th nationally among the magazine’s Top 100 producers of undergraduates for Hispanics, eighth for Asian Americans and 59th for American Indians. Among undergraduate academic programs in the top 100 at the university:
Last year, the university ranked fifth overall, seventh for Hispanics, ninth for Asian Americans and 65th for American Indians. The report—Top 100 Undergraduate Degree Producers—includes degrees conferred during the 2005-06 academic year that have been reported to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics through the Completions Survey of the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data Set.
What others are saying about The University of Texas at Austin…The University of Texas System ranks No. 1 for biotechnology patents among 424 universities in the world, according the Milken Institute and its September 2006 report on universities’ biotechnology research and commercialization. “There is a specialization about biotechnology in the UT System,” said Armen Bedroussian, co-author of the report. “I also believe that among the UT campuses, UT Austin has the best commercialization index in the report.” The report includes rankings of the top universities based on the quality of their biotech research, the number and quality of their patents and their ability to transfer the technology into commercial uses. (Milken Institute’s “Mind to Market” report)
“The Central Texas economic engine known as UT Austin, with these three campuses (the main campus known as the Forty Acres, the 475-acre J.J. Pickle Research Campus and the planned Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas), will provide a rare impetus to the Austin area’s economic destiny for decades to come.” (The Neal Spelce Austin Newsletter, Sept. 8, 2006)
The 2007 Fiske Guide to Colleges said The University of Texas at Austin is “on anybody’s list of the top 10 public universities in the nation. The Plan II liberal arts honors program is one of the nation’s most renowned. Though it is also the capital of Texas, Austin ranks among the nation’s best college towns.”
“Few if any cities rank extremely high in all categories,” said Expansion Management chief editor Bill King about his magazine’s 2006 Mayor’s Challenge ranking of the best places in the U.S. to locate a company. “But cities like Pittsburgh, Austin, [Texas] and Raleigh-Cary, [N.C.] do well in just about every area.” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Aug. 15, 2006)
“We are very excited about UT’s shared commitment to offer leading-edge children’s healthcare, research and education right here in Austin,” Susan Dell, co-founder and chairman of the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation said in announcing grants of $50 million to establish three new world-class facilities at UT Austin. “These new facilities are a perfect complement to other investments we’ve made in children’s health, math and science education, and instilling healthy habits to combat major risks like Type 2 Diabetes in children. This is a great opportunity to take advantage of UT Austin’s historical excellence in Life Sciences research and, in turn, make a practical difference in the lives of children.” (The University of Texas System news, May 15, 2006)
The Texas pipeline is full of wonderful opportunities to commercialize. For example, in May 2005, The University of Texas at Austin Office of Technology Commercialization unveiled 11 new technologies that are patented and “ready to commercialize,” not to mention the 181 identified technologies that are also now available…. Texas stands atop the country, according to Site Selection Magazine, as the best place to do business. (Austin Chamber of Commerce, June 2005)
“Austin is a high-tech city with an attractive quality of life. It is an appealing environment for the innovators we need at Freescale,” Freescale CEO Michel Mayer said in a memo to employees explaining why the company chose Austin as the site for its global headquarters. He also noted the proximity of two great universities—The University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M. (Austin Chamber of Commerce, April 2005)
“Discoveries made at UT Austin help stimulate our economy. Companies such as (Molecular Imprints, LabNow, Entercel and Proactive Technologies) commercialize the discoveries made on campus or when they are licensed to companies. Most of these discoveries come about as a result of the massive amount of research grants to UT Austin. The large research enterprise on the Forty Acres has pulled in nearly $400 million in research grants.” (The Neal Spelce Austin Newsletter, Feb. 11, 2005)
“UT Austin is the single most important engine driving the Austin area economy. One example: Austin would not even be a player in this high tech age if the University of Texas was located elsewhere, plain and simple. There are other examples, but take it to the bank that what helps UT Austin gain in stature and greatness benefits our economy immeasurably.” (The Neal Spelce Austin Newsletter, Jan. 14, 2005)
Austin Partners in Education has named The University of Texas at Austin as the Partner of the Year for 2004. “Ever so quietly, a committed university community works tirelessly year after year in concert with us, striving to improve every facet of our school district,” Austin Independent School District (AISD) Superintendent Pat Forgione said, adding that the scope and breadth of the UT partnership programs with Austin schools are impressive: “It is not possible to acknowledge and thank the countless key leaders at UT, who, in addition to all of their other duties, give countless hours to the Partners Program. The university’s commitment to our children is truly remarkable, and we are proud to honor the University of Texas as the 2004 Partner of the Year.” (Austin Independent School District, April 26, 2004)
“UT Austin is a great economic engine for this area. It provides knowledge, research, collaboration and people. This, in turn, creates jobs and is one reason Austin was recently ranked 3rd in the nation as the best area to launch a business or a career. The listing comes courtesy of Forbes magazine as it named the nation’s top metros for new business operations. The national business publication cited our area’s diverse, educated workforce as one of the main criteria for selection. And, of course, UT Austin figures prominently in that equation.” (The Neal Spelce Austin Newsletter, Nov. 5, 2004)
“The university opened the doors of the universe to me,” Lady Bird Johnson said after the University of Texas System Regents authorized the union of The University of Texas at Austin and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. “By the time I had earned two degrees, I realized that education was the beginning of a quest that lasts, and it enabled in me a greater capacity to enjoy the world. These qualities emboldened me to establish the center.” (Office of Public Affairs news, The University of Texas at Austin, June 20, 2006)
“One of the most important things about the Harry Ransom Center is that the material will be accessible to students and the public,” Robert De Niro said in explaining why he donated his archives to The University of Texas at Austin. “Ultimately, that’s what it’s all about.” (Office of Public Affairs news, The University of Texas at Austin, June 7, 2006)
What others are saying about the city of Austin…Austin ranked No. 6 in a July 2008 list of the top 10 “Best Cities to Live, Work and Play,” according to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine, which looked for places “with strong economies and abundant jobs,” as well as “reasonable living costs and plenty of fun things to do.” The list also factored in population growth and the percentage of the workforce in the creative class. The magazine cited Austin for “a strong economy, a solid, moderately priced housing market, a growing population and enough natural beauty to justify staying outside even if the weather weren’t great—which, by the way, it is.” The University of Texas at Austin, the state capitol and downtown redevelopment were also highlighted as keys to Austin’s vitality and livability.
In its annual report—Boomtowns 2007: The Best Cities for Doing Business—Inc.com analyzed job-growth data, supplied by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, on 393 metropolitan areas across the nation. The Austin-Round Rock area ranked No. 16 in the Top 20 Large Cities category, up from the 26th spot in the same category on the 2006 list. In the Top Overall Cities category for 2007, Austin-Round Rock placed No. 110, up from the 173rd overall spot in 2006. The strong showing of Austin and other Texas cities on the Boomtowns 2007 list can be attributed to factors such as “relatively low business costs, a recovery in technology—and most important, the thriving energy sector, which is attracting a new cadre of highly paid professionals to an increasingly sophisticated high-tech business. Job growth in Austin, hit hard by the dot-com bust, is now more than triple that of rival high-tech centers like Boston (No. 56) and San Jose (No. 60).”
Austin ranked No. 1 as the U.S. city with the most vital economy, according to Moody’s Economy.com June 2007 Business Vitality Index, which looked at the current and prospective economic conditions and economic risk of 379 U.S. cities.
The city of Austin placed No. 2 on Prevention magazine’s March 2007 list of the best walking cities in the nation. The ranking, commissioned by the American Podiatric Medical Association, was based on factors such as air quality, the percentage of people who walk to work, access to parks, number of athletic shoes sold and weather. (Prevention’s Best Walking Cities of 2007)
A February 2007 report by SustainLane, a green media company, named Austin the No. 1 U.S. city in incubating and clustering clean technology companies. The report ranked 50 cities and credits Austin with creating a robust test facility that is an innovative and economic step forward for the clean energy market. (SustainLane’s Top U.S. Cities for Cleantech Incubation Clusters)
In its November/December 2006 issue, National Geographic Traveler magazine rated 94 places worldwide and named Austin as the “best little city in America.” (National Geographic Society Press Room)
In its 2006 ranking of the top 10 green cities in the U.S., The Green Guide named Austin No. 2. The guide looked for cities with energy-efficient, least polluting and healthy living spaces and cited Austin “for its commitment to solar power and green building.” In 2005 Austin also made The Green Guide’s top 10 list. It was the only southern city to do so. (Green Guide’s Top 10 Green Cities in the U.S.: 2006)
The city of Austin placed No. 2 among the 10 best big cities to live, as determined by Money magazine. Criteria included financial factors, education and quality of life. (Money Magazine’s Best Places to Live 2006: 10 Best Big Cities)
In the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2005 American Community Survey, Austin ranked fifth among the most-educated cities in the nation. Of Austin residents 25 years and older, 44.1 percent hold at least a bachelor’s degree. (U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, November 2006)
According to research by the firm Morgan Quitno Press, Austin is No. 5 among the nation’s safest large cities (500,000 or more). Round Rock came in at No. 13 in the overall list of safest cities. (Morgan Quitno’s Safest and Most Dangerous Cities, October 2006)
In its fourth annual Mayor’s Challenge ranking of the best places in the U.S. to locate a company, Expansion Management magazine cited Austin-Round Rock as the top U.S. metropolitan area overall for businesses to locate. (Expansion Management Online: 2006 Mayor’s Challenge, August 2006)
In its August 2006 ranking of the nation’s heart-healthy cities, Men’s Journal magazine ranked Austin No. 2, citing Mayor Will Wynn’s efforts to make Austin the fittest city in the U.S. by 2010. The magazine also placed Austin at No. 2 among the 50 “best places to live” in its April 2006 list citing cities that are the perfect combination of adventure, attractiveness and affordability. (Men’s Journal)
In its ranking of North America’s most vegetarian-friendly cities, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals places Austin at No. 8 among the top 10 large vegetarian/vegan-friendly cities. (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, April 2006)
Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine ranked Austin fifth among 50 “smart cities” in the June 2006 issue. (Kiplinger’s Personal Finance 50 Smart Places to Live)
Austin was named No. 5 on the list of America’s most-educated cities (May 2006) and is on the list for the 10 hot cities for job growth (May 2006). (MSN.com: Most-Educated Cities in the United States, CNN.com: 10 hot cities for job growth)
Austin now ranks among the nation’s elite cities when it comes to “smarts.” In fact, Bizjournals.com (the parent of the Austin Business Journal) recently conducted a survey with Austin as #3 on the list of “Smartest U.S. Cities.” Seattle and San Francisco are #1 and #2, with Colorado Springs and Minneapolis, #4 and #5. Other Texas cities in the top 53 large U.S. cities: Arlington (#12), Dallas (#35), Houston (#38), San Antonio (#40) and El Paso (#48). In the Bizjournals.com survey, communities were ranked in three population categories, based on a formula that rewards places with heavy concentrations of college graduates. The rankings reflect each community’s collective brainpower, which is tied to its residents’ abilities to innovate, create, compete—and make money. “Make money?” A worker with a graduate degree earns 45 percent more, on average, than a colleague with a bachelor’s degree, and 167 percent more than someone who never went beyond high school, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. As a result, not surprisingly, America’s brainpower is concentrated in tech centers, college/university towns, national and state capitals and affluent suburbs. (The Neal Spelce Austin Newsletter, June 16, 2006)
The Austin/Round Rock area has the second-most-educated workforce in the country. Some 40.2 percent of adults in the city of Austin and 36.7 percent of adults in the metro area hold a bachelor’s or advanced degree. (Round Rock Chamber of Commerce)
Sources for Rankings and Kudos include:
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