The UT System rises to the No. 6 most innovative institution of higher education in the world

When it comes to advancing science, inventing new technologies and conducting groundbreaking research, the University of Texas System is among the best of the best, thanks to the collective ingenuity and impact of its 14 institutions.

The UT System was ranked No. 6 – up three spots from last year – by Reuters in its annual top 100 “World’s Most Innovative Universities” ranking, which lists both public and private research universities.

The UT System’s ranking is based on innovations across all eight academic and six health institutions that constitute the system. The UT System is the No. 2 public university in the rankings and scored ahead of other highly-regarded institutions including the University of California.

The other top 10 institutions on the Reuters’ list are: No. 1 Stanford University; No. 2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology; No. 3 Harvard University; No. 4 University of Pennsylvania; No. 5 University of Washington; No. 7 KU Leuven (in Belgium); No. 8 Imperial College London; No. 9 University of North Carolina Chapel Hill; and No. 10 Vanderbilt University.

“The University of Texas System is certainly in excellent company, but the beneficiary of the world-class talent, research and inventions at UT institutions is Texas,” Chancellor James B. Milliken said. “The culture of innovation at UT institutions is advancing science that is changing and saving the lives of Texans – and beyond.”

In the past few months alone, innovative initiatives and discoveries at UT institutions have made national and global headlines.

• Earlier this month, Jim Allison, chief of immunology at UT MD Anderson, was awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for launching an effective new way to attack cancer by treating the immune system rather than the tumor.

• In August, the National Science Foundation announced that it would award $60 million to the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at UT Austin to build a new supercomputer that will be the fastest at any university in the U.S. and among the most powerful in the world.

• And in July, the Pentagon announced it had selected the UT System as the headquarters for the Army Futures Command, in part to collaborate with UT institutions and foster innovation in the U.S. Army as it undertakes a massive modernization effort in the development and testing of new methods and technologies.

To rank the most innovative universities in the world, Reuters evaluated institutions looked at 10 metrics, based in large part on the number of patents filed, obtained and cited. 

In 2017 alone, researchers from UT institutions were granted 219 patents from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, placing the UT System No. 3 in the Top 100 Worldwide Universities Granted U.S. Utility Patents.

And at $2.7 billion, the UT System’s total research expenditures – encompassing all 14 UT institutions – is second only to the University of California System.

About The University of Texas System
For more than 130 years, The University of Texas System has been committed to improving the lives of Texans and people all over the world through education, research and health care. With 14 institutions, an enrollment of more than 235,000 students and an operating budget of $19.5 billion (FY 2019), the UT System is one of the largest public university systems in the United States. UT institutions produce nearly 59,000 graduates annually and award more than one-third of the state’s undergraduate degrees and almost two-thirds of its health professional degrees. Collectively, UT-owned and affiliated hospitals and clinics accounted for more than 7.8 million outpatient visits and 1.6 million hospital days last year. Across UT institutions, research and development expenditures total $2.7 billion – the second highest among U.S. public higher education systems – and the UT System is regularly ranked among the top 10 most innovative universities in the world. The UT System also is one of the largest employers in Texas, with more than 21,000 faculty – including Nobel laureates and members of the National Academies – and nearly 85,000 health care professionals, researchers, student advisors and support staff.