About UD
A research-intensive, technologically advanced university with global impact, the University of Delaware traces its roots to the founding of a small private academy in 1743. The University received its charter from the State of Delaware in 1833 and was designated in 1867 as one of the nation’s historic Land Grant colleges. The University launched the first for-credit study-abroad program in the United States in 1923. The University was reaccredited by the the Middle States Commission on Higher Education in 2022.
A Land Grant, Sea Grant and Space Grant institution, UD is state assisted, yet privately governed. It is classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as having very high research activity, a distinction achieved by less than 3% of U.S. colleges and universities, and it ranks among the nation’s top 100 universities in federal research and development support for science and engineering. In 2015, UD received the Carnegie Community Engagement classification, recognizing the extension and impact of its scholarship to society through work with more than 300 community partners in dozens of locales.
The University offers a broad range of degree programs (62 doctoral programs, 130 master’s programs, 154 bachelor’s programs, and three associate programs) through its colleges: Agriculture and Natural Resources; Arts and Sciences; Earth, Ocean and Environment; Education and Human Development; Engineering; Health Sciences; Graduate College; Honors College; the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, and the Biden School of Public Policy and Administration. The University’s non-residential Associate in Arts Program provides foundational courses for Delaware-resident students, who then transition to UD’s primary campus in Newark to complete their bachelor’s degrees.
For fall 2023, enrollment totaled 18,159 undergraduates, 653 AAP students, 4,449 graduate students and 960 professional and continuing studies students for a grand total of 24,221. These students come from across the country and around the globe.
UD is highly regarded in multiple external rankings, including U.S. News and World Report (76 nationally and 36 among public institutions, 2024) and QS World University Ranking (top 500 in the world, 2024). Also, U.S. News and World Report ranks 22 UD graduate programs among the best in the nation, including 10 in the top 50 (2024). Forbes named UD as Best Employer in Delaware in 2021 and 2022.
For FY 2022, externally sponsored expenditures totaled more than $222 million, setting a record for the seventh year in a row, even though the University is not host to an academic medical center. UD ranks among the top 10% in federal research funding from the National Science Foundation, USDA, NASA and the Department of Energy, and there are five federally sponsored research institutes at UD. The National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) is headquartered at UD. The University has more than 85 research centers, plus 15 core facilities.
The University has endowment assets of more than $2 billion. UD has a $5.4 billion economic impact in the Northeast Corridor, which supports more than 35,000 jobs. In Delaware alone, the impact is $3.2 billion; for every $1 the state invests in the University through its annual operating appropriation, UD generates $23 in economic activity.
In 2023, the University concluded Delaware First: The Campaign for the University of Delaware, the largest fundraising and engagement campaign in the University’s 280-year history. Launched in 2017 with an initial goal of $750 million, the campaign has helped establish several key programs such as the Graduate College and the Honors Colleges, initiatives around innovation and entrepreneurship, partnerships through the Biden School and the construction of several new buildings around campus, including the Ammon Pinizzotto Biopharmaceutical Innovation Center on the Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus and the Whitney Athletic Center. In 2021, after achieving the original goal of Delaware First ahead of schedule, President Dennis Assanis extended the campaign and increased the fundraising goal to $1 billion. With the support of more than 113,000 donors, the campaign raised a final total of $1.05 billion.
Resources
- College of Engineering
- About UD
- Office of the President
- President’s Report 2023
- Forward and Forever: The Strategic Plan for the University of Delaware
- Office of the Provost
- UDs Leadership Team
- Delaware First: The Campaign for the University of Delaware
- UD’s Facts and Figures
- UD Values
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