Colleges and universities are historical institutions [with varied missions and visions]. – Thelin, 2019
Modern-day universities offer students various value propositions. Some universities are small, some are large. Some consider their raison-d’être to be regionally-serving while others target a national or global audience. Many prioritize research and knowledge production. Funding sources can be public or private. Several universities improve access and equity for historically under-represented populations. To further complicate things, many offer a mixture of missions. As a result, every university has a unique identity, which can make evaluation difficult, but not impossible.
Despite differences, universities with similar characteristics benefit greatly when they share best practices through data exchange and evaluation. Collaborating and benchmarking with multiple peers – particularly those with varied missions but similar characteristics -- allows for comparisons while remaining cognizant of underlying differences.
The University of Arizona considers its peer set in the following contexts:
- Association of American Universities: The University of Arizona is a member of the prestigious AAU -- 71 universities on the “leading edge of innovation, scholarship, and solutions that contribute to scientific progress, economic development, security, and well-being.” The matrix below contains the publicly funded subset of the University of Arizona's AAU peers.
- Big 12 NCAA: The University of Arizona is a member of the Big 12 NCAA athletic conference. All current Big 12 schools are included in the matrix.
Additionally, the matrix documents the following attributes of these AAU and Big 12 peer institutions:
- Medical School: The University of Arizona is the only MD degree granting institution in the state of Arizona. Notation is made if a peer is a MD degree granting institution.
- Land-Grant Institutions: The University of Arizona is an original Land-Grant institution. The original mission of the land-grant institution was to, “. . . expand access and improve student success to deliver the innovative workforce of tomorrow; advance and promote research and discovery to improve society, foster economic growth, and address global challenges; and, build healthy, prosperous, equitable, and vibrant communities locally and globally.” If a peer is a land grant institution, notation is made.
- Hispanic Serving Institutions: Using the HEA federal definition, The University of Arizona is a nonprofit, degree-granting institution with full-time equivalent (FTE) undergraduate Hispanic student enrollment > 25%. The Hispanic Serving status of peer institutions is noted in the matrix below.
It should be noted that this list and categorization schema is not exhaustive, and the identification of peer sets should always be thought of in the context of the research at hand.
Institution | City | State | AAU | Big 12 | Med School | Land-Grant | Hispanic Serving HACU |
University of Arizona | Tucson | AZ |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
Arizona State University | Tempe | AZ |
✔ |
✔ |
|
|
✔ |
Baylor University | Waco | TX |
|
✔ |
✔ |
|
|
Brigham Young University | Provo | UT |
|
✔ |
|
|
|
Georgia Institute of Technology | Atlanta | GA |
✔ |
|
|
|
|
Indiana University | Bloomington | IN |
✔ |
|
✔ |
|
|
Iowa State University | Ames | IA |
|
✔ |
|
✔ |
|
Kansas State University | Manhattan | KS |
|
✔ |
✔ |
|
|
Michigan State University | East Lansing | MI |
✔ |
|
✔ |
✔ |
|
Ohio State University | Columbus | OH |
✔ |
|
✔ |
✔ |
|
Oklahoma State University | Stillwater | OK |
|
✔ |
|
✔ |
|
Pennsylvania State University | University Park | PA |
✔ |
|
✔ |
✔ |
|
Purdue University | Lafayette | IN |
✔ |
|
|
✔ |
|
Rutgers University | New Brunswick | NJ |
✔ |
|
✔ |
✔ |
|
Stony Brook University (SUNY) | Stony Brook | NY |
✔ |
|
✔ |
|
|
Texas A&M University | College Station | TX |
✔ |
|
✔ |
✔ |
|
Texas Christian University | Fort Worth | TX |
|
✔ |
✔ |
|
|
Texas Tech University | Lubbock | TX |
|
✔ |
✔ |
|
✔ |
University at Buffalo (SUNY) | Buffalo | NY |
✔ |
|
✔ |
|
|
University of California, Berkeley | Berkeley | CA |
✔ |
|
|
✔ |
|
University of California, Davis | Davis | CA |
✔ |
|
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
University of California, Irvine | Irvine | CA |
✔ |
|
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
University of California, Los Angeles | Los Angeles | CA |
✔ |
|
✔ |
✔ |
|
University of California, Riverside | Riverside | CA |
✔ |
|
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
University of California, San Diego | San Diego | CA |
✔ |
|
✔ |
✔ |
|
University of California, Santa Barbara | Santa Barbara | CA |
✔ |
|
|
✔ |
✔ |
University of California, Santa Cruz | Santa Cruz | CA |
✔ |
|
|
✔ |
✔ |
University of Central Florida | Orlanda | FL |
|
✔ |
✔ |
|
✔ |
University of Cincinnati | Cincinnati | OH |
|
✔ |
✔ |
|
|
University of Colorado, Boulder | Boulder | CO |
✔ |
✔ |
|
|
|
University of Florida | Gainesville | FL |
✔ |
|
✔ |
✔ |
|
University of Houston | Houston | TX |
|
✔ |
✔ |
|
✔ |
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | Urbana | IL |
✔ |
|
✔ |
✔ |
|
University of Iowa | Iowa City | IA |
✔ |
|
✔ |
|
|
University of Kansas | Lawrence | KS |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
|
|
University of Maryland, College Park | College Park | MD |
✔ |
|
✔ |
✔ |
|
University of Michigan | Ann Arbor | MI |
✔ |
|
✔ |
|
|
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities | Minneapolis | MN |
✔ |
|
✔ |
✔ |
|
University of Missouri | Columbia | MO |
✔ |
|
✔ |
✔ |
|
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | Chapel Hill | NC |
✔ |
|
✔ |
|
|
University of Oregon | Eugene | OR |
✔ |
|
|
|
|
University of Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | PA |
✔ |
|
✔ |
|
|
University of South Florida | Tampa | FL |
✔ |
|
✔ |
|
✔ |
University of Texas at Austin | Austin | TX |
✔ |
|
✔ |
|
✔ |
University of Utah | Salt Lake City | UT |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
|
|
University of Virginia | Charlottesville | VA |
✔ |
|
✔ |
|
|
University of Washington | Seattle | WA |
✔ |
|
✔ |
|
|
University of Wisconsin-Madison | Madison | WI |
✔ |
|
✔ |
✔ |
|
West Virginia University | Morgantown | WV |
|
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
|