UArizona Peers

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:

  • ABOR: The University of Arizona has 15 official Arizona Board of Regents Peers, which ABOR’s Strategic Planning, Budget and Finance Committee approved on February 19, 2009.
  • Association of American Universities: The University of Arizona is a member of the prestigious AAU -- 65 universities on the “leading edge of innovation, scholarship, and solutions that contribute to scientific progress, economic development, security, and well-being.”
  • Medical School: Is the only MD granting Medical School in Arizona.
  • PAC 12 NCAA: The University of Arizona is a member of the PAC 12 NCAA athletic conference.
  • 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.”
  • 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%. Aspiring HSI’s with >15% undergraduate Hispanic FTE’s are also listed. Note: University of Oregon just surpassed the 15% mark and will join HACU’s list of aspiring HSI’s next year.

The following matrix provides an overview of interplay between some of University of Arizona’s peers. 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 ABOR AAU Med School PAC 12 Land-Grant Hispanic Serving HACU
The University of Arizona Tucson AZ   ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Arizona State University Tempe AZ       ✔   ✔
University of California, Berkeley Berkeley CA   ✔   ✔ ✔ aspiring
University of California, Davis Davis CA ✔ ✔ ✔   ✔ aspiring
University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles CA ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ aspiring
Stanford University Palo Alto CA   ✔ ✔ ✔   aspiring
University of Southern California Los Angeles CA   ✔ ✔ ✔   aspiring
University of Colorado, Boulder Boulder CO   ✔   ✔    
University of Florida Gainesville FL ✔ ✔ ✔   ✔ aspiring
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Urbana IL ✔ ✔ ✔   ✔  
University of Iowa Iowa City IA ✔ ✔ ✔      
University of Maryland, College Park College Park MD ✔ ✔     ✔  
Michigan State University East Lansing MI ✔ ✔ ✔   ✔  
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Minneapolis MN ✔ ✔ ✔   ✔  
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill NC ✔ ✔ ✔      
Ohio State University Columbus OH ✔ ✔ ✔   ✔  
University of Oregon Eugene OR   ✔ ✔ ✔   aspiring
Oregon State University Corvalis OR       ✔ ✔  
Pennsylvania State University State College PA ✔ ✔ ✔   ✔  
University of Texas at Austin Austin TX ✔ ✔       ✔
Texas A&M University College Station TX ✔ ✔     ✔ ✔
University of Utah Salt Lake City UT   ✔ ✔ ✔    
University of Washington Seattle WA ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔    
Washington State University Pullman WA       ✔ ✔ aspiring
University of Wisconsin, Madison Madison WI ✔ ✔ ✔   ✔