UW-Madison Inches Up in Latest Research Ranking

UW-Madison Research Ranking Improves

The University of Wisconsin has, for now, stopped its slip in national research rankings.

The National Science Foundation on Monday released its latest Higher Education Research and Development rankings.

"Research and development (R&D) spending by academic institutions increased 11.2% in FY 2023, the largest growth rate in current dollars since FY 2003," the Foundation said in its release. "Since FY 2013, higher education R&D has grown at an average compound annual rate of 5.0% in current dollars and 2.3% in constant dollars.​ Total academic R&D reached $108.8 billion in FY 2023, an increase of $11.0 billion from FY 2022."

UW-Madison is ranked sixth on the NSF list.

“UW-Madison has been a research powerhouse for generations,” says UW–Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin. “This latest increase in both our research expenditures and our HERD ranking is further evidence of our deep commitment to bringing incredible UW–Madison expertise across disciplines to the grand challenges of our time and to translating our discoveries to improve lives at home in Wisconsin and beyond.”

The NSF ranking says UW-Madison spent $1.7 billion on research in 2023, up from the year before.

“The NSF’s data show a 13.7% increase in research expenditures at UW–Madison over the previous fiscal year, an increase of more than $208 million for the period covering July 2022 through June 2023,” the UW said in its statement. “Nearly half of UW–Madison’s $1.7 billion in total research expenditures comes from federal awards, from agencies such as NSF, the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense.”

UW-Madison’s sixth place ranking is an improvement, and a reversal after years of sliding in national research rankings.

Until 2016, UW-Madison was a top five research institution, but has since been surpassed by Johns Hopkins, the University of California San Francisco, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Michigan, and the University of Washington on the National Science Foundation list.

A report from the Center for Research on the Wisconsin Economy at UW-Madison also tracked UW-Madison’s decline in other top university rankings.

“UW-Madison’s rankings among America’s best undergraduate colleges dropped significantly in the 2010s before bouncing back in the last five years. UW-Madison’s rankings of many graduate programs, however, have deteriorated without a similar recovery, and so has its R&D expenditure rankings. Internationally, UW-Madison’s global ranking also declined in the last decade, reducing the competitiveness of its graduates in the global labor market,” the authors noted.

UW leaders have said research and development grants make up more than 25% of the UW’s total fundings.

But Madison’s $1.7 billion in research funding trails first place Johns Hopkins by more than $2 billion, and trails second place UC San Francisco by over $300 million.