Association of American Universities


The Association of American Universities is an organization of American research universities devoted to maintaining a strong system of academic research and education. Founded in 1900, it consists of 63 universities in the United States and 2 universities in Canada. AAU membership is by invitation and requires an affirmative vote of three-quarters of current members.

Organization

The AAU was founded on February 28, 1900, by a group of 14 Doctor of Philosophy degree–granting universities in the United States to strengthen and standardize American doctoral programs. American universities—starting with Johns Hopkins University in 1876—were adopting the research-intensive German model of higher education. Lack of standardization damaged European universities' opinions of their American counterparts, however, and many American students attended graduate school in Europe instead of staying in the U.S. The presidents of Johns Hopkins University, University of Chicago, Columbia University, Harvard University, and University of California sent a letter of invitation to nine other universities to meet at Chicago in February 1900 to promote and raise standards. Charles William Eliot of Harvard University was elected the organization's first president, and Stanford University's David Starr Jordan was elected the organization's first chairman.
In 1914, the AAU began accrediting undergraduate education at its member and other schools. German universities used the "AAU Accepted List" to determine whether a college's graduates were qualified for graduate programs. Regional accreditation agencies existed in the U.S. by the 1920s, and the AAU ended accrediting schools in 1948.
The AAU is made up of universities of varying sizes and missions who are committed to research. Today, 65 universities in the U.S. and Canada are members and the primary purpose of the organization is to provide a forum for the development and implementation of institutional and national policies, in order to promote strong programs in academic research and scholarship and undergraduate, graduate, and professional education.

Benefits

The largest attraction of the AAU for many schools, especially nonmembers, is prestige. For example, in 2010 the chancellor of nonmember North Carolina State University described it as "the pre-eminent research-intensive membership group. To be a part of that organization is something N.C. State aspires to." A spokesman for nonmember University of Connecticut called it "perhaps the most elite organization in higher education. You'd probably be hard-pressed to find a major research university that didn't want to be a member of the AAU." In 2012, the new elected chancellor of University of Massachusetts Amherst, a nonmember of AAU, reaffirmed the framework goal of elevating the campus to AAU standards which inspire them to become a member in the near future, and called it a distinctive status. Because of the lengthy and difficult entrance process, boards of trustees, state legislators, and donors often see membership as evidence of the quality of a university.
The AAU acts as a lobbyist at its headquarters in the city of Washington, DC, for research and higher education funding and for policy and regulatory issues affecting research universities. The association holds two meetings annually, both in Washington. Separate meetings are held for university presidents, provosts, and other officials. Because the meetings are private, they offer the opportunity for discussion without media coverage. Prominent government officials, businessmen, and others often speak to the groups.

Presidents

Statistics

, AAU members accounted for 58 percent of U.S. universities' research grants and contract income and 52 percent of all doctorates awarded in the United States. Since 1999, 43 percent of all Nobel Prize winners and 74 percent of winners at U.S. institutions have been affiliated with an AAU university. Approximately two-thirds of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 2006 Class of Fellows are affiliated with an AAU university. The faculties at AAU universities include 2,993 members of the United States National Academies : the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.
AAU membership is by invitation only, which requires an affirmative vote of three-fourths of current members. Invitations are considered periodically, based in part on an assessment of the breadth and quality of university programs of research and graduate education, as well as undergraduate education. The association ranks its members using four criteria: research spending, the percentage of faculty who are members of the National Academies, faculty awards, and citations. Two-thirds of members can vote to revoke membership for poor rankings. annual dues are $80,500. All 63 U.S. members of the AAU are also classified as Highest Research Activity Universities by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.
InstitutionState or ProvinceControlEstablishedYear joinedTotal studentsU.S. News Ranking Medical school
Engineering program
Boston UniversityMassachusettsPrivate1839201230,00940
Brandeis UniversityMassachusettsPrivate194819855,80840
Brown UniversityRhode IslandPrivate176419338,61914
California Institute of TechnologyCaliforniaPrivate189119342,23112
Carnegie Mellon UniversityPennsylvaniaPrivate1900198212,90825
Case Western Reserve UniversityOhioPrivate1826196911,82440
Columbia UniversityNew YorkPrivate1754190029,2503
Cornell UniversityNew YorkPrivate1865190021,90417
Dartmouth CollegeNew HampshirePrivate176920196,57112
Duke UniversityNorth CarolinaPrivate1838193814,60010
Emory UniversityGeorgiaPrivate1836199514,51321
Georgia Institute of TechnologyGeorgiaPublic1885201029,37029
Harvard UniversityMassachusettsPrivate1636190021,0002
Indiana University BloomingtonIndianaPublic1820190942,73179
Iowa State UniversityIowaPublic1858195836,001121
Johns Hopkins UniversityMarylandPrivate1876190023,07310
Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMassachusettsPrivate1861193411,3193
McGill UniversityQuebecPublic1821192636,904N/A
Michigan State UniversityMichiganPublic1855196449,30084
New York UniversityNew YorkPrivate1831195053,71129
Northwestern UniversityIllinoisPrivate1851191721,2089
Ohio State UniversityOhioPublic1870191657,46654
Pennsylvania State UniversityPennsylvaniaPublic1855195845,51857
Princeton UniversityNew JerseyPrivate174619008,0101
Purdue UniversityIndianaPublic1869195839,25657
Rice UniversityTexasPrivate191219856,48717
Rutgers University–New BrunswickNew JerseyPublic1766198941,56562
Stanford UniversityCaliforniaPrivate1891190015,8776
Stony Brook UniversityNew YorkPublic1957200126,81491
Texas A&M UniversityTexasPublic1876200162,18570
Tulane UniversityLouisianaPrivate1834195813,46240
The University of ArizonaArizonaPublic1885198540,223117
University at BuffaloNew YorkPublic1846198930,18379
University of California, BerkeleyCaliforniaPublic1868190036,20422
University of California, DavisCaliforniaPublic1905199634,17539
University of California, IrvineCaliforniaPublic1965199629,58836
University of California, Los AngelesCaliforniaPublic1919197442,16320
University of California, San DiegoCaliforniaPublic1960198230,31037
University of California, Santa BarbaraCaliforniaPublic1944199525,05734
University of California, Santa CruzCaliforniaPublic1965201919,45784
The University of ChicagoIllinoisPrivate1890190014,9546
University of Colorado BoulderColoradoPublic1876196632,775104
University of FloridaFloridaPublic1853198549,04234
University of Illinois at Urbana–ChampaignIllinoisPublic1867190844,52048
The University of IowaIowaPublic1847190931,06584
The University of KansasKansasPublic1865190927,983130
University of Maryland, College ParkMarylandPublic1856196937,63164
University of MichiganMichiganPublic1817190043,42625
University of MinnesotaMinnesotaPublic1851190851,85370
University of MissouriMissouriPublic1839190835,441139
University of North Carolina at Chapel HillNorth CarolinaPublic1789192229,39029
University of OregonOregonPublic1876196922,980104
University of PennsylvaniaPennsylvaniaPrivate1740190024,6306
University of PittsburghPennsylvaniaPublic1787197428,64957
University of RochesterNew YorkPrivate1850194110,29029
University of Southern CaliforniaCaliforniaPrivate1880196948,50022
University of Texas at AustinTexasPublic1883192951,00048
University of TorontoOntarioPublic1827192684,000N/A
University of UtahUtahPublic1850201932,994104
University of VirginiaVirginiaPublic1819190424,36028
University of WashingtonWashingtonPublic1861195043,76262
University of Wisconsin–MadisonWisconsinPublic1848190043,27546
Vanderbilt UniversityTennesseePrivate1873195012,79515
Washington University in St. LouisMissouriPrivate1853192314,11719
Yale UniversityConnecticutPrivate1701190012,2233

Former members

Advocacy

In 2014, the AAU supported the proposed Research and Development Efficiency Act arguing that the legislation "can lead to a long-needed reduction in the regulatory burden currently imposed on universities and their faculty members who conduct research on behalf of the federal government." According to the AAU, "too often federal requirements" for accounting for federal grant money "are ill-conceived, ineffective, and/or duplicative." This wastes the researchers' times and "reduces the time they can devote to discovery and innovation and increases institutional compliance costs." AAU institutions are frequently involved in U.S. science policy debates. In 2008, AAU Vice President for Policy, Tobin Smith, co-authored a textbook on U.S. science policy.