September 17, 2014

by Jim Nowlan
Outside Columnist

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) is one of the world’s great graduate research centers. The 2013 world rankings compiled by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, one of China’s most prestigious, placed UIUC at 25th best in the world, ahead of elite U.S. institutions such as Duke, Northwestern and the Ivy League’s Brown.
The challenge is to stay near the top of the rankings in a context of fierce competition to develop and attract star faculty and the research grants they bring to campus.
I am amazed that UIUC has done as well as it has. It is sometimes tough to attract faculty to a small city (actually cities) on the prairie where it can be difficult to find a rewarding job for one’s spouse.
A huge challenge is money. UIUC lacks a large, multi-billion dollar endowment like those at some major private institutions. The university entered the fund-raising game late, relying instead on generous state funding.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.