Virginia Tech

Beginning in 1872 with 132 students and two programs of study, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, popularly known as Virginia Tech, has evolved into a comprehensive research university of national and international prominence. With more than 27,500 students on the main campus in Blacksburg and about 2,500 other students statewide and abroad, the university produces world-class scholarship in a challenging academic environment. University tradition is firmly rooted in our motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), and our historic land-grant mission is brought to life through learning, discovery, and engagement.

Learning

Virginia Tech's challenging academic standards attract high-achieving students, and a nationally and internationally acclaimed faculty teaches our classes. Our nine colleges (Agriculture & Life Sciences, Architecture & Urban Studies, Engineering, Liberal Arts & Human Sciences, Natural Resources, Pamplin Business, Science, Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, and Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine*) and Graduate School offer more degree programs—approximately 200—than any other university in the state.

Virginia Tech is one of the nation's leaders in developing and using instructional technologies. More than 85 percent of our departments offer e-learning courses, which have attracted more than 100,000 enrollments since 1998. During this time, more than 700 different faculty members have offered more than 3,500 different courses.

Discovery

The university's groundbreaking research transforms lives and communities. With annual research expenditures of nearly $367 million, Virginia Tech ranks 56th among research universities in the United States and first within the Commonwealth of Virginia.

The university, which has more than 100 research centers, also consistently ranks among the top institutions in industry-supported research and among the top 15 in the number of patents issued each year.

Our faculty experts and motivated students conduct research in more than 3,500 projects in fields ranging from biotechnology to materials, from the environment and energy to food and human health and from transportation to computing information.

Engagement

As part of our outreach mission and adhering to our motto, we serve and engage the citizens of the commonwealth, the nation, and the world. Virginia Tech is involved in a multitude of economic and community development projects. These efforts focus on education and the dissemination of knowledge to the global society in which we live.

Professionals, organizations, and communities tap Virginia Tech's vast resources, expertise, and research results through hundreds of continuing and professional education programs and five campus centers located throughout the commonwealth. Virginia Tech has a long history of providing innovative distance-learning techniques to meet the various needs of working adults and other nontraditional students.

The Inn at Virginia Tech & Skelton Conference Center on campus and The Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center in Roanoke, both owned by Virginia Tech, support the university's outreach mission by working with faculty to plan and host conferences as well as continuing education and professional programs.

Virginia Tech manages more than $46 million in funded economic development projects in 44 countries and encourages faculty members to develop global course content and study abroad opportunities for students. In 2007-08, more than 2,150 students from more than 100 foreign countries studied at Tech, while more than 1,000 Virginia Tech students studied abroad.

Virginia Cooperative Extension, operated jointly by Virginia Tech and Virginia State University, has been helping people improve their economic, cultural, and social well being for nearly a century. With 107 city/county offices, tens of thousands of volunteers, and programs across the state, Extension reaches and teaches millions of Virginians annually.

At a Glance

• Located in Blacksburg, Va.
• Nine colleges and Graduate School
• A study-abroad center in Switzerland
• 60 bachelor's degree programs
• Approximately 140 master's and doctoral degree programs
• About 30,000 students, most full-time
• 16:1 student-faculty ratio
• Main campus includes more than 125 buildings, 2,600 acres, and an airport
• Computing and communications complex for worldwide information access
• Ranks 56th in university research expenditures in the United States
• Has adjacent Corporate Research Center
• Owns two hotel/conference center complexes

Interesting Facts & Figures

• The university's annual budget is about $1.02 billion.
• Virginia Tech has about 198,000 living alumni from every state and about 100 countries.
• All campus facilities, including residence halls, have high-speed connections to voice, data, and video communications.
• Virginia Tech is one of three public universities in the country that offers the combined advantages of a military-style leadership development program — here it is through the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets — and a traditional academic and social life.
• U.S. News & World Report ranks Virginia Tech 29th among national public universities. Of all universities — public or private — it ranks Tech 71st.
• Kiplinger Personal Finance magazine ranks Virginia Tech in the top 20 public colleges and universities that offer a first-class educational experience at a bargain price.
• The National Science Foundation ranks Tech 10th in the nation in agricultural and natural resources research expenditures.
• The university's undergraduate engineering program is 17th among the nation's engineering schools and ninth among public universities, according to U.S. News & World Report. Seven of the college's undergraduate programs rank in the top 25.
• U.S. News & World Report ranks the College of Engineering's graduate program 33rd nationally, with two individual programs in the top 10.
• The Pamplin College of Business undergraduate program was ranked 37th in the nation and 22nd among public schools by U.S. News & World Report.
• DesignIntelligence ranks Virginia Tech's undergraduate architecture program fourth nationally and first among public universities. It also ranks the university's undergraduate interior design program seventh in the nation. In addition, it ranks the graduate architecture program 10th in the nation and the graduate interior design program fifth.
• The university's forestry program is top-ranked in North America, according to a study conducted by Auburn University.