The 15 most innovative universities in the country

Even the longstanding US News and World Report's latest school rankings are innovating.

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For the first time, the report includes the most innovative schools, as judged by college presidents, deans, and admissions officers.

The schools earn the distinction for their emphasis on grooming self-motivated thinkers that can turn wild ideas into successful realities.

Stanford Student Working In Form
Jesse Leimgruber, CEO of NeoReach and a student at Stanford University, conducts business in his dorm room in Stanford, California, June 11, 2014. Reuters

Does your alma mater make the grade?

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13 (tie). University of Southern California

USC Village
Harley Ellis Devereaux

USC has an entire department, the Stevens Center for Innovation, reserved strictly for new business and product ideas.

Research faculty can brainstorm, engineer, and commercialize those ideas.

USC also encourages undergrads to think creatively with its student-run Spark SC Committees, innovation-driven groups that design and build products, and host events around campus.

 

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13 (tie). University of Central Florida

ucf
keone/Flickr

At UCF, the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship helps students and faculty turn zany ideas into marketable ventures.

One avenue is the Blackstone LaunchPad, which offers students free, confidential coaching to build a start-up.

A five-year, $50 million agreement with UCF combined with a network of coaches gives students the know-how and ability to start self-driven careers.

 

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13 (tie). Georgia Institute of Technology

Georgia Tech Skiles Walkway
Via Wikimedia Commons

Georgia Tech's Enterprise Innovation Institute consults with established business pros and local K-12 schools to foster innovative thinking based on their specific needs.

The university also houses the Invention Studio, which is open to all students who want to tinker, build, and play.

"To promote and reward creativity," the studio's website states, "there are few strict rules in the Invention Studio. Rather, we promote an ethic of responsibility, safety, and community ownership."

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12. Cornell University

Cornell university
Sach1tb/Flickr

Cornell has more than a dozen programs and institutes related to innovation, including the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Institute, the Big Ideas Competition, the eLab, and Student Agencies, Inc.

Students learn immediately that ingenuity has a place in the world, and they could be the ones to make it a reality.

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11. Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie Mellon
Via Flickr

CMU's Integrated Innovation Institute is the brainchild of the College of Engineering and the College of Fine Arts.

It includes professional master degree programs, executive education, and hands-on product development research with industry leaders.

CMU even offers a degree tailored to the pursuit, its Master of Integrated Innovation for Products and Services.

 

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8 (tie). University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

University of Michigan Medical School
Via Flickr

Innovation is a top priority at the University of Michigan.

The university offers multiple degrees, from its Bachelor of Science in Information to its Ph.D. in Information, all within its School of Information.

"The School of Information delivers innovative, elegant, and ethical solutions connecting people, information, and technology," the school states. "When there is a need for world-changing information discoveries, we will be there.

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8 (tie). Harvard University

A student and parent pass Widener Library's banners before Harvard University's Class Day Exercises in Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 27, 2015.  REUTERS/Dominick Reuter
A student and parent pass Widener Library's banners before Harvard University's Class Day Exercises in Cambridge Thomson Reuters

Launched in November 2011, the Harvard Innovation Lab, known as the i-lab, connects students with the resources they'll need in order to conceive and launch products.

"The i-lab fosters collaboration among Harvard students, faculty, entrepreneurs, and members of the Allston and Greater Boston communities," the i-lab states.

It distinguishes itself from other entrepreneurship programs, allowing students to collaborate across schools in Harvard and rely on faculty for help.

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8 (tie). Drexel University

drexel dragon
Desiree Williams/Flickr

Drexel isn't just building a single center or institute for innovation. 

It's fostering an entire neighborhood.

The goal at Drexel is to cultivate innovation as a mission of the entire university. That mission is already seen in its five-year co-op program, which gives students a break from classes so they can work full-time while still in school.

Drexel's Strategic Plan 2012-2019 hinges on embedding innovation into the fabric of the college.

 

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7. Duke University

duke university
Lilly Library, Duke University Wikimedia Commons

Duke's Co-Lab and Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative are intended to make the university more than just a flash in the pan of innovation.

Instead, Duke hopes to spread the design and creativity gospel into the surrounding neighborhood.

"We seek to make Duke an agent of transformation through an entrepreneurial spirit, generating innovations from the ideas that grow at the university," the Initiative's website states

 

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6. Northeastern University

Northeastern University engineering
Facebook/nucoe

Last year, Northeastern launched its one-year Master of Science in Innovation program. 

It's designed to help working professionals hone their skills as thought leaders — to think more dynamically and see where opportunities lie.

The university also features a Center for Research Innovation, which "serves as the University-wide portal between industry and leading-edge innovations" from the university's portfolio of research.

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5. Georgia State University

Georgia State University Law Library
Georgia State University Law Library Georgia State University

Few colleges have a Chief Innovation Officer. Georgia State is one of them.

Students at GSU receive hands-on training with Microsoft to solve problems related to coding and programming, along with an introductory composition course that teaches students digital literacy, including blogging and building out web pages.

The university also uses its Center for Instructional Innovation to help teachers hone their craft in a changing and increasingly tech-driven era.

 

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4. University of Maryland, Baltimore County

university of maryland baltimore county
Tim Menzies/Flickr

At UMBC, innovation isn't just a perk of education. It's the whole pursuit.

In particular, the university tries to help its minority students to go after degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math with its Meyerhoff Scholars Program.

Innovation is also funded federally.

The Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation, a joint venture with UMD's College Park campus, has backing from the US Food and Drug Administration to refine how drugs and medical devices are reviewed and evaluated.

 

 

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3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

MIT
Andrew Hitchcock/Flickr

It's no surprise that one of the most tech-minded universities ranks near the top of a list of innovative schools.

MIT routinely graduates the brightest minds because of its emphasis on creation, which is made most visible by its Media Lab.

The lab's mission of "promoting a unique, antidisciplinary culture" enables students to produce technology at the bleeding edge of wearables, computing, and interactive surfaces.

 

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2. Stanford University

Stanford Student Working In Form
Jesse Leimgruber, CEO of NeoReach and a student at Stanford University, conducts business in his dorm room in Stanford, California, June 11, 2014. Reuters

Living in Palo Alto, the heart of Silicon Valley, makes it hard to avoid conversations about innovation.

Stanford's Center for Social Innovation highlights the university's commitment to solving hugely complex problems, like civil rights issues and environmental concerns, with a combination of in-class learning and project-based activities.

The CSI molds eager-eyed freshmen to become the next decade's revolutionary leaders.

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1. Arizona State University

Arizona State University campus
Wikimedia Commons

ASU's passion for innovation spans from its online-learning center Global Freshman Academy to its partnership with Starbucks, which offers employees free online tuition at ASU.

The university also created a program called me3, which uses high schoolers' personality traits to find their ideal careers.

The emphasis on online education has led to greater retention rates than traditional classrooms — the bedrock of any successful education.

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