Information about the University of Delaware 

Quick Facts:  

• 21,000 students attend the University of Delaware in all programs - 14,000 full-time and 1,300 part-time undergraduates, 3,000 graduate students, 2,000 students in continuing education programs. 

• There are 970 faculty members and 2,200 professionals and staff at the University.

• Undergraduate and non-MBA graduate tuition is $4,380 for Delaware students and $12,750 for others. 

• The University has 6 Colleges, 123 undergraduate degree programs, 71 Masters programs, and 36 Doctoral programs. 

• The University facilities include 449 buildings and over 2,300 acres in Newark, Wilmington, Dover, Georgetown, Lewes, and many other areas of the State of Delaware. 

• The University opened its doors in 1743 and is one of a very few space-grant, sea-grant, land-grant, and urban-grant institutions. 

• There are over 115,000 alumni of the University of Delaware.

Building on its 255-year heritage, the University of Delaware has emerged in the 1990s as one of the nation's brightest stars among institutions of higher learning. On the threshold of the new millennium, the University is positioned to achieve an even greater level of preeminence. 
Since 1990, the University's administration, faculty, and staff have focused considerable resources and effort on four key priorities: creating a more student-friendly institution, improving compensation for our faculty and staff, increasing student scholarship support, and improving the living and learning environment on campus. 

As a result, we have made significant progress in each of these areas. From our participation in the national Student Satisfaction Survey, we know that our students have increasingly rated their experience at Delaware as outstanding. Faculty and staff report a high level of job satisfaction. University-sponsored scholarship support has more than doubled during the 1990s. Private gifts to the University have nearly tripled in the same time period. And by the turn of the century, we will have completed 22 major new facilities at a cost of approximately $150 million and overcome nearly $250 million worth of deferred maintenance to our physical plant. 

On the surface, even the most recent facilities on campus pay homage to our colonial roots, but what's happening within the walls is nothing short of revolutionary. For into virtually every room on campus are strung 700 miles of fiber optics and cable, creating an unparalleled network of data, voice, and video linkages. While most universities have computer networks, what sets the University of Delaware apart is the way in which electronic resources have been integrated into every aspect of life and learning on campus. This technological transformation has permitted a stronger focus on students, dramatically enhanced recruitment of both students and faculty, and made possible the reduction of administrative costs. 

While the University has garnered national attention as "The Technology University," our faculty has also gained a strong and well-deserved reputation for excellence in teaching. Several years ago, a handful of pioneering educators began to transform undergraduate education on our campus, calling attention to the fact that how we teach our students is at least as important as what we teach them. By emphasizing problem-based learning in our classrooms and expanding undergraduate opportunities for independent inquiry and hands-on experience, we are enabling our students to become lifelong learners. 

Every college, department, and research center on campus now offers opportunities for motivated students to work on the front lines of discovery as faculty assistants or members of a research team. More than 90 percent of all UD engineering, biological and physical science professors provide undergraduate research opportunities, along with increasing numbers in the humanities and social sciences. The Carnegie Foundation's 1998 report on the status of undergraduate education at the nation's top 125 research institutions cited the University of Delaware as one of only five institutions that are "making research-based learning the standard." 

This campus-wide movement toward discovery-oriented learning is possible only through the dedication of our faculty. At Delaware, students have the opportunity to work closely with some of the nation's brightest scholars. Their commitment to students and eagerness to serve as mentors is the driving force behind our academic leadership. 

Of course, the value of undergraduate research would be undermined without a healthy and vital research program. At Delaware, we recognize that the best professors excel at both research and teaching because the two endeavors are highly interconnected. It is no accident that as our focus on research-based education has grown, so has our faculty's success in research. Despite the period of federal belt-tightening experienced in the early 1990s, external contracts and research grants obtained by University of Delaware researchers have increased 52 percent since 1991-92, reaching a total of $78.6 million in 1997-98. 

A growing number of programs at the University of Delaware are now regarded among the best in the nation. The Department of Chemical Engineering, for example, is perennially ranked among the top 10 such programs in the United States and has been joined at that elite level over the years by University programs in art conservation, urban affairs and public policy, physical therapy, theater, and marine studies. We are also recognized as a world leader in the emerging interdisciplinary fields of biotechnology and advanced materials research. 

Along with our increased emphasis on discovery-based learning, a special underlying philosophy of service has emerged at the University. Students and faculty alike pursue scholarly goals not merely for their own sake, but as a tool for helping individuals and families, for strengthening communities, and for making the world a better place through technological, scientific, and managerial innovations. By forming partnerships with hundreds of governmental, industrial, and nonprofit organizations in Delaware and beyond, our faculty, students, and staff have inspired the minds of schoolchildren, increased the profitability of businesses, protected natural resources, promoted healthier lifestyles, advanced the use of technology, and enriched the community through the arts. We can proudly say that the world is indeed a better place through our joint efforts.