In 2021, the Association of American Universities formed an Advisory Board on Racial Equity in Higher Education. The board conducted its work through four different subgroups, each tasked with studying promising practices and communicating potential strategies to mitigate structural barriers to equity in different aspects of the life of leading…

As the organizations representing the presidents of America's leading research universities and the chief executive officers of America's leading companies, the Association of American Universities and Business Roundtable recognize that the United States' continued global competitiveness depends on developing, attracting and retaining top…

Association of American Universities (AAU) has been active in institutional and national discussions to help address critical challenges facing research universities in light of COVID-19. On May 1, 2020, AAU hosted a virtual meeting of the campus liaisons for the Undergraduate STEM Education Initiative, The intention of the virtual meeting was to…

During a 2019 workshop, the American Association of Universities (AAU) convened experts involved in leading, researching, evaluating and funding efforts to transform undergraduate STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) teaching across all sectors of higher education. The goal was to synthesize essential issues and challenges in…

"Essential Questions & Data Sources for Continuous Improvement of Undergraduate STEM Teaching and Learning" is intended to be a useful resource for the individuals and institutions who work together to help foster continuous improvement of undergraduate STEM education. Informed by the broad literature on post-secondary STEM…

Association of American Universities (AAU) has developed a framework that can guide institutional commitment to using teaching practices shown by research to be effective in STEM education. The framework provides a set of key institutional elements that need to be addressed in order to bring about sustainable change. Different strategies will…

This report describes the policies and programs implemented and reported through an institutional survey undertaken by Association of American Universities (AAU) member universities to prevent and respond to campus sexual assault and misconduct. Fifty-five of the 62 leading research universities that comprise AAU's membership completed the survey,…

In September 2011, the Association of American Universities launched a major initiative to improve undergraduate STEM education. The overall objective was to influence the culture of STEM departments at AAU institutions so that faculty members are encouraged and supported to use teaching practices proven by research to be effective in engaging…

"Discovery," wrote William Press in a 2013 article in "Science," "leads to technology and invention, which lead to new products, jobs, and industries." Basic, curiosity-driven research continually expands the boundaries of knowledge across fields, providing insights that enrich lives. Such research helps drive the…

The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities' (APLU's) Commission on Innovation, Competitiveness, and Economic Prosperity (CICEP) views university contributions to the economy across a spectrum of activity--from educating students and creating the talent necessary for the 21st century workforce to developing innovation ecosystems and…

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, universities have increasingly begun to embrace a new model: rather than requiring scholars and students to travel to the home city of the university, they have instead begun to establish new campuses, centers, and programs of their own in other. This profound change in the nature of universities requires…

For many decades certain core principles have guided the conduct of teaching, research, and scholarship at American universities, as well as the ways in which these institutions are governed. There is ample evidence that these principles have strongly contributed to the quality of American universities. The principles have also made these…

Americans are concerned about the cost of a college education and the impact of student loan debt, particularly in difficult economic times. They want a high-quality education, and they want it to be affordable. This two-page brief on student debt is intended to provide context for the conversation about this important issue, particularly with…

With the Presidential election two months away, this paper presents a set of actions the Association of American Universities (AAU) believes the President and his Administration can take to advance the partnership between the federal government and research universities--as well as actions that universities themselves need to take to ensure that…

University research is a vital building block of the nation's research and development (R&D) enterprise. While U.S. universities perform just 13 percent of total national R&D, they perform 31 percent of the nation's total research--basic and applied--and 56 percent of the nation's basic research. Because there is broad consensus that…