University System of Georgia
The University System of Georgia is the government agency that includes 26 public institutions of higher learning in the U.S. state of Georgia. The system is governed by the Georgia Board of Regents. It sets goals and dictates general policy to educational institutions as well as administering Public Library Service of the state which includes 58 public library systems. The USG also dispenses public funds to the institutions but not the lottery-funded HOPE Scholarship. The USG is the sixth largest university system in the United States by total student enrollment, with 333,507 students in 26 public institutions. USG institutions are divided into four categories: research universities, regional comprehensive universities, state universities, and state colleges.
The system is home to five research universities: Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Georgia, Augusta University Georgia State University, and Kennesaw State University. The University of Georgia is the state and system's flagship university, the state's oldest institution of higher learning, and one of the state's two land-grant universities. After its 2016 merger with Georgia Perimeter College, Georgia State University became the largest institution of higher learning in the USG, with over fifty thousand students. University of North Georgia is the state's designated military school. There are three historically black schools housed within the USG: Savannah State University, Albany State University, and the state's second land-grant university, Fort Valley State University.
In 2012, all USG institutions combined had a $14.1 billion economic impact on the state of Georgia. Georgia Tech in Atlanta and University of Georgia in nearby Athens had the largest impacts on their regional economies: $2.6 billion and 20,869 jobs at Georgia Tech and $2.2 billion and 22,196 jobs at the University of Georgia. Georgia State University's central campus in Atlanta had a $1.6 billion economic impact with 13,736 jobs; given its merger with Perimeter College, with an economic impact of $600 million, Georgia State's overall economic impact on the Atlanta metro area is $2.2 billion.
History
Early years
The University System of Georgia was created with the passage of the Reorganization Act of 1931 by the Georgia General Assembly in 1931. The Reorganization Act created a Board of Regents to oversee the state's colleges and universities and the 26 boards of trustees that had provided oversight over the various institutions before passage of the act. The Board of Regents officially took office on January 1, 1932, and consisted of eleven members to be appointed by the Governor of Georgia pending approval from the Georgia Senate. The Governor held an ex officio position on the Board. The regents were to elect a chairman and select a secretary. One regent was appointed from each of Georgia's ten congressional districts and the eleventh member was chosen at large.Governor Richard Russell Jr.'s initial appointees included Cason Jewell Callaway, Sr., Martha Berry, Richard Russell Sr., George C. Woodruff, William Dickson Anderson, Sr., Egbert Erle Cocke, Sr. and Philip Robert Weltner, Sr.. Anderson was elected chairman, Weltner vice-chairman and Cocke was appointed as the secretary/treasurer. Prior to the Reorganization Act, Georgia university chief executives held the title of chancellor; however, after the Act, University heads were given the title of president and a new chancellor position was created. The USG chancellor was selected and overseen by the board. At the request of the regents, Charles Snelling, the presiding head of the University of Georgia, stepped down from his position at UGA to become the initial chancellor of the entire system.
The 1932 Annual Report for the Board stated outstanding debts of $1,074,415. Over the next few years the USG endeavored to transform the state's institutions of higher learning, reorganizing schools, merging and closing others and transforming course offerings and curriculum.
Modern history
In 2011, Chancellor Hank Huckaby recommended four consolidations among eight institutions, which would be implemented in 2013. The same year, the Board of Regents adopted six "Principles for Consolidation", which has led to multiple consolidations in the subsequent years. As of 2018, these consolidations have decreased the number of USG colleges and universities from 35 to 26.| Former Institutions | Successor Institution | Date Effective | Ref. |
| Gainesville State College | University of North Georgia | January 8, 2013 | |
| North Georgia College and State University | University of North Georgia | January 8, 2013 | |
| Augusta State University | Georgia Regents University | January 8, 2013 | |
| Georgia Health Sciences University | Georgia Regents University | January 8, 2013 | |
| Waycross College | South Georgia State College | January 8, 2013 | |
| South Georgia College | South Georgia State College | January 8, 2013 | |
| Macon State College | Middle Georgia State College | January 8, 2013 | |
| Middle Georgia College | Middle Georgia State College | January 8, 2013 | |
| Kennesaw State University | Kennesaw State University | January 1, 2015 | |
| Southern Polytechnic State University | Kennesaw State University | January 1, 2015 | |
| Georgia State University | Georgia State University | January 6, 2016 | |
| Georgia Perimeter College | Georgia State University | January 6, 2016 | |
| Albany State University | Albany State University | January 1, 2017 | |
| Darton State College | Albany State University | January 1, 2017 | |
| Armstrong State University | Georgia Southern University | January 1, 2018 | |
| Georgia Southern University | Georgia Southern University | January 1, 2018 | |
| Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College | Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College | January 1, 2018 | |
| Bainbridge State College | Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College | January 1, 2018 |
Additionally, the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography was aligned with the University of Georgia, which became effective July 1, 2013.
In Fall 2018, the university system saw enrollment reach an all-time high of 328,712 students enrolled across the system's 26 colleges and universities. On March 6, 2019, an Atlanta court upheld a USG policy barring unauthorized immigrants from attending Georgia State, Georgia Tech, and the University of Georgia. In regards to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the USG decided against making wearing face coverings mandatory for the Fall 2020 semester before deciding to mandate them.
Georgia Research Alliance
The Georgia Research Alliance is an Atlanta, Georgia-based nonprofit organization that coordinates research efforts between Georgia's public and private sectors. While GRA receives a state appropriation for investment in university-based research opportunities, its operations are funded through foundation and industry contributions. In its first 19 years, GRA leveraged $525 million in state funding into $2.6 billion of additional federal and private investment.In 2007, GRA coalesced the strengths of several universities into a focused research effort built around new types of vaccines and therapeutics.
GRA Eminent Scholars
GRA Eminent Scholars are top scientists from around the world recruited by the Georgia Research Alliance. For each scholar, GRA invests $750,000 for an endowment, an amount that the research university matches in private funds on a minimum 1-1 basis. Eminent Scholars often bring a research team, significant federal funding and private support for their research. Georgia's investment in GRA Eminent Scholars has yielded more than $1 billion in outside grants and contracts for the state and helped to launch some 35 companies.
GRA's Cancer Initiative
After 10 years as an independent nonprofit organization, the Georgia Cancer Coalition became an initiative of the Georgia Research Alliance on January 18, 2012. The move was part of a larger effort to align Georgia's economic development assets in a more effective way.
GRA VentureLab
The Georgia Research Alliance set out to help launch companies around Georgian university research results, GRA launched its lead commercialization program, VentureLab, in 2002.
GRA also works with established Georgia companies through the Georgia Department of Economic Development and the Georgia Centers of Innovation in aerospace, logistics, life sciences, energy, agriculture and advanced manufacturing. The COIs help find technology solutions to industry challenges, in part by connecting companies to leading-edge research at Georgia's universities.
From 2002 to 2010, GRA directed $19 million of state funding into VentureLab. During that time, more than 700 university inventions or discoveries have been evaluated for commercial potential. More than 107 active companies have been formed, which employ more than 650 Georgians. These companies have also attracted $460 million in equity investment and generated $77 million in revenue.
GRA Centers of Research Excellence
Centers of Research Excellence are collaborative and individual efforts that focus on one area of scientific research.
List of institutions
USG designations
USG institutions are classified into various designations, which include:- Research University- Doctoral-granting institutions classified by the Carnegie Classification as "very high" or "high" research activity.
- Regional Comprehensive University- Institutions that offer undergraduate and master's-level degrees with some master's-dominant graduate programs.
- State University- Institutions that offer associate's, bachelor's, and master's degrees with limited, select doctoral programs.
- State College- Institutions that offer bachelor's and associate degrees with no graduate programs.
USG schools ranked by academic measures
The institutions below are ranked by average SAT score of first-time freshman for the 2012-2013 academic year. A first-time freshman describes a student entering a 4-year college or university for the first time. These figures do not include transfer, dual enrolled, post-baccalaureate or non-traditional students. First-time freshman account for the majority of the student population at a 4-year college or university. Two public institutions, the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech, are ranked in the top 100 in the annual U.S. News & World Report college rankings.| Institution | Average SAT score of entering freshman | Average GPA of entering freshman | Average acceptance rate | 6-year graduation rates | First-time freshman retention rate |
| Georgia Institute of Technology | 1365 | 3.76 | 55% | 80.75% | 95% |
| University of Georgia | 1238 | 3.76 | 56% | 83.92% | 94% |
| Georgia College and State University | 1160 | 3.42 | Not reported | 75.46% | 86% |
| Southern Polytechnic State University | 1141 | 3.28 | 79% | 48.75% | 75% |
| University of North Georgia | 1117 | 3.51 | 56% | 63.08% | 78% |
| Georgia Southern University | 1115 | 3.18 | 52% | 60.51% | 77% |
| 4-year institution USG average | 1110 | 3.12 | 74% | ||
| Kennesaw State University | 1089 | 3.20 | 57% | 51.47% | 76% |
| Georgia State University | 1082 | 3.33 | 57% | 57.77% | 83% |
| Armstrong State University | 1016 | 3.16 | 70% | 40.86% | 69% |
| Valdosta State University | 1015 | 3.12 | 59% | 52.32% | 67% |
| National average | 1010 | 58% | 77.1% | ||
| Columbus State University | 987 | 3.10 | 53% | 41.35% | 67% |
| Georgia Southwestern State University | 987 | 3.23 | 66% | 39.85% | 63% |
| Augusta State University | 985 | 3.03 | 54% | 33.96% | 67% |
| University of West Georgia | 965 | 3.08 | 56% | 46.40% | 70% |
| Clayton State University | 947 | 3.0 | 39% | 36.96% | 66% |
| Albany State University | 890 | 2.92 | 29% | 46.01% | 65% |
| Savannah State University | 867 | 2.74 | Not reported | 38.02% | 72% |
| Fort Valley State University | 844 | 2.76 | 41% | 33.82% | 60% |
- The average number of AP/IB/Dual Enrollment courses taken by a 2012 matriculating freshman at Georgia Tech was 7
- The average number of AP/IB/Dual Enrollment courses taken by a 2012 matriculating freshman at University of Georgia was 6
- SAT Subject tests are considered at this institution.
USG research universities ranked by endowment and research expenditure
| Rank of Federal Expenditure | Institution | Endowment Funds | Research Expenditure | Total research expenditure FY 2009 | Institution research funds | Economic impact | Number of GRA Eminent Scholars | Number of GRA VentureLab companies | Number of Centers of Research Excellence | Graduate student enrollment |
| 11 | Georgia Institute of Technology | $1,844 million | $548 million | $561,631,000 | $167,766,000 | $2,600 million | 23 | 10 | 9 | 7,030 |
| 84 | University of Georgia | $1,017 million | $128 million | $349,730,000 | $186,998,000 | $2,300 million | 15 | 4 | 7 | 8,260 |
| 100 | Average | $3,343 million | $98 million | |||||||
| 144 | Augusta University | $121 million | $51 million | $65,473,000 | $20,581,000 | $1,800 million | 6 | 1 | 3 | 6,245 |
| 164 | Georgia State University | $186 million | $37 million | $60,557,000 | $27,975,000 | $1,600 million | 5 | 0 | 3 | 7,427 |
- Emory University hosts 14 GRA eminent scholars. Emory is a private school and not a part of the state-supported University System of Georgia. Emory is home to 3 GRA VentureLab companies and a fourth in collaboration with Georgia Tech. Emory is a member of 8 Centers for Research Excellence. Emory usually partners with a USG research university in forming Centers of Research Excellence.
- Average considers the endowment funds of the 120 degree-granting postsecondary institutions with the largest endowments. 'Average' considers the 100th highest federal research expenditure in the 2017 report of the Top American Research Universities.
- Augusta University values do not reflect the combined numbers from the 2013 Augusta State University merger.
Rank of Georgian College and Universities by Rhodes Scholars (private and public)
| Rank | Institution | Number of Rhodes Scholars |
| 1 | University of Georgia | 22 |
| 2 | Emory University | 17 |
| 3 | Morehouse College | 4 |
| 4 | Georgia Institute of Technology | 3 |
| 5 | Mercer University | 2 |
| 6 | Agnes Scott College | 1 |
| 7 | Berry College | 1 |
- Private Institution not affiliated with USG.
Rank of Georgian College and Universities by Truman Scholars (private and public)
| Rank | Institution | Number of Truman Scholars |
| 1 | University of Georgia | 17 |
| 2 | Spelman College | 11 |
| 3 | Georgia Institute of Technology | 7 |
| 4 | Emory University | 9 |
| 5 | Agnes Scott College | 5 |
| 6 | Mercer University | 1 |
| 7 | Morehouse College | 2 |
| 8 | University of West Georgia | 1 |
Rank of Georgian College and Universities by Marshall Scholars (private and public)
The University of Georgia and Georgia Tech rank among top 10 public universities receiving Marshall scholars. Since 2001, Georgia Tech students have received 8 Marshall Scholarships and UGA has received 5 ranking 2nd and 6th respectively for most Marshall Scholars.| Rank | Institution | Number of Marshall Scholars |
| 1 | Georgia Institute of Technology | 8 |
| 2 | University of Georgia | 5 |
| 3 | Georgia College & State University | 1 |
Rank of Georgian College and Universities by Fulbright Scholars (private and public)
In 2012, University of Georgia and Emory University ranked in the top percentile of doctoral/research institutions producing Fulbright Scholars. 38 Fulbright scholars came from Georgian institutions.| Rank | Institution | Number of Fulbright scholars |
| 1 | University of Georgia | 13 |
| 2 | Emory University | 11 |
| 3 | Spelman College | 5 |
| 4 | Agnes Scott College | 4 |
| 5 | Georgia Institute of Technology | 2 |
| 6 | Mercer University | 2 |
| 7 | Georgia College & State University | 1 |