Research university

A research university is a that is committed to  as a central part of its mission. It does not matter whether the institution is or, or how the research is funded. Such universities have a strong focus on research and often have well-known names. Undergraduate courses at many research universities are often academic rather than and may not prepare students for particular careers, but many employers value degrees from research universities because they teach fundamental  such as. Globally, research universities are predominantly, with notable exceptions being the and.

Institutions of higher education that are not research universities (or do not aspire to that designation, such as ) instead place more emphasis on student instruction or other aspects of, and their faculties are under less pressure to.

It is also possible for a research university to combine both functions, hosting in effect a liberal arts college for undergraduates while maintaining a heavy focus on research in its graduate degree programs, as is commonplace in the American institutions.

History
The concept of the modern research university first arose in early 19th-century, where championed his vision of Einheit von Lehre und Forschung (the unity of teaching and research), as a means of producing an education that focused on the main areas of knowledge (the natural sciences, social sciences, and ) rather than on the previous goals of the university education, which was to develop an understanding of , , and ness.

Roger L. Geiger, a historian specializing in the, has argued that "the model for the American research university was established by five chartered before the  (, , , , and ); five state universities (, , , , and ); and five private institutions conceived from their inception as research universities (, , , , and )." In turn, research universities were essential to the establishment of American by the end of the 20th century. In particular, Columbia and Harvard were instrumental in the development of the (Hollywood), MIT and Stanford were leaders in building the American, and Berkeley and Stanford played a central role in the development of. Since the 1960s, American research universities—especially the leading American public research, the —have served as models for research universities around the world.

Characteristics
John Taylor defines the key characteristics of successful research universities as:
 * "Presence of pure and applied research"
 * "Delivery of research-led teaching"
 * "Breadth of academic disciplines"
 * "High proportion of postgraduate research programmes"
 * "High levels of external income"
 * "An international perspective"

Philip Altbach defines a different, although similar, set of key characteristics for what research universities need to become successful:
 * At the top of the academic hierarchy in a differentiated system and receiving appropriate support
 * Overwhelmingly public institutions
 * Little competition from non-university research institutions, unless these have string connections to the universities
 * More funding than other universities to attract the best staff and students and support research infrastructure
 * Adequate and sustained budgets
 * Potential for income generation from student fees and intellectual property
 * Suitable facilities
 * Autonomy

A 2012 report defined research universities, in the US context, as having values of intellectual freedom, initiative and creativity, excellence, and openness, with such additional characteristics as:
 * Being large and comprehensive – 's "multiversity"
 * Emphasizing the undergraduate residential experience (flagged specifically as distinguishing US research universities from those in continental Europe)
 * Integrating graduate education with research
 * Having faculty engaged in research and scholarship
 * Conducting research at high levels
 * Having enlightened and bold leadership

Global use metrics that primarily measure research to rank universities. Some also have criteria for inclusion based on the concept of a research university such as teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate level and conducting work in multiple faculties, or teaching undergraduates, having a research output of more than 1000 research papers over 5 years, and no more than 80% of activity in a single subject area.

Worldwide distribution
The QS World University Ranking for 2019 included 1011 research universities. The region with the highest number was Europe, with 39.9%, followed by Asia Pacific with 26.5%, the US and Canada with 18.1%, Latin America with 9.3% and the Middle East and Africa with 6.4%. All regions except the Middle East and Africa were represented in the top 100. The largest number of new entrants to the rankings were from Eastern Europe, followed by the Middle East. By individual country, the US has the most institutions with 156, followed by the UK with 76, Germany with 45, and Japan with 44. The top 200 shows a similar pattern with the US having 48 universities, the UK 29 and Germany 12. By comparison, the (2015) identifies 115 US universities as "Doctoral Universities: Highest Research Activity" and a further 107 as "Doctoral Universities: Higher Research Activity", while Altbach estimated that there were around 220 research universities in the US in 2013.

The shows a similar distribution, with 198 of their 500 ranked institutions in 2017 coming from Europe, 164 from the Americas, 132 from Asia/Oceania and 6 from Africa. Again, all regions except Africa are represented in the top 100, although the Americas are represented solely by universities from the US and Canada. The US again has the most universities from a single country, 135, followed by China with 57, the UK with 38 and Germany with 37. The top 200 shows the same ordering as the QS ranking: the US with 70 followed by the UK with 20 and Germany with 15. Times Higher Education only gives a breakdown by country and only for its top 200; this again has the US top, with 62, followed by the UK with 31, Germany with 20 and the Netherlands with 13. The top 200 features one university from Africa (the ), but none from Latin America. The Best Global Universities Ranking 2018 gives numbers by country for the 1250 universities ranked: the US is again top, with 221, followed by China with 136, Japan with 76 and the UK with 73.