In this article, we will look at the 15 fastest rising universities in the US. If you want to skip our detailed analysis, you can look at the 5 Fastest Rising Universities in the US.

Higher Education Trends in the US

The higher education situation in the United States is changing; some recent reports show that college dropout rates in the region are increasing. According to a report by the Education Data Initiative, the college dropout rate increased to 32.9% in 2023. Moreover, 40 million Americans were recorded to drop out of college in 2021, and only 864,824 students re-enrolled for the fall semester during the same year. The rise in college dropouts is attributed to financial concerns, the inability to manage living expenditures, lack of motivation to study a particular program, and the passion to earn money without a degree due to the hot job market. Although the Education Data Initiative finds that college dropouts make 35% less income on average than those with a bachelor’s degree, wanting to start a business or pursuing a job remains one of the most common reasons behind dropping out. A report by the World Economic Forum found that approximately 31% of US college students intended to drop out to find a job in 2022; moreover, 29% mentioned the rising cost of living as a reason for not returning to college. To read more about universities, you can look at the 20 Largest Universities in the World and the 15 Cheapest American Universities with Low Tuition for International Students.

Growing Education Technology Market 

The COVID-19 pandemic pushed the traditional education system a step further towards technology as colleges around the globe adapted education technologies to foster e-learning. According to a report by Grand View Research, the global education technology market was valued at $142.37 billion in 2023. The EdTech market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 13.4%, reaching $343.33 billion by 2030. As per the sector-wise analysis, the K-12 EdTech segment led the market share in 2023 and contributed over 40% in revenue growth. Regionally, North America dominates the market and held approximately 36% market share in 2023. The growth in the region is attributed to the adoption of personalized learning and digital skills. You can also look at the Academic Ranking of World Universities: Top 30.

The EdTech market in the US is also poised for growth and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.3% from 2024 to 2030. Some factors contributing to growth in the market are the emergence of new EdTech startups, established education technology companies, and a surge in education learning outcome investment by the government.

Leading Education Technology Companies in the US

Udemy Inc. (NASDAQ:UDMY), 2U, Inc. (NASDAQ:TWOU), and Coursera Inc. (NASDAQ:COUR) are leading EdTech companies and online learning platforms in the United States and internationally.

Udemy Inc. (NASDAQ:UDMY) is a leading online learning and skills teaching platform. The company is based in San Francisco, United States. On March 21, Udemy Inc. (NASDAQ:UDMY) announced its partnership with the Cloud Native Computing Foundation to supercharge the next generation of native cloud developers. The Cloud Native Computing Foundation builds sustainable ecosystems for cloud-native software and provides certifications for aspiring developers. Under this collaboration, both companies will endorse content for more than 233,000 project contributors and millions of future cloud-native developers and prepare them for the Cloud Native Computing Foundation certification exam.

Coursera Inc. (NASDAQ:COUR) is another leading online education provider and Edtech company based in California, United States. The company collaborates with top universities to provide online degrees and professional certifications. On April 13, Coursera Inc. (NASDAQ:COUR) launched its new augmented reality course experience featuring courses from leading universities. The platform has launched VR-enabled courses from Duke University, Peking University, and the University of Washington. This innovation will make the learning experience more interactive and help learners develop relevant AR and VR skills. Coursera Inc. (NASDAQ:COUR) has also launched a new AR professional certification from Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) to support this.

2U, Inc. (NASDAQ:TWOU) is a top education services company operating in the US. The company provides services to nonprofit colleges, universities, and also offers courses, executive education programs, and boot camps to students across the globe. 2U, Inc. (NASDAQ:TWOU) has a community of over 83 million learners and has partnerships with more than 260 of the world’s top universities. Here are some comments from the company’s Q4 2023 earnings call:

“We will continue to evolve and develop our plan for the long term over the coming months. Before I turn things over to Matt, I want to briefly discuss our results for the year. Our revenue for 2023 was approximately $946 million with an adjusted EBITDA of around $170 million. It is worth noting that $88 million of this revenue came from exiting certain degree programs or portfolio management. We do not expect to have additional portfolio management activities in 2024. We are optimistic about our degree business and expect enrollment to grow this year by single digits looking at the current portfolio. We also expect that our 2024 launches will generate up to $100 million in revenue at steady state, which is between 2.5 to 3.5 years from launch.”

With this context, let’s look at the 15 fastest rising universities in the US. You can also take a look at the biggest EdTech companies in the world.

Our Methodology

We relied on the QS World University Rankings to curate the list of 15 fastest rising universities in the US. The QS World University Rankings features more than 1500 universities from over 104 locations. We used the reports from 2022, 2023, and 2024 from the above source to filter US universities. To get the fastest rising universities, we calculated the change in the overall score for all US-based universities and selected universities showcasing a positive change in the overall score over 3 years. The list is ranked in ascending order of the improvement in score from 2022 to 2024.

15 Fastest Rising Universities in the US

15. University of Florida

QS World University Ranking Score (2024): 49.1

QS World University Ranking Score (2022): 46.9

Improvement in Score: 2.2

The University of Florida is a public land-grant university based in Gainesville, Florida. It ranks as the 15th fastest rising university in the US, with a QS World University Ranking of 168 in 2024. The university has improved 20 places since last year and has seen an improvement of 2.2 in overall score since 2022.

14. North Carolina State University

QS World University Ranking Score (2024): 37.2

QS World University Ranking Score (2022): 34.7

Improvement in Score: 2.5  

North Carolina State University is another public land-grant university in Raleigh, North Carolina that ranks 14th on our list of fastest rising universities in the US. The university has improved by 2.5 points in the overall score from 2022 to 2024. Moreover, North Carolina State University ranks 274 in the QS World University Ranking as of 2024 and has improved 38 positions compared to 2023.

13. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

QS World University Ranking Score (2024): 34.5

QS World University Ranking Score (2022): 31.6

Improvement in Score: 2.9

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, also known as Virginia Tech, is a public university in Blacksburg, Virginia. It ranks 13th on our list of fastest-rising universities in the US. The institute currently ranks 302 on the QS World University Ranking for 2024. However, it has improved 61 positions in a single year compared to its 2023 ranking of 363rd globally.

12. Michigan State University

QS World University Ranking Score (2024): 52.7

QS World University Ranking Score (2022): 49.7

Improvement in Score: 3.0  

Michigan State University, situated in East Lansing, Michigan, ranks 12th fastest rising university in the US. The university has improved by 3 points in the overall score change since 2022. It is currently ranked at 136th position and has improved 23 positions since 2023.

11. University of Miami

QS World University Ranking Score (2024): 36.9

QS World University Ranking Score (2022): 33.7

Improvement in Score: 3.2 

The University of Miami ranks 15th on our list of fastest rising universities in the US. It is a private university situated in Coral Gables, Florida. As of 2024, the university ranks 278 per the QS World University Ranking. The University of Miami has improved by 3.2 points in terms of the overall score in a 3-year from 2022 to 2024.

10. University of Texas at Austin

QS World University Ranking Score (2024): 71.8

QS World University Ranking Score (2022): 68.4

Improvement in Score: 3.4  

University of Texas at Austin is a public university ranking 10th on our list of fastest rising universities in the US. The university currently ranks 58 in the QS World University Ranking and has improved 14 positions since 2023. In terms of 3-year progress, the university’s overall score has improved by 3.4 points since 2022.

9. Iowa State University

QS World University Ranking Score (2024): 27.9

QS World University Ranking Score (2022): 24.1

Improvement in Score: 3.8  

The Iowa State University is situated in Ames, Iowa. It ranks as the 9th fastest rising university with an improvement of 3.8 points in the overall score since 2022. The university is currently ranked 400th and has improved by 81 positions in a year.

8. Purdue University

QS World University Ranking Score (2024): 60.7

QS World University Ranking Score (2022): 56.9

Improvement in Score: 3.8  

Purdue University is the 8th fastest-rising university in the US. The university has a QS World University Ranking of 99 as of 2024 and has improved 130 positions from its 2023 ranking of 129th university worldwide.

7. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

QS World University Ranking Score (2024): 69.1

QS World University Ranking Score (2022): 65.2

Improvement in Score: 3.9  

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a public land university in Illinois. It ranks as the 7th fastest rising university in the US, with its overall score improving by 3.6 points since 2022. The university is currently ranked 64th against its 2023 ranking of 85th worldwide.

6. University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

QS World University Ranking Score (2024): 83.8

QS World University Ranking Score (2022): 79.7

Improvement in Score: 4.1  

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public University that ranks as the 6th fastest rising university in the US. The university’s overall score has improved by 4.1 points since 2022 and is now ranked 29th in the QS World University Ranking 2024.

Click to continue reading and see the 5 Fastest Rising Universities in the US.

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Disclosure: None. 15 Fastest Rising Universities in the US is originally published on Insider Monkey.