For the 6th year in a row, Arizona State University has been named the most innovative university in the nation as well as one of the top 50 public schools in the U.S., by U.S. News & World Report.
ASU is being recognized for its culture of discovery and its incorporation of technology and innovation and reimaging the role of an institution in higher education. This is specifically noteworthy in the current world of online learning accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Innovation is infused in ASU’s DNA because we are designed to spark, support and manifest new ideas,” ASU President Michael Crow said, in a prepared statement. “Innovation can be found at all levels of our education, our research and our community engagement. It drives our perpetual evolution, and it will continue to guide us as we work toward solutions to the next great challenges of a complex future.”
ASU has been working for years on utilizing new technologies and learning models to fundamentally change and improve the entire university experience for the faculty and the students, said David Levin, University Entrepreneur in Residence at ASU and chairman of SparkBeyond during REMOTE: The Connected Faculty Summit. However, many institutions around the world have now been thrust into the process of rethinking their curriculum and entire learning model as a result of COVID-19, he added.
ASU hosted REMOTE: The Connected Faculty Summit to showcase best practices, techniques, and tools to provide actionable insight to Higher Education faculty around the concept of “the best of online education.”
“Higher learning is at a “Carpe Diem” moment. We have here in the United States anyway, massive social transformations accelerating and moving forward in what will be net net positive outcomes,” Crow said during the event. “We got COVID global pandemic that is driving us deeply to understand limits and the potential of our institutions. And we got 5,000 faculty members here at ASU that really in miraculous ways transformed themselves into a powerful force of nature able to take on things and do things and make things happen in ways that I think have been really profound,” he said.
After ASU, U.S. News & World Report ranked the most innovative universities for 2021 as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of Technology and Purdue. Rounding out the top 10 this year are Stanford, California Institute of Technology, Carnegie Mellon, University of Maryland – Baltimore County and Elon University.
In addition to ranking No. 1 in innovation, ASU earned multiple spots on the badge-eligible list of 2021 Best Colleges. U.S. News & World Report badges are widely recognized as symbols of excellence in higher education that are conferred by an unbiased trust agent.