UW-Madison In Top 10 For Spending On Research

The University of Wisconsin’s flagship campus is holding its own in a ranking of research universities across the United States.

The National Science Foundation released the amount of spending on research Thursday, and UW-Madison ranks sixth.

“We’re glad to see that in this report we’ve sort of turned the tide a little bit, our research expenditures are up. Those increased, and that was very helpful in allowing us to retain our sixth place,” said Natasha Kassulke spokeswoman for the vice chancellor of research and graduate education at UW-Madison.

Last year, UW-Madison spent $1.16 billion for research across all fields. Half of that comes from federal awards, which increased by 6.3 percent from the previous fiscal year. But the university has seen other sources of funding decline.

“We’ve seen a decrease in state funding for research and have been flat in terms of some of the other areas, such as industry-sponsored research. And those are stronger in some other areas of the country, especially places that have large Fortune 500 companies,” Kassulke said.

The National Science Foundation’s 2016 Higher Education and Research Survey looks at more than 900 universities.

UW-Madison has been in the top five ever since the survey started in 1972. But last year it dropped to sixth. John Hopkins University was top this year, with $2.4 billion spent on research.