SUNY QUALITY & LEADERSHIP

*	Enrollment: SUNY enrolls more than 424,000 students. Minority enrollment is about 20 percent of the 
student population.  SUNY has 1.2 million enrollments in continuing education programs throughout the 
State. 

*	Retention of first-year, full-time students, who entered the SUNY System in the Fall 2004 to pursue a 
baccalaureate degree tied the highest rate in SUNY history (Fall 1990), at 82 percent.  The rate of the Fall 
2004 cohort indicates that four, five and six-year graduation rates will likely reach an all time high. Overall, 
SUNY rates continue to outpace the rates at most public colleges nationally, and are as high as or 
approaching the rates at many of the best private colleges and universities in the United States.

*	US World News & Report’s 2005 Rankings placed three SUNY schools among the Top 50 Public 
Universities in the nation.  Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine’s 2005 rankings placed two SUNY 
campuses in the Top 10 Best Value for Public Education in the Nation.

*	Faculty: SUNY attracts the best and the brightest students by employing the best and the brightest faculty. 
Among SUNY’s 30,000-plus faculty are Nobel Laureates, Dirac & Fields Medal winners, winners of the 
Pulitzer Prize, MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grants,” and Emmy, Tony and Grammy Awards. 

*	Athletics: SUNY campuses offer competition in Division I, II and III NCAA and NJCAA. SUNY athletic 
teams have competed in many different State & National championships. 

*	Online Innovation: Students and faculty at all 64 campuses now have access to all 60 libraries as a result of 
SUNYConnect. This shared, online library system provides access to 18 million volumes and thousands of 
electronic resources and digital images. SUNY’s award-winning online learning network served 119 
students in its first year (1995) and now serves more than 86,000. It offers 3,200 courses and 60 complete 
degree programs.

*	Teacher Education: SUNY educates a large portion of the teachers in NYS. SUNY calls for higher 
standards than NYS and other university systems nationwide, such as 75 days of classroom experience - 
half in an urban setting - and content major required for middle school and high school teachers, while 
elementary teachers must have specific background specialty. 

*	Research: Across New York State, SUNY is forging new government and industry partnerships that speed 
the movement of inventions from the lab bench to the marketplace. More than $896 million in research 
activity is currently at work on SUNY campuses, employing 18,500 individuals and fueling the State’s 
economy.

*	Nationally-Recognized Mission Review & Assessment Processes: With increasing selectivity and 
consistent reviews of programs as part of these processes, the quality of SUNY students continues to 
improve each year and the market share of college bound NYS high school graduates continues to rise. 

*	New York State is led by SUNY graduates; one-fourth of New York’s State Legislators (47) are SUNY 
alumni.

SUNY is the largest comprehensive university system in the United States, educating more than 424,000 students in 
7,669 degree and certificate programs on 64 campuses.