Research university

A research university is a university that expects all its tenured and tenure-track faculty to continuously engage in research, as opposed to merely requiring it as a condition of an initial appointment or tenure. Such universities can be recognized by their strong focus on innovative research and the prestige of their brand names. On the one hand, research universities strive to recruit faculty who are the most brilliant minds in their disciplines in the world, and their students enjoy the opportunity to learn from such experts. On the other hand, new students are often disappointed to realize their undergraduate courses at research universities are overly academic and fail to provide vocational training with immediate "real world" applications; but many employers value degrees from research universities because they know that such coursework develops fundamental skills like critical thinking.

Higher education institutions which are not research universities (or do not aspire to that designation) instead place more emphasis on teaching or other aspects of tertiary education, and their faculties are under less pressure to publish or perish.

The concept of the modern research university first arose in 19th century Germany and developed into its most advanced and successful form in the United States, centered on three foundational principles: "integration of teaching and research, academic freedom," and a conception of the nature of research as open-ended and unending. Today, U.S. research universities dominate most international college and university rankings.

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