View of the Duke University campus
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WHAT IS MAKING THE TRIANGLE AREA SO DESIRABLE?
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A FRAMEWORK FOR EDUCATION BY ERICA JEVONS SIZEMORE
In the Triangle, it should come as no surprise that education at every level is a top priority for residents. From high tech to chemical engineering and the arts, our higher education offerings are cornerstone to the area with over 100,000 students enrolled at area colleges and universities, conferring over 20,000 degrees annually - a major contributor to our high performance workforce. Within the 144 square mile radius that encompasses the Triangle, you can find more than a dozen colleges and universities serving students looking to further their education, potential and prepare for gainful employment. Raleigh alone boasts seven higher education institutions. And although the term ‘Research Triangle’ did not enter the nomenclature until the 1950s, with the establishment of the Research Triangle Park, the area had long been a hub for higher education. Today, our public school system is among the best in the nation, and our universities are recognized among the top in the nation and the world. Each of the three corners of the Triangle possess a nationallyrecognized institution for education, founded or expanded upon following the Civil War. Duke University, UNC Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University lead the way in the Top Best Value Colleges according to SmartAsset’s annual rankings. Recognition comes as a result of high starting wages for graduating students and access to college scholarships and grants. Factors are weighted and compared against peer institutions to illustrate students’ return on investment. Founded in 1789, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC Chapel Hill) is honored as being the first public university in the nation. Initially conceived as a village on 1,300 acres of forested land, the campus was transformed as development shifted southward after the Civil War and into the early twentieth century. Consistently ranked among the nation’s elite for Business, 18
Law and the Schools of Medicine, the university has eclipsed more than $800 million in research grants and contracts. In 2013, the Princeton Review ranked UNC Chapel Hill as #2 for Best Value in Public Education and Kiplinger’s Magazine considered it #1 among the Best Public College Values in the same year. In 1892, ten miles northeast of UNC Chapel Hill, a small school called Trinity College moved to a new campus. With a major endowment by James Duke in 1924, the school status was elevated to a full university, renamed Duke University and expanded, eventually comprising nearly 9,000 acres across three contiguous campuses. Medicine, Law, Engineering, Business and Divinity are some of their most renowned areas of study; the school also allocates over $950 million to research and development. Notably, Duke University has been awarded the #1 Best Southern School according to Forbes (2015) and #8 Best National University by U.S. News & World Report (2016); the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University has also been recognized among Top 25 Best MBA Programs in the World. Made possible by the Morrill Act of 1862, whereby federal land became available for purposes of establishing higher education facilities for teaching agriculture, mechanical arts and military sciences, a new public university was conceived for Raleigh. Founded in 1887 as the North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, today North Carolina State University (NCSU) is noted for its focus on applied research, impressive new technologies, successful startups and rock-solid employees. NCSU is the largest four-year university in North Carolina, offering 100+ undergraduate programs and 160+ graduate and doctoral programs to over 34,000 students annually. The school is the 3rd largest recipient of industry-sponsored research among public universities nationwide without a medical school and resides in
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