University Of South Florida Main Campus

The University of South Florida, also known as USF, is a member institution of the State University System of Florida and a public research university located in Tampa, Florida, USA. Founded in 1956, USF is the fifth largest in the state of Florida, with a total enrollment of 40,111 as of 2013. USF has an autonomous campus in St. Petersburg, and branch centers in Sarasota and ].

USF is classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a "very high research" institution, and is one of only three universities in Florida to hold this highest level of classification. In its 2010 ranking, the Intellectual Property Owners Association placed USF 9th among all universities worldwide in the number of US patents granted. The university has an annual budget of $1.8 billion and an annual economic impact of $3.7 billion. In a ranking compiled by the National Science Foundation, USF has the 50th highest research expenditure in the United States and in the state of Florida only trails the University of Florida.

Twenty USF graduate programs are ranked in the top 100 of the 2012 America’s Best Graduate Schools edition of U.S. News & World Report. USF is also one of the nation's top centers for the advancement in research of treatments for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases.[dead link]

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