Overview and Information

University Overview

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette, founded in 1898 as Southwest Louisiana Industrial Institute, offered its first baccalaureate degrees in 1921. By the 1950s, the institution awarded Master’s degrees and became the first all-white, state-supported public college in the South to enroll a black student. The University of Southwestern Louisiana, as the institution became known in 1960, began offering Doctoral degrees in the Sixties. Selective admissions were implemented in 1999, and since that time the average composite ACT of entering freshmen has risen from 19.5 to 23.9.

The University is now classed as a Carnegie Research University with higher research activity. The University enrolls more than 17,123 students (57 percent women) and offers 56 Bachelor’s degrees, 27 Master’s degrees, and 10 Doctorates through eight academic colleges and the Graduate School. The University’s students are predominantly from Louisiana (89 percent), though non-resident enrollment is increasing (currently representing 48 states and 77 countries). The largest racial minority is African American (19.0 percent). Externally funded research now tops $120 million.

Much of the University’s identity is derived from the cultural heritage of the Cajun and Creole populations who settled in Lafayette and surrounding parishes, known collectively as “Acadiana.” UL Lafayette is integrally involved in the region’s economic development, particularly its push to become a leading hub for technology. University faculty and students are meaningfully involved in area communities through service-learning projects, internships, and cooperative education programs. SREB peers identified jointly by Louisiana’s governing board for higher education, the Board of Regents, and UL Lafayette include Old Dominion, Virginia Commonwealth, Louisiana Tech, University of Alabama Birmingham, Mississippi State, Florida Atlantic, University of Texas at Arlington, University of Memphis, Georgia Southern, and UNC Greensboro.