Montana State University’s strategic plan sets overarching goals for the university and relies on every member of the MSU community – students, faculty, staff, alumni and our community partners – to contribute to its success.The plan is intended to guide and inform those making strategic decisions, without constraining the tactics that will help MSU achieve its goals. Each University unit is empowered to envision its future, develop its own paths to these goals and contribute to the University’s success in diverse and creative ways.

16,688
Total enrollment

49%  /  51%
Residents / Nonresidents

No. 1
Largest research entity in Montana

250+
Undergraduate programs

115+
Graduate programs

20
Job-focused programs from Gallatin College

BOZEMAN — Montana State University has been ranked among the best-performing universities in the United States by a global higher education analytics website.

According to international rankings organization QS, MSU is ranked between 201-250 in its second annual QS World University Rankings: USA. Last year MSU placed in the 250-300 group. Universities were evaluated on 17 metrics in four categories: employability; diversity and internationalization; learning experience; and research. Indicators include faculty gender diversity, proportion of undergraduate students receiving Pell grants, student ethnicity mix, academic reputation, number of Fulbright recipients and Pell grant student graduation rates.

Universities receive points for each category, and each institution’s overall score is the average of the four, out of 100.

MSU was ranked No.1 in the state of Montana and performed among the top 769 considered institutions nationally in the QS US University Rankings. Driving MSU’s rise in the ranking this year were a strong showing in “learning experience,” with a score of 50.9, and a top 150 ranking in “research.”

MSU was ranked in the doctoral university classification, which includes institutions designated as doctoral universities by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. To fall into that category, institutions must have awarded at least 20 research/scholarship doctoral degrees during the year, or at least 30 professional practice doctoral degrees in at least two programs.

The largest university in Montana, MSU provides undergraduate and graduate students with opportunities to engage in hands-on research with world-class scientists and researchers. MSU is a national leader in producing winners of the Goldwater Scholarship, the nation’s premier award for undergraduates in math and science fields. MSU students have also earned other prestigious scholarships, including Rhodes Scholarships, Truman Scholarships, Udall scholarships and Boren awards, among others.

MSU offers more than 225 academic options within its colleges and programs. The university is designated as R1 in the Carnegie Classification for "very high research activity," making it one of only 131 nationwide in that category and the only one in the five-state region of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and North and South Dakota — and one of only two nationally also classified as Very High Undergraduate enrollment. For seven years in a row, MSU’s research expenditures have topped $100 million.

QS Quacquarelli Symonds provides services, analytics and insight to the global higher education sector to boost educational achievement, international mobility and career development.