Stanford University

About Stanford University

Stanford University was founded in 1885 by Leland and Jane Stanford, and its first classes began in 1891. It is organised into seven schools: business, sustainability, education, engineering, humanities and sciences, law, and medicine. The Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, launched in 2022, is its newest. The university offers undergraduate study across 66 fields alongside master's, professional and doctoral degrees, and online and continuing education through Stanford Online and Continuing Studies. Its campus in Stanford, California, covers 8,353 acres. In autumn quarter 2025 the university enrolled 7,289 undergraduates and 10,025 graduate students, taught by 2,402 faculty members. Research facilities include SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, the Hoover Institution and Hopkins Marine Station.

Schools and faculties

• Graduate School of Business

  Offers the MBA, the one-year MSx, a PhD programme and executive education.

• Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability

  Brings disciplines together to study long-term human and planetary prosperity; launched in 2022.

• Graduate School of Education

  Researches learning and trains educators and education leaders from preschool to the workforce.

• School of Engineering

  Teaches and researches engineering across nine departments and more than 160 labs and centres.

• School of Humanities and Sciences

  Stanford's largest school, covering the humanities, arts, social sciences, mathematics and natural sciences.

• Stanford Law School

  Offers the JD and joint degrees, with legal clinics and policy work.

• School of Medicine

  Combines medical education, research and patient care, offering MD, PhD and MS programmes.

Study options

• Undergraduate degrees
• Master's and professional degrees (MBA, JD, MD)
• PhD and research degrees
• Online graduate degrees and certificates
• Executive and continuing education

Research

Stanford's independent labs, centres and institutes include the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI), the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, Stanford Bio-X, the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute and the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology. Other research sites include SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, the Hoover Institution, Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve and Hopkins Marine Station.

Rank in United States

#3 of 25

Research works

557,078

Citations

96.8 million

h-index

2,664

Research figures from OpenAlex (October 2026). How the directory is made.

This profile was written by WAC from Stanford University’s own website and checked in October 2026. It describes the institution and is not an endorsement or a ranking of teaching quality. Is this your institution? Send a correction.