Association of American Universities (AAU)
The University of Iowa is a member of the Association of American Universities, an organization of 71 universities recognized for their excellence in research.
Big Ten Athletic Conference
The University of Iowa is a member of the Big Ten Athletic Conference. The 14 members of the Big Ten are:
- University of Illinois, Urbana (public)
- Indiana University, Bloomington (public)
- University of Iowa, Iowa City (public)
- University of Maryland, College Park (public)
- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (public)
- Michigan State University, East Lansing (public)
- University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (public)
- University of Nebraska, Lincoln (public)
- Northwestern University (private)
- The Ohio State University, Main Campus (public)
- Pennsylvania State University, Main Campus (public)
- Purdue University, Main Campus (public)
- Rutgers University, New Brunswick (public)
- University of Wisconsin, Madison (public)
Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA)
The University of Iowa is also one of the 15 members of the Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA), sometimes known as the "academic Big Ten." The BTAA comprises the 14 members of the Big Ten Athletic Conference:
- University of Illinois, Urbana (public)
- Indiana University, Bloomington (public)
- University of Iowa, Iowa City (public)
- University of Maryland, College Park (public)
- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (public)
- Michigan State University, East Lansing (public)
- University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (public)
- University of Nebraska, Lincoln (public)
- Northwestern University (private)
- The Ohio State University, Main Campus (public)
- Pennsylvania State University, Main Campus (public)
- Purdue University, Main Campus (public)
- Rutgers University, New Brunswick (public)
- University of Wisconsin, Madison (public)
plus:
- University of Chicago (private).
UI Peer Group
Because the members of the Big Ten and BTAA differ from one another in a variety of ways (for example, some campuses have large health sciences centers and others do not), the University of Iowa regularly uses an "official UI Peer Group" to benchmark itself against other, similar, institutions.
The university formed the official UI Peer Group in the mid-1980s, and the Board of Regents, State of Iowa approved it. It included all of the public universities in the Big Ten at the time (Penn State was not yet a member), except for Michigan State and Purdue, which did not have comparable health science centers at the time. In addition, four comparable campuses from various geographical regions of the country were added.
Following a comprehensive evaluation of the official peer group in 2023, two positions within the group were updated to align the university with peers who offer more relevant comparisons across a range of metrics.
The 10 public university members of the official UI Peer Group are:
- University of Arizona, Tucson
- University of Illinois, Urbana
- Indiana University, Bloomington
- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
- Michigan State University, East Lansing
- University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
- University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
- The Ohio State University, Main Campus
- University of Utah, Salt Lake City
- University of Wisconsin, Madison
Regents Comparison Group
In some reports, at the request of the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, the University of Iowa provides comparison benchmarking data for a group that includes all of the Big Ten public universities plus the three non-Big Ten universities that are part of the official UI Peer Group: Arizona, North Carolina, and Utah.