Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University – commonly referred to as Virginia Tech – was established in 1872 as a public land-grant research university. Its principal campus is in Blacksburg, Virginia and covers about 2,600 acres with with more than 130 buildings on site. It also has six regional facilities in Virginia state, a study-abroad site in Switzerland and a 1,800 agricultural farm near the Blacksburg campus. 

Virginia Tech offers more than 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programmes, taught by more than 1,400 full-time staff. Of its 30,000+ students, 83 per cent are undergraduates and about 17 percent are graduates.

Virginia Tech has seven undergraduate colleges: Agriculture and Life Sciences, Architecture and Urban Studies, Engineering, Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, Natural Resources and Environment, Pamplin College of Business, and Science. These provide more than 90 bachelor’s programmes. There are more than 150 graduate courses on offer at the graduate schoool, the College of Veterinary Medicine and the School of Medicine. 

The Virginia Tech Corporate Reseach Center provides a space near the main campus for businesses to work with the university and allow entrepreneurs to innovate and develop their business skills. The center is home to more than 180 companies with about 2,900 employees. 

In 2014, the total amount raised for research progarmmes was $513m. Researchers tend to focus on agriculture, biotechnology, ICT, healthcare, energy management, sustainablity and many other areas in science and the humanities. In 2015, 34 patents and 25 licence option agreements were awarded.