A total of 20 U.S. research institutions formed a coalition to double doctoral enrollment of Latinos and Hispanics, they announced Thursday.

The Alliance of  Hispanic Serving Research Universities (HSRU) also aims to increase by 20% the Hispanic professoriate and update academic institutions in line with the growing Latino demographic.

The Hispanic and Latino population reached 6.2 million by 2020, a 23% increase over the past decade, according to recent Census Bureau data. In fall 2020, there was an enrollment of 766,718 students, one-third of whom were Hispanic. In the 2019-20 academic year, the universities graduated more than 11,000 doctoral students, about 13% of whom were Hispanic.

“With Hispanics making up less than 6% of U.S. doctoral students, we must be intentional about creating opportunities for Hispanics,” said Dr. Michael Amiridis, outgoing Chancellor for the University of Illinois Chicago. “We believe this Alliance will make rapid progress in advancing Hispanic student enrollment in doctoral programs and broadening pathways to the professoriate by building on our strength as Hispanic serving research universities.”

The alliance is composed of leading institutions such as Arizona State University, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. 

According to Higher Ed Drive, the 20 institutions that make up the group are all identified as R1 according to the Carnegie classification, meaning they have a very high level of research activity. R1 institutions are among the most influential in the country and receive the most federal research dollars. In 2020, universities in the alliance spent more than $5.9 billion in research dollars.

Prior to the formal announcement of the HRSU Alliance, the universities began working together on several initiatives. The first project, funded by a $5 million grant from the Mellon Foundation, will conduct cross-regional research and train doctoral students in Latinx humanities. A second initiative, funded by the National Science Foundation, expands opportunities for Hispanic students in computer science. 

"No group is better positioned than we are to expand the pathway to opportunity," said Heather Wilson, president of the University of Texas at El Paso and president of the alliance. "We believe we are stronger together than we are as individual institutions acting alone."

Universities in the alliance include:

1. Arizona State University
2. City University of New York Graduate Center
3. Florida International University
4. Texas Tech University
5. The University of Arizona
6. The University of New Mexico
7. The University of Texas at Arlington
8. The University of Texas at Austin
9. The University of Texas at El Paso
10. The University of Texas at San Antonio
11. University of California, Irvine
12. University of California, Riverside
13. University of California, Santa Barbara
14. University of California, Santa Cruz
15. University of Central Florida
16. University of Colorado, Denver
17. University of Houston
18. University of Illinois Chicago
19. University of Nevada, Las Vegas
20. University of North Texas