Visiting Nebraska's University Campuses
Nebraska's university campuses are among the state's most rewarding destinations for visitors with an interest in architecture, culture, and intellectual life. Both UNL and Creighton offer free self-guided walking tour maps available at their visitor centers, and both campuses have architectural landmarks that merit attention even for visitors with no academic interest in the institutions themselves.
UNL's East Campus — the original agricultural campus — is a particular treasure, with some of the most beautiful collegiate Gothic architecture in the region and a working agricultural research complex that gives the campus a unique blend of the academic and the pastoral. The UNL Dairy Store on East Campus offers some of the best ice cream in Nebraska, made by students in the food science program from milk produced by the university's own herd.
Creighton's campus is best explored during the academic year when student life fills its quadrangles and common spaces with energy. The campus is compact enough to tour in under an hour on foot, and the combination of Gothic Revival and modern architecture creates visual interest at every turn. St. John's Church, the historic administration building, and the new health sciences campus are the architectural highlights.
For prospective students and their families, all of Nebraska's major universities offer official campus tours and information sessions during the academic year and special open house events in the fall and spring. Advance registration is recommended for official tours, particularly at UNL and Creighton, where demand is high. Informal visits are always welcome at public university campuses, with most facilities open to the public during normal business hours.
Research & Innovation in Nebraska
Nebraska's universities are engines of innovation and economic development as well as centers of teaching and learning. The Nebraska Innovation Campus, located adjacent to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, is a 235-acre research park that brings corporate research partners directly onto the university campus to collaborate with UNL faculty and students on applied research projects in agriculture, food, and health. Tenants include Cabela's, Hudl, ConAgra, and numerous biotech startups, creating a live-work research community that accelerates the translation of academic research into commercial applications.
UNMC's Buffett Cancer Center is a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center — one of only about 70 in the country — conducting cutting-edge research on cancer prevention, detection, and treatment. The center's clinical trials provide access to the latest experimental therapies for cancer patients throughout Nebraska and the surrounding region, while its basic science laboratories pursue the molecular and genetic mechanisms of cancer development.
Nebraska's higher education research enterprise collectively generates over $700 million in externally funded research activity annually, supporting thousands of research positions, attracting top scientists and engineers from around the world, and producing the intellectual property that launches new industries and companies in the state. This research foundation is increasingly being recognized as one of Nebraska's most important economic assets — one that will grow in importance as the knowledge economy expands in the 21st century.
International Students in Nebraska
Nebraska's universities collectively host tens of thousands of international students from over 150 countries, contributing enormously to the intellectual diversity of their campuses and the cultural vitality of their host communities. UNL alone enrolls over 3,500 international students, representing one of the most internationally diverse student bodies among land-grant universities in the United States.
The international student community in Nebraska has transformed cities like Lincoln and Omaha in deeply positive ways, introducing new restaurants, cultural festivals, businesses, and perspectives that enrich the social fabric of these communities. The Omaha metropolitan area, in particular, has experienced significant demographic transformation over the past three decades, with growing communities from Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Mexico, India, and many other countries creating one of the most unexpectedly diverse cities in the American interior.
For international students considering Nebraska for their American education, the combination of academic quality, affordable living costs, safe communities, and genuine multicultural hospitality makes the state a compelling choice. Nebraska's universities consistently rank highly in international student satisfaction surveys, and the state's growing immigrant communities ensure that students from many parts of the world will find familiar cultural touchstones alongside the adventure of an American education.
