Drexel University Diploma: From Industrial Education to a Modern Research Institution
Drexel University is a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with a special focus on integrating academic study with practical workplace experience. Founded in 1891, the university has grown from a small school devoted to practical education to a comprehensive university with more than 200 degree programs in 15 colleges and schools. Today, more than 20,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional students are enrolled at Drexel.
The university, founded by Philadelphia financier and philanthropist Anthony J. Drexel as the Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry, He wanted to offer an education that would meet the needs of an increasingly industrializing society, but that would be open to people of all social strata. The institute initially did not confer academic degrees, but began awarding Bachelor of Science degrees in 1914. It was the Drexel Institute of Technology in 1936, then Drexel University in 1970.
Drexel University Diploma program is its cooperative education program, known colloquially as the Drexel Co-op. Formally established in 1919, the program enables students to alternate periods of classroom study with periods of full-time professional employment. Depending upon their academic program, students may have up to three six-month work experiences prior to graduation. These placements are intended to provide students with practical experience in their fields of study and have become an important component of the Drexel educational identity.
Academic Programs and Research at Drexel University
Drexel offers programs of study in engineering, business, computing, design, the arts and sciences, education, law, medicine, nursing and health professions, and public health. The university is classified as an R1 research university, meaning it has a high level of research activity. It also has expanded research opportunities in fields like biodiversity and environmental science through its affiliation with the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, which joined the university in 2011.
Most of Drexel’s facilities are in Philadelphia, and its University City campus is the hub of university life, located near the city’s major educational and medical institutions. Technology has also been a major driver in Drexel’s growth. It was an early adopter of personal computing, requiring undergraduate students to have access to a microcomputer as early as 1983, and created a fully wireless campus in 2000.
Antonio Merlo is the university’s president and became Drexel’s 16th president in July 2025. More than 130 years after its founding, Drexel continues to stress the integration of professional experience, research and academic education that has informed the institution since its earliest days.