and undergraduate program. The university has a very high level of research activity and has a "comprehensive doctoral" graduate instructional program in the liberal arts, humanities, social sciences. health sciences (medical school), and STEM fields.
UA began offering engineering classes in 1837. It was one of the first universities in the nation to offer an engineering degree. Over the past decade, UA has greatly expanded its science and engineering programs, in terms of numbers of students, faculty hired, and number and size of new academic/research facilities (almost one million in new square footage). UA's College of Engineering enrolls more students than any other engineering program in the state as of 2016. UA's freshman engineering classes have also had the highest average ACT score among all state of Alabama engineering programs for the last several years.
=== Degrees conferred ===
Ten of the university's twelve academic units (see above) offer degree programs across a combined total of 117 areas …
