We're Bullish On Our Higher Education.
The Tampa Bay region offers a wide range of higher educational options from community colleges to award winning private colleges and universities to our nationally ranked public university - University of South Florida (USF). USF has campuses throughout the region including Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota/Bradenton & Lakeland - the state's only polytechnic campus. USF is a top 20 university for enrollment and was listed in 2009 as the fastest growing research university in the country. It's the kind of research that has recently attracted SRI International and Draper Labs - both establishing centers here to work with USF. Addtionally, you'll find that the region offers over 30 other higher education/post secondary institutions including New College(Sarasota), The Ringling School of Art & Design (Sarasota), Eckerd College (St Petersburg), University of Tampa (Tampa), St Leo College (Pasco) and Florida Southern (Lakeland). Many other institutions have created opportunities for continuing education including the Art Institute of Tampa, St. Petersburg College, Hillsborough Community College, Pasco Hernando Community College and State College of Florida (Manatee).