San Diego State University (SDSU), founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, is the largest and oldest higher education facility in San Diego County, and the third-oldest university in the California State University system. SDSU has a student body of 31,597 and an alumni base of more than 260,000. The university awards 189 types of Bachelor's degrees, 91 different Master's degrees, 18 types of doctoral degrees including Ed.D, Au.D, Ph.D. programs with Claremont Graduate University,UCSD and UCSB. The university also offers 26 different teaching credentials. SDSU offers the most doctoral degrees of any campus of the California State University system.

The Carnegie Foundation has designated San Diego State University a "Research University with high research activity," placing it among the top 200 higher education institutions in the country conducting research. The university soon expects to be classified as "Doctoral/Research-Extensive." Notably, pursuant to the Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index (FSP Index) released by the Academic Analytics organization of Stony Brook, NY, SDSU is the number one small research university in the United States for four (4) academic years in a row, from 2005–2006 through the 2009–2010 academic years. In 2010, The Daily Beast ranked SDSU No.21 in its list of "Tech's 29 Most Powerful Colleges."

San Diego State University is a member of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, and the Southwest Border Security Consortium.

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