Greater Richmond

Advantages for Life Sciences

Higher Education and Training

Greater Richmond’s options in higher education include ten institutions awarding 9,000 degrees each year in a full range of disciplines and degree levels, as well as strong evening and continuing education degree programs for working adults.

Virginia Commonwealth University is the region’s largest university and is located on two campuses in downtown Richmond. VCU enrolls 31,900 students in more than 200 undergraduate, graduate, professional, doctoral and post-graduate certificate degree programs at 11 schools and one college. VCU was formed in 1968 through a merger of the Medical College of Virginia (MCV), which dates from 1838, and Richmond Professional Institute. VCU is ranked by the Carnegie Foundation as a Doctoral Research-University Extensive and received $227.2 million in externally funded research in FY07. John B. Fenn, research professor in the Department of Chemistry and affiliate professor of Chemical Engineering at VCU, was one of three recipients of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

University of Richmond offers undergraduate degree programs in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics, in addition to a Master of Science in Biology.

Virginia Union University offers undergraduate degree programs in Biology and Chemistry and a special pre-medical program.

Virginia State University offers undergraduate degree programs in Agriculture, Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Master’s programs in Biology and Physics. VSU is one of Virginia’s two land-grant institutions, with a 236-acre main campus and 416-acre research facility at Randolph Farm.

Randolph-Macon College offers undergraduate degree programs in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics.  Randolph-Macon is a strong undergraduate liberal arts college including pre-med pre-dental, and other health sciences programs.

J. Sargeant Reynolds and John Tyler Community Colleges offer AS and AAS degrees, certificate programs, and credit and non-credit classes in a wide range of occupational and technical areas. The community colleges also provide customized training programs for individual companies; Work Keys job profiling and skills assessment; adult continuing education classes; and workshops, conferences, and seminars.

In the late 1990s, John Tyler developed a Student Apprenticeship Program for Certified Chemical Technicians in the chemical, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology industries in cooperation with German-based Boehringer Ingelheim Chemicals.  Although the program is currently inactive, it could be reactivated and replicated for other companies. 

The community colleges also provide customized training programs for individual companies; Work Keys job profiling and skills assessment; adult continuing education classes; and workshops, conferences, and seminars.