FRANKFORT — The University of Kentucky has broken into the top 50 in a ranking of universities by what they spend on research and development.

        The university was 47th in 2000, up 20 spots from 1985, according to a report by the Southern Regional Education Board in Atlanta.

        An unusually high percentage of its research spending was from its own, unrestricted funding. Because the money could have been spent on anything, “UK and Kentucky are putting their money where their mouth is,” Joe Marks, the author of the report, said in a telephone interview Thursday.

        Gordon Davies, president of the state Council on Postsecondary Education, agreed that a dramatic increase in institutional funding “is an indication of wanting to raise your standing.”

        But, “it's not necessarily a good thing,” Mr. Davies said. A university ideally will get a high percentage of its research money from outside sources, especially the federal government, Mr. Davies said.

        It is a goal of the council for the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville collectively to secure outside funding of $500 million by 2010 and $1 billion by 2020, Mr. Davies said. Most of that would go to UK, he said.

        Rankings in the SREB report include private as well as public institutions. The report focused on universities in the 16 states that make up the SREB consortium. Thirty-one institutions from SREB states were in the top 100.

        The University of Kentucky had total research spending of $202.3 million in 1999-2000, placing it 15th in SREB rankings. Its total in 1992 was less than half that amount — $92 million. The report did not list totals for 1985.

        The report said 42.5 percent of UK's spending in the 1999-2000 year was unrestricted money, more than double the national average of 19.7 percent. Two SREB institutions had higher percentages — the University of Georgia (50.7) and the University of South Florida (44.5).

        On the flip side, UK's federally funded research — 36.5 percent of its total — ranked among the lowest. Four SREB institutions had lower percentages: Louisiana State (35.4), South Florida (34.8), North Carolina State (27.8) and Clemson University (27.2).

        The federal government is the largest underwriter, funding 58 percent of all university research. Johns Hopkins University, No. 1 in the nation with $901 million in research, got 88 percent of its funding from the federal government.

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