UAEM’s New University Access Dashboard Sheds Light on University Licensing Policies
For Immediate Release: September 21, 2026
Contact: Cassidy Parshall, cassidy@uaem.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM) launched the University Access Dashboard, an interactive accountability tool that evaluates health technology access and licensing policies at leading research universities. The dashboard launches with 30 top U.S. research universities and will expand over time to include universities worldwide.
Universities receive billions of dollars in public biomedical research funding, yet when a health technology that began in a university lab reaches the market, it is often inaccessible to those who need it. Universities are positioned to shape these outcomes through the terms of their licensing agreements.
By gathering and evaluating university licensing policies and practices, the UAEM University Access Dashboard gives advocates a tool to hold universities accountable for their role in addressing the access to medicines crisis.
“Information about how universities license health technologies should be easy for the public to find and understand,” said Satjitjayan Jagathjayan, a medical student at McMaster University and lead of the UAEM University Access Dashboard team. “University transparency is essential to ensure that research conducted with public funding serves the public.”
The dashboard is a reinvention of UAEM’s University Report Card Project and tracks a range of metrics, including whether universities have adopted access-oriented licensing commitments, made statements that support equitable access to health technologies, and demonstrated institutional transparency by providing access to model licensing language.
The initial findings show significant room for improvement, though some universities are leading the way. Of the 30 universities evaluated, out of 40 possible points:
The top-scoring university received 36 out of 40 points.
Six universities (20%) received zero points.
Only three universities (10%) received more than ten points.
UAEM is leading the student and researcher movement to push universities to ensure that health technologies emerging from university labs reach the people that need them. While progress has been made in recent years, the University Access Dashboard marks a critical step toward ensuring that all universities protect access from the start.
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