The Brookings Institution has ranked the University of Texas at El Paso as the top university in research and social mobility.

“This No. 1 ranking is yet another strong validation of UTEP’s success in delivering on our access and excellence mission, and our quest over the past 25 years to be the first national research university with an authentically 21st century student demographic,” UTEP President Diana Natalicio said in a statement.

The nonprofit think tank in Washington, D.C., on July 11 released its report, “Ladders, labs or laggards? Which public universities contribute most.”

The study looked at research productivity and student social mobility in 342 public universities, two things the study’s authors said are commonly used to justify public investments in them. Social mobility was defined as the highest share of students from the bottom 20 percent of U.S. household incomes.

Related: TIME: Natalicio among world's most influential

“In particular, universities act as ladders for social mobility, which makes for a more dynamic and fairer society,” researchers said in the report.

“They are also laboratories for research, expanding our knowledge in directions that can improve the welfare of the broader population,” the report states. “A good case can be made for public support for institutions that act in one or both of these ways: as what we label either ladders or labs.”

Read the full study here: Ladders, labs or laggards?

The report states that some institutions cannot claim to be either mobility-boosters or knowledge-creators, calling them laggards.

“These institutions have a weaker claim on the public purse,” the researchers said in the study, which suggests more money needs to be spent to provide students from low-income families access to college and on universities that serve those students.

Study researchers said many universities manage to “simultaneously produce important research while extending social opportunity to students from underprivileged backgrounds.”

UTEP was ranked No. 1 among the nation’s selective, public, research-generating universities with the highest levels of low-income student enrollment.

The report states the median family income of UTEP students is at $42,400, with No. 10-ranked University of Texas at San Antonio students coming from families with median incomes of $74,300.

Coming in behind UTEP were New Mexico State University, the University of New Orleans, State University of New York at Stony Brook and the University of Houston System, followed by Florida International University, University of California Riverside, University of New Mexico, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and UT San Antonio.

Natalicio said the ranking “contributes significantly to UTEP’s growing visibility as a U.S. higher education leader, and adds value to all UTEP graduates’ diplomas.”

Last year, the Washington Monthly 2016 College Guide and Rankings listed UTEP at 93 overall on social mobility, tuition and graduation rates after having been ranked among the top 10 in 2015.

UTEP’s ranking in the social mobility category also dropped to 73rd last year after being ranked first for four years.

The magazine changes its scoring system to consider different factors, including data from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard, a snapshot of a university's cost, graduation rate and loan repayment.

Cindy Ramirez may be reached at 546-6151; cramirez@elpasotimes.com; @EPTCindyRamirez on Twitter.