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The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is one of the original 37 public land-grant institutions created after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Act in 1862. Founded in 1867 as Illinois Industrial University, the university is situated in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana (total population 207,000) in east-central Illinois and is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois System.

Illinois is charged by its state to enhance the lives of citizens in Illinois, across the nation and around the world through leadership in learning, discovery, engagement and economic development.

The fundamental promise at Illinois has been to provide students with truly transformative educational experiences. Whether these experiences take place in the classroom, in the surrounding community or around the globe, our students leave this campus with the skills, knowledge and the drive to become leaders in their fields and to lead lives of impact in the world. Each year, Illinois welcomes more than 55,000 students – offering more than 5,000 courses in 150 fields of study.

Illinois’ talented and respected faculty and staff deliver and facilitate the educational mission of the university. Many faculty are recognized for exceptional scholarship with memberships in such organizations as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Engineering. Illinois academic community is organized into 15 colleges and schools and a further several dozen administrative units:

• Carle Illinois College of Medicine
• College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
• College of Applied Health Sciences
• College of Education
• College of Fine and Applied Arts
• College of Law
• College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
• College of Media
• College of Veterinary Medicine
• Gies College of Business
• Graduate College
• Grainger College of Engineering
• School of Information Sciences
• School of Labor and Employment Relations
• School of Social Work

Research shapes the university’s identity, permeates its classrooms and fuels its outreach. Fostering discovery and innovation is a fundamental part of the institutional mission. Entrepreneurship flows from the classrooms to Research Park, a space that houses everything from Fortune 500 companies to student-founded startups. Illinois is consistently ranked among the top five universities for NSF-funded research and our total annual research funding exceeds $600 million. Academic resources on campus are also among the finest in the world. The University Library is one of the largest public university collections in the world with 15 million volumes in its 20+ unit libraries.

Illinois’ global engagement footprint is among the most extensive in the United States. The university maintains 500+ institutional agreements, offers 200 global learning programs, and welcomes the nation’s second-largest international student population among public universities in the United States (approximately 21% of its student body). More than three dozen offices across campus are dedicated to campus internationalization. In recognition of more than 100 years of successful global engagement, the university’s Vision 2030 Global Strategy was launched in 2022. The five strategic priorities outlined in Vision 2030 are designed to enhance the university’s position as a global leader in higher education while effectively and collaboratively address critical global challenges.