The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, also known as UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC, or simply Carolina, is a public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. It is the flagship institution of the 17-campus University of North Carolina System and one of the three schools that form the Triangle Universities Consortium (the other two being Duke University and NC State University).
Carolina was chartered in 1789 by theNorth Carolina General Assemblyand opened its doors to students in 1795 as the nation’s first public university. The school’s primary mission is to “educate future leaders”, according to its founding charter. Located in Chapel Hill’s Historic District and adjacent to downtown Carrboro, UNC-Chapel Hill offers bachelor’s degrees through 79 undergraduate programs. The Graduate School administers master’s degrees through 111 graduate programs and doctorates through 62 doctoral programs.
UNC-Chapel Hill consistently ranks highly on various lists ranking U.S. universities; it was ranked number 5 among all national universities byU.S. News & World Reportin 2019 and number 28 onTimes Higher Education World Reputation Rankingsin 2018. In addition, Forbes magazine in 2017 ranked UNC Chapel Hill 6th among all public colleges and universities in terms of ROI (return on investment). The National Science Foundationranked UNC Chapel Hill 37th among all US institutions for research expenditures during fiscal year 2015–16 with more than $907 million going towards science and engineering research..