The University of Wisconsin–Madison (UW–Madison, UW, Wisconsin) is a public research university in Madison, Wisconsin. Founded when Wisconsin achieved statehood in 1848, UW–Madison is the official state university of Wisconsin and the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It was the first public university established in Wisconsin and remains one of the largest universities in the Midwest.
UW–Madison offers more than 200 undergraduate majors and over 2,000 graduate programs to a population of more than 42,000 students from all 50 states and more than 130 countries. The main campus covers 936 acres (378 ha) along Lake Mendota’s shoreline; as well as 20 miles (32 km) of lakefront on Lake Monona; 1,200 acres (486 ha) at Arboretum; 546 acres (221 ha) at Forest Hill; nearly 700 acres (280 ha) for farms and agricultural research stations; plus 31 parks totaling nearly 940 acres (380 ha). The five schools and colleges at UW–Madison are Agriculture and Life Sciences, Business, Education, Engineering, Letters & Science. Graduate school enrollments totaled 10,410 in 2019–20.
The University has been ranked among the top universities in several national surveys: 12th by U.S. News & World Report’s “Best National Universities”, 24th by Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education’s “Top Colleges”, 28th by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance “Best Values in Public Colleges”, 33rd by Forbes’ America’s Top Colleges list, 48th worldwide by ShanghaiRanking Consultancy’s Academic Ranking of World Universities 2020 edition (“ARWU”), 58th globally by Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2021 (“THE”). In 2019 Money magazine ranked UW-Wisconsin 21st out their annual Best Value ranking of American public colleges.