University of Michigan

The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (U of M, U-M or simply Michigan) is a coeducational public research university in the state of Michigan, and one of the foremost universities in the United States. The university was founded in 1817 in Detroit, about 20 years before the territory of Michigan officially became a state, and moved to Ann Arbor in 1837. Today, it is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan system, which now has two satellite campuses, the University of Michigan, Flint and the University of Michigan, Dearborn.

In its 2006 Top 100 Global Universities ranking, Newsweek ranked the University of Michigan 11th in the World. In its 2007 edition, U.S. News & World Report ranked the university's undergraduate program second in the United States among public universities and 24th among all universities. In its last published survey in 1995 the National Research Council ranked Michigan third in the United States in a study that spanned 41 graduate disciplines as to aggregate quality of graduate programs. The university has one of the largest research expenditures of any American university and one of the largest number of living alumni at 420,000. Michigan also owns one of the most well-regarded academic medical centers in the United States, the University of Michigan Health System. The university is also recognized for its history of student activism and its athletic teams, notably in football, men's basketball, and ice hockey.

Despite being a public institution, the University of Michigan is known for its high student fees; tuition for out-of-state students is currently the most expensive in the country. The university has also been at the center of a national controversy involving the use of affirmative action in admissions. Though the university successfully affirmed before the U.S. Supreme Court that consideration of race as a factor in admissions to universities was constitutional in 2003, Michigan voters approved restrictions on affirmative action in public universities and governmental hiring in November 2006. This meant that Michigan had to cease using race and gender as criteria for admissions.