University of Illinois Chicago

The University of Illinois Chicago is an acclaimed research institution with 16 colleges dedicated to the discovery and distribution of knowledge.

The University of Illinois Chicago is the city’s largest university and its only public Carnegie Research 1 institution. Its 16 academic colleges serve more than 34,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional students. UIC is recognized as one of the best public universities and one of the most ethnically rich and culturally diverse campuses in the nation, located in the heart of Chicago, it is an integral part of the educational, technological and cultural fabric of one of the world’s greatest cities.

The University of Illinois at Chicago Circle – named for the nearby ultra-modern freeway interchange – opened in February 1965. “Circle,” as it was called, was a degree-granting institution, with ambitions to become a great university. A member of the faculty proudly noted it was the first university to be named for a transportation feature since Oxford and Cambridge.

Within five years of the campus’s opening – a period during which it was the fastest growing campus in the country – enrollment grew from 5,000 to 18,000 and almost every department offered graduate degrees. Befitting the location of the campus at a crossroads of immigration, many of Circle’s students were first in their families to attend college – as are many of UIC’s students today.