University of Michigan Diploma: From Territorial School to Global Research University
The University of Michigan (U-M) is a public, research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was founded in 1817 and is one of the oldest public universities in the United States, growing from a small territorial school to a large institution with recognized programs in teaching, research, medicine, and public service.
The university’s roots go back to Detroit, where the territorial legislature created an institution called the Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania, in 1817. It was part of an early effort to create a publicly supported system of education in the Michigan Territory. When Michigan became a state, the university was moved to Ann Arbor. The university was given some 40 acres of land from local residents, and welcomed its first students in Ann Arbor in 1841. At that time, there were just seven students and two faculty.
The institution expanded rapidly in the nineteenth century. By 1865 there were over 1,100 students enrolled. Another significant change came in 1870 when the university began admitting women, helping to expand access to higher education at a time when many American universities were still primarily male institutions.
Research & Academics at University of Michigan
Today, you can get a University of Michigan Diploma from the Ann Arbor campus which consists of 19 schools and colleges in fields ranging from engineering and medicine to law, business, education, public health, nursing, architecture, music, social work and the liberal arts. Students in these academic units have a choice of some 250 degree programs.
Research is a big part of the university’s identity. Research spending by the University amounts to more than $2 billion a year, with work going on across medicine, engineering, environmental science, social science, technology, humanities and a host of other disciplines.
The Ann Arbor campus had more than 53,000 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in fall 2025. The larger University of Michigan also has campuses in Dearborn and Flint, extending the institution’s footprint beyond Ann Arbor.
Campus life is also closely connected to the Michigan Wolverines, whose teams compete in NCAA Division I athletics. Beyond sports, students also participate in more than 1,600 organizations on the Ann Arbor campus. More than two centuries after its founding, the University of Michigan still maintains strong ties to the state that bears its name and an international reach through its research, academic programs, alumni and partnerships.