University Abbreviations
135 abbreviations · part of Education & Academic Abbreviations
Universities and colleges commonly known by their initials, from American flagships and state systems to well-known institutions in the UK, Europe, Asia, Australia and Canada. Many sets of initials are shared, so OSU, USC, UM, UW, MSU and others each refer to several schools; entries give location, founding date, public or private status and athletic conference to tell them apart. Conference affiliations reflect the 2024 realignment of college athletics.
| Abbreviation | Stands for | Description |
|---|---|---|
| AIIMS | All India Institute of Medical Sciences | Group of public medical colleges and hospitals in India, led by AIIMS New Delhi, established by Act of Parliament in 1956 under health minister Rajkumari Amrit Kaur. |
| ANU | Australian National University | National research university in Canberra, established by the Australian federal Parliament in 1946, and one of the country's highest-ranked universities. |
| ASU | Arizona State University | Founded in 1885 and based in Tempe, Arizona State is one of the largest US universities by enrollment, with more than 80,000 on-campus students and many more online. |
| AU | American University | Private university in Washington, DC, chartered by Congress in 1893 and affiliated with the United Methodist Church. |
| BC | Boston College | Private Jesuit university founded in 1863, with its main campus in Chestnut Hill, west of Boston. |
| BSU | Boise State University | Idaho's largest university, founded in Boise in 1932 as a junior college and best known nationally for its blue artificial-turf football field, installed in 1986. |
| BU | Boston University | Large private university along Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, founded in 1839 as a Methodist seminary in Vermont and chartered in Boston in 1869. |
| BYU | Brigham Young University | Private university in Provo, Utah, founded in 1875 and owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. |
| Cal Poly | California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo | Central Coast university in San Luis Obispo, founded in 1901 and known for its "Learn by Doing" approach in engineering, architecture, agriculture and business. |
| Caltech | California Institute of Technology | Small private research university in Pasadena, founded in 1891 as Throop University, with fewer than 1,000 undergraduates and some of the highest research output per… |
| CCNY | City College of New York | Founding college of the City University of New York, established in 1847 as the Free Academy to give free higher education to the city's children. |
| CMU | Carnegie Mellon University | Pittsburgh university formed in 1967 when Carnegie Institute of Technology, founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1900, merged with the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research. |
| CSU | California State University | Largest four-year public university system in the United States, with more than 20 campuses, including San Diego State, San José State, Long Beach and Fullerton, and… |
| CU | Columbia University | Ivy League university in Manhattan's Morningside Heights, founded in 1754 as King's College by royal charter of George II. |
| CUHK | Chinese University of Hong Kong | Comprehensive research university founded in 1963 in Sha Tin, formed by federating New Asia, Chung Chi and United colleges. |
| CUNY | City University of New York | Public university system of 25 colleges across New York City's five boroughs, formed in 1961, including senior colleges such as City College, Hunter and Baruch and… |
| CWRU | Case Western Reserve University | Cleveland university formed in 1967 by federating the Case Institute of Technology, founded in 1880, and Western Reserve University, founded in 1826. |
| EPFL | École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne) | French-speaking Swiss federal institute of technology on the shore of Lake Geneva, which began as a private engineering school in 1853 and became a federal institute in… |
| ETH | ETH Zurich (Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich) | Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, founded in 1855, consistently ranked among the best universities in continental Europe for science and engineering. |
| FAMU | Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University | Public HBCU in Tallahassee, founded in 1887, known for pharmacy, journalism and engineering and for the Marching 100 band, which has performed at Super Bowls and… |
| FIU | Florida International University | Miami's public research university, chartered in 1965 and opened in 1972, and one of the largest universities in the country by enrollment. |
| FSU | Florida State University | Tallahassee university tracing its origins to 1851, known for its Seminoles athletics in the ACC and its National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, the world's strongest… |
| GT | Georgia Institute of Technology | Georgia Tech, a public research university in Midtown Atlanta founded in 1885, known for engineering, computing and its "Ramblin' Wreck" traditions. |
| GU | Georgetown University | Oldest Catholic and Jesuit university in the United States, founded in 1789 by John Carroll in Washington, DC. |
| GWU | George Washington University | Located in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, DC, and founded in 1821 by an act of Congress as the Columbian College, GW is known for political science… |
| HKU | University of Hong Kong | Hong Kong's oldest university, founded in 1911 and located on the western slopes of Hong Kong Island. |
| HKUST | Hong Kong University of Science and Technology | Research university founded in 1991 on Clear Water Bay in Hong Kong's New Territories, focused on science, engineering, business and technology. |
| HUJI | Hebrew University of Jerusalem | Israel's second-oldest university, whose cornerstone was laid in 1918 and which opened on Mount Scopus in 1925. |
| IIM | Indian Institute of Management | Group of 21 public business schools in India, the first two established at Calcutta and Ahmedabad in 1961. |
| IIT | Indian Institute of Technology | Group of 23 autonomous public engineering and technology institutes in India, the first of which opened at Kharagpur in 1951. |
| ISU | Iowa State University | Land-grant university in Ames, founded in 1858, and the first institution designated under the Morrill Act after Iowa accepted its terms in 1864. |
| IU | Indiana University Bloomington | Flagship campus of Indiana University, founded in 1820, known for its Jacobs School of Music, Kelley School of Business and the Kinsey Institute for research on… |
| IUPUI | Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis | Former joint campus in Indianapolis, created in 1969, where Indiana University and Purdue University offered degrees side by side, including IU's medical and law schools. |
| JHU | Johns Hopkins University | First American university built on the German research model, founded in Baltimore in 1876. |
| JSU | Jackson State University | Public HBCU in Jackson, Mississippi, founded in 1877, known for its Sonic Boom of the South band and its Tigers football program, which drew national attention under… |
| KAIST | Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology | Government-funded science and technology university founded in 1971 in Seoul and later moved to Daejeon, created to train scientists and engineers for South Korea's… |
| KCL | King's College London | University founded in 1829 by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington, with campuses along the Strand and the River Thames. |
| KSU | Kansas State University | Land-grant university in Manhattan, Kansas, founded in 1863 as one of the first colleges created under the Morrill Act. |
| KU | University of Kansas | Flagship university of Kansas, founded in 1865 on Mount Oread in Lawrence. |
| LMU | Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) | One of Germany's oldest and largest universities, founded in 1472 in Ingolstadt and moved to Munich in 1826. |
| LSE | London School of Economics and Political Science | Specialist social science university in central London, founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidney and Beatrice Webb, Graham Wallas and George Bernard Shaw. |
| LSU | Louisiana State University | Public flagship university in Baton Rouge, founded in 1860 near Pineville with future Union general William Tecumseh Sherman as its first superintendent. |
| MIT | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, founded in 1861 by William Barton Rogers, and one of the world's most influential centers of science… |
| MSU | Michigan State University | Land-grant university in East Lansing, founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, a model for the Morrill Act of 1862. |
| NC A&T | North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University | Largest historically Black university in the US by enrollment, founded in 1891 in Greensboro and known for engineering and agriculture. |
| NCCU | North Carolina Central University | Durham university founded in 1910 by James E. |
| NCSU | North Carolina State University | Public land-grant university in Raleigh, founded in 1887, a leading engineering, textiles, agriculture and veterinary school and an anchor of the Research Triangle with… |
| ND | University of Notre Dame | Catholic research university near South Bend, Indiana, founded in 1842 by Father Edward Sorin of the Congregation of Holy Cross. |
| NEU | Northeastern University | Boston university, founded in 1898, built around cooperative education in which most students alternate classroom study with full-time paid work. |
| NJIT | New Jersey Institute of Technology | Public technological research university in Newark, founded in 1881 as the Newark Technical School. |
| NTU | Nanyang Technological University | Singapore university founded in 1991 from the Nanyang Technological Institute, with roots in Nanyang University, a Chinese-medium university established in 1955. |
| NU | Northwestern University | Private research university in Evanston, Illinois, on the shore of Lake Michigan, founded in 1851. |
| NUS | National University of Singapore | Singapore's oldest university, which traces its history to a medical school founded in 1905, and one of the highest-ranked universities in Asia. |
| NYU | New York University | Founded in 1831 and centered on Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village, NYU is one of the largest private universities in the US. |
| OSU | Ohio State University | One of the largest universities in the United States, founded in 1870 in Columbus as a land-grant college. |
| OU | University of Oklahoma | Public flagship university in Norman, founded in 1890, known for its Sooners football program, meteorology school and National Weather Center on campus. |
| PSU | Pennsylvania State University | Penn State, the state's land-grant university, founded in 1855, with its main campus at University Park and about 20 Commonwealth Campuses. |
| PVAMU | Prairie View A&M University | HBCU in Prairie View, near Houston, founded in 1876, the second-oldest public institution of higher education in Texas. |
| RISD | Rhode Island School of Design | Private art and design college in Providence, founded in 1877, consistently ranked among the best art schools in the world. |
| RIT | Rochester Institute of Technology | Private university in Henrietta, near Rochester, New York, founded in 1829, known for imaging science, photography, game design and computing. |
| RPI | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | Founded in 1824 in Troy, New York, by Stephen Van Rensselaer, RPI is the oldest technological research university in the English-speaking world. |
| RU | Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey | New Jersey's flagship public university, chartered in 1766 as Queen's College, making it the eighth-oldest college in the US. |
| SDSU | San Diego State University | One of the largest campuses in the California State University system, founded in 1897 as a teacher-training normal school in San Diego. |
| SJSU | San José State University | Oldest public university on the West Coast, founded in 1857 as the Minns Evening Normal School and now located in downtown San José. |
| SMU | Southern Methodist University | Private university in University Park, an enclave of Dallas, founded in 1911 and affiliated with the United Methodist Church. |
| SNU | Seoul National University | South Korea's flagship national university, founded in 1946 in Seoul, the most selective of the country's "SKY" universities (Seoul National, Korea and Yonsei). |
| SU | Syracuse University | Upstate New York university founded by Methodists in 1870, known for the Newhouse School of Public Communications, the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs… |
| SUNY | State University of New York | Public university system created in 1948 with 64 campuses across New York State, from research universities such as Buffalo, Stony Brook, Albany and Binghamton to… |
| TAMU | Texas A&M University | Opened in 1876 in College Station as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, Texas A&M is now one of the largest universities in the US by enrollment. |
| TAU | Tel Aviv University | Israel's largest university, established in 1956 in the Ramat Aviv neighborhood of Tel Aviv. |
| TCD | Trinity College Dublin | Ireland's oldest university, founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I, located in the center of Dublin. |
| TCU | Texas Christian University | Private university in Fort Worth, founded in 1873, affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). |
| TSU | Tennessee State University | Nashville HBCU, founded in 1912, whose Aristocrat of Bands became the first HBCU band to win a Grammy Award, in 2023. |
| TTU | Texas Tech University | West Texas university in Lubbock, founded in 1923 as Texas Technological College, with one of the largest contiguous campuses in the US. |
| TUM | Technical University of Munich (Technische Universität München) | One of Germany's leading technical universities, founded in 1868 by King Ludwig II of Bavaria, with main campuses in central Munich, Garching and Freising. |
| U of T | University of Toronto | Canada's largest and highest-ranked university, founded in 1827 as King's College, with three campuses in Toronto, Mississauga and Scarborough. |
| UA | University of Alabama | Alabama's flagship public university in Tuscaloosa, founded in 1831, whose Crimson Tide football program has won more national championships than almost any other. |
| UAB | University of Alabama at Birmingham | Public research university and academic medical center in Birmingham, independent within the University of Alabama System since 1969, and the largest employer in the… |
| UB | University at Buffalo | Largest campus in the State University of New York system, founded in 1846 as a private medical school with future US president Millard Fillmore as its first chancellor. |
| UBC | University of British Columbia | Public research university founded in 1908, with its main campus on the Point Grey peninsula in Vancouver and a second campus in Kelowna. |
| UC | University of California | Public university system of ten campuses, founded in 1868, including Berkeley, UCLA, San Diego, Davis, Irvine, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Riverside, Merced and the… |
| UCB | University of California, Berkeley | Founding campus of the University of California system, established in 1868 in Berkeley, across the bay from San Francisco. |
| UCD | University of California, Davis | Began in 1905 as the University Farm of the University of California and became a general campus in 1959; the town of Davis lies near Sacramento. |
| UCF | University of Central Florida | Founded in Orlando in 1963 as Florida Technological University to support the space program, UCF is now one of the largest US universities by enrollment, with roughly… |
| UChicago | University of Chicago | Private research university on Chicago's South Side, founded in 1890 with funding from John D. |
| UCI | University of California, Irvine | Orange County campus of the University of California, founded in 1965 together with the planned city of Irvine that grew up around it. |
| UCL | University College London | Multidisciplinary university in Bloomsbury, founded in 1826 as the first university in England to admit students regardless of religion and among the first to admit… |
| UCLA | University of California, Los Angeles | Founded in 1919 as the Southern Branch of the University of California, this public research university in Los Angeles's Westwood neighborhood is one of the most… |
| UConn | University of Connecticut | Connecticut's flagship public university, founded in 1881 in Storrs, famous for its basketball dynasties: the women's team has won 12 NCAA titles and the men's team… |
| UCR | University of California, Riverside | Inland Empire campus of the University of California that grew out of the Citrus Experiment Station, founded in 1907, and opened as an undergraduate college in 1954. |
| UCSB | University of California, Santa Barbara | Seaside campus in Goleta, near Santa Barbara, that became part of the University of California in 1944. |
| UCSC | University of California, Santa Cruz | Public university on a redwood-forested hillside above Monterey Bay, founded in 1965 with a residential college system. |
| UCSD | University of California San Diego | Opened in 1960 in La Jolla, this University of California campus is home to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and organizes undergraduates into eight residential… |
| UCSF | University of California, San Francisco | Graduate and professional university of the University of California system devoted entirely to health sciences, with schools of medicine, nursing, pharmacy and… |
| UCT | University of Cape Town | South Africa's oldest university, which traces its origins to the South African College founded in 1829, set on the slopes of Table Mountain. |
| UD | University of Delaware | Delaware's flagship public university, based in Newark, Delaware, which traces its origins to a free school founded in 1743. |
| UF | University of Florida | Florida's flagship public university in Gainesville, which traces its origins to 1853 and is one of the largest universities in the US. |
| UGA | University of Georgia | Public university in Athens, chartered in 1785 as the first state-chartered public university in the United States. |
| UH | University of Hawaii at Manoa | Flagship campus of the University of Hawaii system, founded in 1907 in Honolulu, known for oceanography, astronomy and Pacific and Asian studies. |
| UIC | University of Illinois Chicago | Urban research university near downtown Chicago, formed in 1982 by combining the Chicago Circle campus, opened in 1965, with the University of Illinois medical center. |
| UIUC | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | Flagship of the University of Illinois System, founded in 1867, with one of the country's top engineering and computer science programs. |
| UK | University of Kentucky | Kentucky's flagship public university, founded in 1865 in Lexington. |
| UM | University of Michigan | Flagship university of Michigan, founded in Detroit in 1817 and moved to Ann Arbor in 1837, a leading public research university with one of the largest research… |
| UMass | University of Massachusetts Amherst | Flagship of the University of Massachusetts system, founded in 1863 as Massachusetts Agricultural College, with one of the largest campuses in New England. |
| UMBC | University of Maryland, Baltimore County | Public research university in Catonsville, Maryland, founded in 1966, nationally known for its Meyerhoff Scholars Program, which has produced many Black PhD and MD-PhD… |
| UMD | University of Maryland, College Park | Maryland's flagship public university, founded in 1856 as the Maryland Agricultural College just outside Washington, DC. |
| UMN | University of Minnesota | Flagship university of Minnesota, founded in 1851, whose Twin Cities campus spans Minneapolis and Saint Paul and enrolls more than 50,000 students. |
| UNAM | National Autonomous University of Mexico (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) | Mexico's largest public university and one of the largest in the Americas, refounded in 1910 and tracing its roots to the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico… |
| UNC | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | Flagship of the University of North Carolina System, chartered in 1789 and the first public university in the US to enroll students, in 1795. |
| UNL | University of Nebraska–Lincoln | Flagship campus of the University of Nebraska, founded in 1869 in Lincoln. |
| UNLV | University of Nevada, Las Vegas | Las Vegas university, founded in 1957, known for its hospitality management college, its law and dental schools and its Runnin' Rebels basketball team, which won the… |
| UNM | University of New Mexico | Public flagship research university in Albuquerque, founded in 1889, with Pueblo Revival architecture across its campus. |
| UNSW | University of New South Wales | Research university in Sydney, founded in 1949, with its main campus at Kensington. |
| UNT | University of North Texas | Denton university, founded in 1890, with one of the oldest and largest university music schools in the US, famous for its jazz studies program and One O'Clock Lab Band. |
| UofL | University of Louisville | Kentucky's largest urban university, which traces its founding to 1798. |
| UofU | University of Utah | Public flagship university in Salt Lake City, founded in 1850 as the University of Deseret, which makes it one of the oldest universities west of the Missouri River. |
| UPenn | University of Pennsylvania | Ivy League university in Philadelphia that dates its founding to 1740 and counts Benjamin Franklin as its founder. |
| USAFA | United States Air Force Academy | Four-year federal service academy near Colorado Springs, Colorado, that educates cadets for commissions in the US Air Force and US Space Force. |
| USC | University of Southern California | Private research university in Los Angeles, founded in 1880, known for its School of Cinematic Arts, Marshall School of Business and Trojans athletics. |
| USF | University of South Florida | Tampa Bay university founded in 1956, with additional campuses in St. |
| USMA | United States Military Academy | Four-year federal service academy at West Point, New York, that educates and commissions officers for the US Army. |
| USNA | United States Naval Academy | Four-year federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland, that educates midshipmen for commissions as Navy ensigns or Marine Corps second lieutenants. |
| UT | University of Texas at Austin | Public flagship of the University of Texas System, founded in 1883 in Austin, with more than 50,000 students. |
| UTEP | University of Texas at El Paso | Founded in 1914 as the Texas State School of Mines and Metallurgy, the El Paso campus is known for Bhutanese-style architecture. |
| UTSA | University of Texas at San Antonio | San Antonio campus of the University of Texas System, founded in 1969, which has grown into one of the largest universities in Texas, with more than 30,000 students. |
| UVA | University of Virginia | Public university in Charlottesville founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819, whose original Academical Village is, with Jefferson's Monticello, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. |
| UVM | University of Vermont | Vermont's flagship public university, founded in 1791 in Burlington on the shore of Lake Champlain. |
| UW | University of Washington | Founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington's flagship university is among the largest recipients of federal research funding in the country. |
| VCU | Virginia Commonwealth University | Richmond university formed in 1968 by merging the Medical College of Virginia with the Richmond Professional Institute. |
| VT | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | Virginia Tech, a public land-grant university in Blacksburg founded in 1872, known for engineering, architecture, agriculture and its Corps of Cadets. |
| W&M | College of William & Mary | Public university in Williamsburg, Virginia, chartered in 1693 by King William III and Queen Mary II, the second-oldest institution of higher education in the US. |
| WashU | Washington University in St. Louis | Private research university in St. |
| WPI | Worcester Polytechnic Institute | Private technological university in Worcester, Massachusetts, founded in 1865, known for its project-based undergraduate curriculum, the WPI Plan, introduced in 1970. |
| WSU | Washington State University | Washington's land-grant university, founded in 1890 in the small eastern Washington town of Pullman. |
| WVU | West Virginia University | West Virginia's flagship public university in Morgantown, founded in 1867. |