Florida International University

As Miami's first and only public research university, offering bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees, FIU is worlds ahead in its service to the academic and local community.

Designated as a top-tier research institution, FIU emphasizes research as a major component in the university's mission.The Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine and the School of Computing and Information Sciences' Discovery Lab, are just two of many colleges, schools, and centers that actively enhance the university's ability to set new standards through research initiatives.

For over four decades, FIU has positioned itself as one of South Florida's anchor institutions by solving some of the greatest challenges of our time. We are dedicated to enriching the lives of the local and global community. With a student body of nearly 54,000, we are among the top 10 largest universities in the nation and have collectively graduated more than 200,000 alumni, 115,000 of whom live and work in South Florida.

Florida International University will be a leading urban public research university focused on student learning, innovation, and collaboration.Florida International University is an urban, multi-campus, public research university serving its students and the diverse population of South Florida. We are committed to high-quality teaching, state-of-the-art research and creative activity, and collaborative engagement with our local and global communities.

Meet people from all over the world, experience new cultures, find new hobbies. In addition to hundreds of clubs and organizations, FIU makes it easy to get your college life started through Panther Camp, freshmen experience courses, campus housing communities and more.

Florida International University is one of the largest universities in the United States. Our city, Miami, Florida, is unique in the U.S. for its diversity of culture. Ideal weather and proximity to South America and the Caribbean make Miami a hub of Latin America, as well as home to people from all over the world. Nearly 3,800 students come to FIU from over 120 nations, most from China, Venezuela, India, Colombia, Saudi Arabia and Brazil.

A Carnegie Foundation R1 top-tier institution, FIU is a solutions center for world’s most pressing challenges. Driven by a spirit of invention, a drive for innovation, and the support of more than $100 million of awards, our research opportunities can take you from the top of the world to the bottom of the ocean.

Featuring 106 master's, 33 doctoral, and over 50 certificate and specialist programs in 10 different colleges and schools, FIU offers convenient online options, renowned MBA and business programs – including the nation’s No.1 real-estate program – and is home to South Florida's only public schools of law and medicine. From the arts to engineering, there’s an FIU graduate degree that fits your future.

At FIU, we hold our freshmen to high standards. Incoming students in 2016 earned a 3.83 GPA on average. But good grades alone aren't what make the ideal Panther. We consider your class choice, community service and all kinds of achievement when accepting applicants. If you think you have what it takes, the true test is to take the first step.

From ground-breaking researchers to start-up stars, FIU students and alumni are leaders in their fields. Equipped with a uniquely global perspective and supported by our renowned faculty members, FIU students have the competitive edge they need to turn the impossible into the inevitable, recognizing opportunity and creating success.

At FIU, we search the world for solutions to global problems. At the North Pole, Professor David Kadko fingerprints the geochemistry of the Arctic Ocean. From the Aquarius reef base – the world’s only undersea research laboratory – researchers gain an unparalleled perspective on climate change and more, while the Wall of Wind brings the destructive force of a Category 5 hurricane into the laboratory, enabling one-of-a-kind research opportunities. At the Accelerated Bridge Construction center, we work to solve the infrastructure challenges of the future. And at the Center for Children and Families, researchers work to improve the lives of children suffering from mental health disorders.Our drive to make our world a better place has earned us a distinction few other universities can match: Carnegie R1 Very High Research Designation, the top-tier category for doctoral research universities.

In 1965, Florida Senator Robert M. Haverfield introduced Senate Bill 711, which instructed the state Board of Education and the Board of Regents (BOR) to begin planning for the development of a state university in Miami.An abandoned airfield is an unusual place for the birth of a university. But in the summer of 1969, founding FIU president Chuck Perry gathered three leaders who would help him create his vision.

Butler Waugh, Donald McDowell and Nick Sileo joined the 31-year-old Perry at Tamiami Airport and set up shop in the former air traffic controllers' tower. The tower had no phones, no drinkable water and no furniture. President Perry decided that the control tower should never be destroyed and so it remains standing today at the center of campus, as FIU's Ivory Tower.

From that single building on that abandoned airfield, FIU has grown to be one of the largest universities in the country.The spirit of entrepreneurship born on that summer day thrives at today's FIU.