The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, also known as UNC Charlotte, UNCC, or Charlotte, is a public research university located in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. UNC Charlotte offers 21 doctoral, 64 master’s, and 90 bachelor’s degree programs through nine colleges: the College of Arts + Architecture, the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, the Belk College of Business, the College of Computing and Informatics, the College of Education, the William States Lee College of Engineering, the College of Health and Human Services, the Honors College, and the University College.
UNC Charlotte has three campuses: Charlotte Research Institute Campus, Center City Campus, and the main campus, located in University City. The main campus sits on 1,000 wooded acres with approximately 85 buildings about 8 miles from Uptown Charlotte. The university is the largest institution of higher education in the Charlotte region, which is the second largest banking center in the United States.
The university offers 85 baccalaureate (bachelor’s degree) programs, 63 master’s degree programs, and 21 doctoral programs. Fifteen degree and certificate programs are offered via distance education, from 25% to 100% online. University of North Carolina, Charlotte was ranked the 38th top college in the United States by the Social Mobility Index college rankings. The 2013 edition of the U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges ranked the university’s undergraduate program 199th overall among national universities. Forbes also ranked the university among its annual rankings of overall higher education programs, and within its research universities category. In 2015, American City Business Journals evaluated and ranked the top 484 public colleges and universities in the United States based on selectivity, advancement, prestige, costs, diversity, and community. In the publication, UNC Charlotte was ranked at #137 landing in the top 30% of public universities.
For athletics purposes, the school is known as simply Charlotte, a change made official by the athletic department on August 23, 2000. The athletic department sponsors sixteen varsity teams and competes in the NCAA’s Division I. The university is a full member of Conference USA.