Florida International University is Miami-Dade County’s first public, four-year university. FIU was founded in 1965 and opened for classes in 1972 with 5,667 students – the largest opening day enrollment in U.S. collegiate history.

In 2009, the FIU Board of Trustees unanimously approved Mark B. Rosenberg as FIU’s fifth president. Today it has more than 40,00 students, almost 1,000 full-time faculty and nearly 150,000 alumni. FIU is one of the 25 largest universities in the nation, based on enrollment. The University offers more than 200 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs in 21 colleges and schools. Ninety-five percent of FIU’s full-time, tenure, and tenure earning faculty hold doctorates or the highest degree attainable in their field. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. Sponsored research funding (grants and contracts) from external sources now exceed $100 million. The University is ranked as a Research University in the High Research Activity category of the Carnegie Foundation’s prestigious classification system. The school’s mascot is the Golden Panther, and its alumni constitute the fastest growing university alumni group in Miami-Dade County. FIU confers approximately half of all degrees now awarded by universities in Miami-Dade County.FIU’s College of Medicine was approved in 2006 by the Florida Board of Governors and the Florida Legislature. In 2008, it received preliminary accreditation by the Liaison Committee for Medical Education of the AAMC and admitted its first class in August 2009.

FIU is the youngest university to have been awarded a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest and most distinguished academic honor society. FIU recently ranked among the best values in public higher education in the country, according to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine’s 2006 survey, “100 Best Values in Public Colleges.” FIU ranked among the top 50 nationally for in-state students and among the top 100 nationally for out-of-state and international students. FIU recently ranked third in granting bachelors degrees to minorities and ninth in granting masters degrees to minorities, according to Diverse Issues in Higher Education, June 1, 2006. FIU’s College of Law led all universities in the state with the highest pass rate of 94.4% on the 2007 Statewide Florida Bar Examination. The second highest pass rate belonged to Florida State University with 88.2%.

U.S.News & World Report ranks FIU’s undergraduate international business programs among the top 15 in the nation and their graduate programs among the top 25. The university has also been named one of the “10 Cool Colleges for Entrepreneurs” by Fortune Small Business magazine. The Executive MBA program was recently ranked #1 in Florida by the Financial Times. The School of Hospitality and Tourism Management is one of the nation’s top programs. Other acclaimed programs include Creative Writing and Marine Biology. The University’s 2010-2011 operating budget is $942 million. FIU has more than 4,800 employees. The University has an economic impact of more than $1.7 billion on the South Florida economy.

In recent years, FIU has emerged as one of South Florida’s major cultural assets, offering programs to both students and the local community. Several of its programs are nationally renowned for their excellence.

The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum celebrated the grand opening of its new facility on the Modesto A. Maidique campus in 2008. The Wolfsonian-FIU museum, located in Miami Beach, promotes the collection, preservation and understanding of decorative art and design from the period 1885-1945. The School of Theatre and Dance produces a wide variety of live student performances, and The School of Music presents an annual fall series of concerts that showcase talent in a variety of genres. The festival features FIU musicians as well as distinguished visiting performers.

Under the direction of the Creative Writing Program, the Writers on the Bay lecture series presents noted authors and poets.

The School of Hospitality and Tourism Management helps present the annual South Beach Wine & Food Festival, one of the major culinary events in the nation.

FIU has two campuses, the 344-acre Modesto A. Maidique campus in western Miami-Dade County, and the 200-acre Biscayne Bay Campus in northeast Miami-Dade County. The University also has an academic site in Broward County, FIU Broward-Pines Center in Pembroke Pines.

A major research facility, the 40-acre Engineering Center is located near the Maidique campus. The Downtown Center, located in downtown Miami, offers graduate level business courses for busy professionals. For more information go to www.fiu.edu.  In July, FIU was ranked the second-best university in the state this year, according to the Florida Board of Governors. The University of Florida retained its spot as the top-ranked university on the list.