University of Massachusetts Amherst

The University of Massachusetts Amherst is a public research university in Boston, Massachusetts. Located in Amherst, Massachusetts, the Institution of Massachusetts Amherst is a public land-grant research university. This agricultural institution was founded in 1863 and is the flagship and biggest school in the University of Massachusetts system, as well the first to be created in the United States. Amherst College is also a part of the Five College Consortium, which includes four additional schools in the Pioneer Valley: Amherst (formerly Smith), Mount Holyoke (formerly Mount Holyoke), and Hampshire (formerly Hampshire).

The University of Massachusetts Amherst enrols more than 30,000 students each year and has about 1,300 academic members on staff. It is the third-largest university in Massachusetts, behind Boston University and Harvard University, and is the state's most selective institution. It provides 109 undergraduate programmes, 77 master's programmes, and 48 doctorate programmes, with a total of 109 academic degrees available. It is possible to combine programmes at nine different schools and universities. The University of Massachusetts Amherst is categorised as "R1: Doctoral Universities - Very High Research Activity" by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. A total of $211 million was spent on research and development by the institution in 2018, according to the National Science Foundation.

The Minutemen and Minutewomen are the names given to the university's 21 varsity sports teams, which participate in NCAA Division I competition. The institution is a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference and competes in ice hockey in the Hockey East Conference, as well as football as an independent in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

The University's past and present students and faculty have included four Nobel Prize laureates, a National Humanities Medal winner, a number of Fulbright and Goldwater scholars, Olympic gold medalists, a United States Poet Laureate, as well as numerous Pulitzer Prize winners and Grammy, Emmy and Academy Award winners.