East Lansing, Michigan is home to Michigan State Institution (often known as Michigan State or MSU), which is a public land-grant research university. The Agricultural College of the State of Michigan was the first institution of its type to be established in the United States when it was established in 1855. The Morrill Act was passed in 1862, and the following year, in 1863, the state of the college's location recognised it as a land-grant university. This made the college the first land-grant college in the United States. In 1870, the institution began admitting students of both sexes. The college was elevated to the status of a university in an official capacity by the state in 1955, and the institution's present name, Michigan State University, was chosen in 1964. There are roughly 634,300 surviving alumni of Michigan State University all over the globe. This makes Michigan State University one of the biggest institutions in the United States (in terms of enrolment).
The institution is recognised as belonging to the category of "R1: Doctoral Universities–Very high research activity," which indicates that it is a member of the Association of American Universities. Additionally, the university is home to the nation's largest residence hall system.
Among the university's six professional schools are the College of Law (originally established in Detroit in 1891 as the Detroit College of Law and later relocated to East Lansing in 1995), the Eli Broad College of Business, the College of Nursing, the College of Osteopathic Medicine (the world's first state-funded osteopathic college), the College of Human Medicine, and the College of Veterinary Medicine. The College of Law was originally known as the Detroit College of Law. The institution was a leader in the development of new academic fields, including music therapy, the business of packaging and hospitality, supply chain management, and communication sciences.
The Big Ten Conference is part of the NCAA Division I competition that Michigan State University participates in. In 1954, 1956, 1988, and 2014, the Michigan State Spartans football team was victorious in the Rose Bowl Game. Additionally, the institution has won a total of six national football titles. The men's basketball team for the Spartans has been to the Final Four eight times since the 1998–1999 season and has won the NCAA National Championship on two separate occasions (1979 and 2000). The ice hockey team for the Spartans won the NCAA national championship in 1966, 1986, and 2007. In 2019, the women's cross-country team from the Big Ten was crowned the conference champions. According to figures provided by the NCAA, student-athletes attending Michigan State University in the autumn of 2019 recorded all-time highs for graduation success rates and federal graduation rates.