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This page is about the state university system of North Carolina, comprising 16 state universities. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was the University of North Carolina until 1963. The University of North Carolina is a sixteen-university system which comprises all public four-year universities in North Carolina, United States. While the system's Board of Governors oversee general system policy, each campus executes a large degree of autonomy from the system and are classified as separate institutions. The system has a total enrollment of over 183,000 students and confers over 75% of all bachelor degrees in North Carolina. The system provides quality education at some of the lowest tuition rates in the United States despite recent tuition increases.*
History The first campus of the University of North Carolina was founded in 1789 in Chapel Hill. This was the first public university in the United States to award degrees and the only campus of the University of North Carolina for 136 years. In 1877, the State of North Carolina began sponsoring additional higher education institutions. Over time the state added five historically black institutions and one to educate Native Americans. Others were created to prepare teachers for public education and to instruct performing artists. During the Depression, the North Carolina General Assembly searched for cost savings within state government. Towards this effort in 1931, it redefined the University of North Carolina to include what are now the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, and University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The new Consolidated University of North Carolina operated the three campuses under just one board of trustees and one president. By 1969, three additional campuses had joined the University through legislative action: the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. In 1971, the North Carolina passed legislation bringing into the University of North Carolina all 16 public institutions that confer bachelor degrees. This round of consolidation granted each constituent institution a Chancellor and a Board of Trustees. In 1985, the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, a residential high school for gifted students, was declared an affiliated school of the University. Structure Chapter 9 of the North Carolina Constitution provides authorization for the creation the University of North Carolina. Under this authorization, Chapter 116 of the North Carolina General Statute entrusts the University of North Carolina to its Board of Governors. The Board of Governors is the policy-making body charged with "the general determination, control, supervision, management, and governance of all affairs of the constituent institutions." It elects the president, who administers the University. The 32 voting members of the Board of Governors are elected by the General Assembly for four-year terms. The president of the UNC Association of Student Governments is also a non-voting member. The Board of Governors delegates extensive administrative authority to each constituent university. Each institution is headed by a Chancellor, who is chosen by the Board of Governors on the president's nomination and is responsible to the president. Each institution also has a board of trustees, consisting of eight members elected by the Board of Governors, four appointed by the governor, and the President of the student body. The composition of the Board of Trustees is set by General Statute. Of the 16 member institutions, North Carolina State University in Raleigh, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are designated as the system's flagship schools. NC State is a national leader in Science, Engineering, and Technology, while UNC-Chapel Hill excels in Medicine, Law, and Liberal Studies. Legal mandate The legal authority and mandate for the University of North Carolina can be found in the North Carolina Constitution. Article 9 of the constitution deals with all form of public education in the state. Sections 8 and 9 of that article stipulate the function and cost to students of the University of North Carolina. Those sections read as follows: Sec. 8. Higher education. The General Assembly shall maintain a public system of higher education, comprising The University of North Carolina and such other institutions of higher education as the General Assembly may deem wise. The General Assembly shall provide for the selection of trustees of The University of North Carolina and of the other institutions of higher education, in whom shall be vested all the privileges, rights, franchises, and endowments heretofore granted to or conferred upon the trustees of these institutions. The General Assembly may enact laws necessary and expedient for the maintenance and management of The University of North Carolina and the other public institutions of higher education. Sec. 9. Benefits of public institutions of higher education. The General Assembly shall provide that the benefits of The University of North Carolina and other public institutions of higher education, as far as practicable, be extended to the people of the State free of expense. Consolidated University of North Carolina University of North Carolina System Constituent institutions Table updated with most recent available data September 26, 2006 Statistics gathered from UNC System. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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