The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (U of M, UM, U-M or simply Michigan) is a coeducational public research university in the state of Michigan. The university was founded in 1817 in Detroit, about 20 years before the territory of Michigan officially became a state, and moved to Ann Arbor in 1837. Today, it is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan system, which now has two satellite campuses, the University of Michigan, Flint and the University of Michigan, Dearborn.

The school is internationally renowned for its academics. In its last published survey in 1995, the National Research Council ranked UM 3rd in the United States in a study that aggregated evaluations of 41 graduate disciplines. In 2007, U-M produced the highest number of Fulbright awards for any American University, surpassing both Yale and Harvard. The university also has one of the largest research expenditures of any American university and one of the largest number of living alumni, at 420,000. The university owns one of the most well-regarded academic medical centers in the United States, the University of Michigan Health System. UM is recognized for its history of student activism and its athletic teams, notably in football, men's basketball, and ice hockey. It is considered as one of the original eight Public Ivys.

Despite being a public institution, the University of Michigan is known for its high student fees; in 2007, tuition for out-of-state students was the most expensive in the country. However, in 2008, Michigan reclaimed its status in Kiplinger's as the 16th best value in public education. The university has also been at the center of a national controversy involving the use of affirmative action in admissions. Though the university successfully affirmed before the U.S. Supreme Court that consideration of race as a factor in admissions to universities was constitutional for the holistic Law School admissions process in 2003, the Supreme Court also expressed an opinion on the degree to which race could be used by striking down the policy for undergraduate admissions in a separate court case. The former policy automatically awarded 20 points to underrepresented minority applicants in its points-based system. Michigan voters responded by approving restrictions on affirmative action in public universities and governmental hiring in November 2006, forcing the university to cease using race and gender as criteria for admissions.