The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public, coeducational, research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Also known as the University of North Carolina, Carolina, North Carolina, or simply UNC, the university is the oldest institution in the University of North Carolina system. It was the first American public university to open its doors to students, and the only public university to graduate students in the eighteenth century. UNC is known as a Public Ivy (one of the original eight schools known as such) and is the flagship institution of the University of North Carolina System.