The University of Florida is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and traces its origins to 1853 and has operated continuously on its Gainesville campus since September 1906.
After the Florida state legislature's creation of performance standards in 2013, the Florida Board of Governors designated the University of Florida as one of the three "preeminent universities" among the twelve universities of the State University System of Florida. For 2022, U.S. News & World Report ranked Florida as the fifth best public university in the United States. The University of Florida is the only member of the Association of American Universities in Florida and is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity".
The university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. It is the third largest Florida university by student population, and is the fifth largest single-campus university in the United States with 57,841 students enrolled for during the 2020–21 school year.