University of North Carolina, system of state-supported universities in North Carolina. Its first campus, at Chapel Hill, was chartered in 1789 and admitted its first class in 1795. The campus at Chapel Hill was the university’s only institution until 1931, when the state legislature redefined the university to include within it other state-supported institutions. By 1972 all public institutions in the state that granted bachelor’s degrees had become part of the University of North Carolina system.

The system includes the original campus, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Fayetteville State University (1867) in Fayetteville; Pembroke State University (1887) in Pembroke (the name of this school was changed to the University of North Carolina at Pembroke in 1996); North Carolina State University (1887) in Raleigh; Western Carolina University (1889) in Cullowhee; Elizabeth City State University (1891) in Elizabeth City; North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (1891) in Greensboro; University of North Carolina at Greensboro (1891) also in Greensboro; Winston-Salem State University (1892) in Winston-Salem; Appalachian State University (1899) in Boone; East Carolina University (1907) in Greenville; North Carolina Central University (1910) in Durham; University of North Carolina at Asheville (1927) in Asheville; University of North Carolina at Charlotte (1946) in Charlotte; University of North Carolina at Wilmington (1947) in Wilmington; and North Carolina School of the Arts (1963) in Winston-Salem.