Florida International University in USA

In 1965, Florida Senator Robert M. Haverfield introduced Senate Bill 711, which instructed the state Board of Education and the Board of Regents (BOR) to begin planning for the development of a state university in Miami.

An abandoned airfield is an unusual place for the birth of a university. But in the summer of 1969, founding FIU president Chuck Perry gathered three leaders who would help him create his vision.

Butler Waugh, Donald McDowell and Nick Sileo joined the 31-year-old Perry at Tamiami Airport and set up shop in the former air traffic controllers' tower. The tower had no phones, no drinkable water and no furniture. President Perry decided that the control tower should never be destroyed and so it remains standing today at the center of campus, as FIU's Ivory Tower.

From that single building on that abandoned airfield, FIU has grown to be one of the largest universities in the country. The spirit of entrepreneurship born on that summer day thrives at today's FIU.

FIU is Miami's public research university. Offering bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees, both on campus and fully online, FIU is worlds ahead in its service to the academic and local community.

Designated as a top-tier research institution, FIU emphasizes research as a major component in the university's mission. The Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine and the Knight Foundation School of Computing and Information Sciences' Discovery Lab, are just two of many colleges, schools, and centers that actively enhance the university's ability to set new standards through research initiatives.

For over four decades, FIU has positioned itself as one of South Florida's anchor institutions by solving some of the greatest challenges of our time. We are dedicated to enriching the lives of the local and global community. With a student body of more than 56,000, we are among the top 10 largest universities in the nation and have collectively graduated more than 275,000 alumni, 165,000 of whom live and work in South Florida.

FIU like you’ve never seen it before
Stats and rankings are impressive, but they fail to tell the whole FIU story—the real story. Behind every one of FIU's triumphs are real individuals with real goals and responsibilities, rooted in the realities of what is happening in the world today.

The FIU episode of The College Tour is now available on Amazon Prime.