The University of Pennsylvania dates its founding to 1740. In 1749 Benjamin Franklin organised 24 trustees to form an institution of higher education, which opened in 1751 as the Academy and Charitable School in the Province of Pennsylvania. Penn obtained a collegiate charter in 1755 and in 1779 became, by its own account, the first American institution of higher education named a university. It moved to West Philadelphia in 1872.
In fall 2025 Penn enrolled 29,384 students, 24,331 full-time and 5,053 part-time, across schools including Arts and Sciences, Engineering and Applied Science, Nursing, Wharton, Perelman Medicine and Carey Law. It had 2,995 standing faculty. J. Larry Jameson was named President in March 2025, and a search for Penn’s 11th president is under way.