The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson. Set within the Academical Village, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the university is referred to as a "Public Ivy" for offering an academic experience similar to that of an Ivy League university. It is known in part for certain rare characteristics among public universities such as its historic foundations, student-run honor code, and secret societies.

The original governing Board of Visitors included three U.S. presidents: Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe, the latter as sitting President of the United States at the time of its foundation. As its first two rectors, Presidents Jefferson and Madison played key roles in the university's foundation, with Jefferson designing both the original courses of study and the university's architecture. Located within its historic 1,135 acre central campus, the university is composed of eight undergraduate and three professional schools: the School of Law, the Darden School of Business, and the School of Medicine.

The University of Virginia's scholars have played a major role in the development of many academic disciplines, including economics, law, literary art, visual art, and the sciences. In research, the university has been a member of the Association of American Universities for 119 years, and the journal Science credited its faculty with two of the top ten global scientific breakthroughs in a single year. In sports, the university athletic teams are called the Cavaliers and lead the Atlantic Coast Conference in team NCAA Championships for men's sports, also ranking second in women's and overall titles. In 2015, and again in 2019, the University of Virginia was presented with the Capital One Cup for fielding the nation's best overall athletics programs for men's sports.

The university's alumni, faculty, and researchers have included several U.S. presidents, heads of state, Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, Rhodes Scholars, Marshall Scholars, and Fulbright Scholars. Some 30 different governors of U.S. states have attended the university, as have numerous U.S. senators and congresspeople. UVA has produced 55 Rhodes Scholars, eighth highest in the United States, while its alumni have founded numerous companies (such as Reddit, CNET, and Space Adventures) which together produce more than $1.6 trillion in annual revenue and have created 2.3 million jobs.