Georgia State University (Georgia State, State, or GSU) is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1913, it is one of the University System of Georgia's four research universities. It is also the largest institution of higher education based in Georgia and is in the top 10 in the nation with a diverse student population around 52,000 including approximately 33,000 graduate and undergraduate students at the main campus downtown as of 2018.

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Georgia State University is classified as an "R1" research university by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The university's over $200 million in research expenditures for the 2017 fiscal year ranked 1st in the nation among universities without an engineering or medical school.

 

The university is the most comprehensive public institution in the Atlanta area, offering more than 250 undergraduate and graduate degree programs spread across eight academic colleges with around 3,500 faculty members.

 

GSU has two libraries, University library and Law library, which hold over 4.3 million volumes combined and serve as a federal document depository. GSU has an economic impact on the Atlanta economy of more than $1.4 billion annually.

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The Georgia State Panthers represent the NCAA Division I sports teams of Georgia State University. The university's athletic teams (except beach volleyball) are members of the Sun Belt Conference, of which Georgia State is a charter member.