George Mason University, located in Fairfax, Virginia, United States, is the largest public research university in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The university was founded as a branch of the University of Virginia in 1957 and became an independent institution in 1972.

Today, as Virginia´s largest public research university, Mason is setting the benchmark for a bold, progressive education that serves the needs of its students and communities. In recent years, George Mason faculty have twice won the Nobel Prize in Economics.

The campus in the city of Fairfax boasts 677 acres of woodland and is located just 15 miles away from Washington DC, with all the internship opportunities that exist there for students with organisations including National Geographic and the US government.

George Mason offers 76 undergraduate majors and was the first university in the US to introduce doctoral programs in conflict resolution, information technology, bioinformatics and computational social science. Today, Mason is recognized for its programs in economics, law, creative writing, computer science, and business.

To that end, George Mason has 12 schools and colleges devoted to a variety of areas of study. The university enrolls 33,917 students, making it the largest university by head count in the Commonwealth of Virginia.