Education

The state school system is under the direction of a superintendent of public instruction, who is elected to a four-year term. The state board of education is appointed by the governer. Education is free and compulsory from age 7 to age 16.

The University of North Carolina, the second state university founded in the United States and the first to open for classes, was chartered in 1789. It opened at Chapel Hill in 1795. In 1971 the state-supported universities of North Carolina were consoldated into a single University of North Carolina system composed of 16 constituent institutions. They include:

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (formerly University of North Carolina), the oldest and largest component institution. It has schools of dentistry, education, journalism, law, library science, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public health, and social work; a graduate school of business administration, and a college of arts and sciences.

North Carolina State University (formerly North Carolina State College), opened in 1889 at Raleigh. It has schools of agriculture and life sciences, design, education, engineering, forest resources, humanities and social sciences, physical and mathematical sciences, textiles, and veterinary medicine.

University of North Carolina at Greensboro (formerly Woman's College of the University of North Carolina), opened in 1892. It has programs in arts and sciences; education; business and economics; health physical education, recreation, and dance; human environmental sciences; music; and nursing.

Other component institutions are:

Appalachian State University, Boone

East Carolina University, Greenville

Elizabeth City State University

Fayetteville State University

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Greensboro

North Carolina Central University, Durham

North Carolina School of the Arts, Winston-Salem

Pembroke State University

University of North Carolina at Asheville

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

University of North Carolina at Wilmington

Western Carolina University, Cullowhee

Winston-Salem State University

Duke University in Durham is the largest private institution of higher learning in the state.