The University of Louisville is a publicuniversity in Louisville, Kentucky, a member of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of the first universities chartered west of the Allegheny Mountains. The university is mandated by the Kentucky General Assembly to be a "Preeminent Metropolitan Research University".[5] The university enrolls students from 118 of 120 Kentucky counties,[6] all 50 U.S. states, and 116 countries around the world.[7]