Maryland, University System of

Maryland, University System of, state-supported system of higher education in Maryland, est. 1988 as the University of Maryland System, renamed 1997. It includes all but two of the publicly supported colleges and universities in the state: Bowie State Univ; Coppin State College; Frostburg State Univ.; Salisbury Univ.; Towson Univ.; the Univ. of Baltimore; the Univ. of Maryland; the Univ. of Maryland, Baltimore; the Univ. of Maryland, Baltimore County; the Univ. of Maryland Eastern Shore; and the Univ. of Maryland University College.

The oldest unit in the system was founded in 1807 in Baltimore and rechartered as the Univ. of Maryland in 1812. The Univ. of Maryland absorbed Maryland State College (chartered 1856, and now the Univ. of Maryland; see Maryland, Univ. of), the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery (1840; the first U.S. dental school), and several other colleges and professional schools during the 20th cent., becoming a five-campus state university in 1970. In 1988 the university was merged with the State University and College System to form the present system, and the Univ. of Maryland campuses became separate institutions.