The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public, coeducational university located in Las Vegas, Nevada. Known for its programs in computer science, English, engineering, and hotel administration, it is the major university of southern Nevada. The university is ranked in the category of Doctoral/Research Universities-Intensive by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and has over 800 faculty members. UNLV has an enrollment of more than 26,000. Since July 1995, UNLV's president has been Carol C. Harter.

The university offers over 200 programs of study in varying fields leading to Bachelor's, Master's, and doctorate degrees. Academic divisions include the College of Business, the College of Education, the Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering, the College of Fine Arts, the Graduate College, the College of Health Sciences, the William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration, the College of Liberal Arts, the College of Sciences, the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs, the School of Architecture, the Hank Greenspun School of Communication, the School of Dental Medicine, the School of Social Work, and the William S. Boyd School of Law.

The 337-acre (1.4-km²) UNLV campus is located on Maryland Parkway in southeastern Las Vegas about 2.5 km (1.5 mi) east of the Las Vegas Strip.

UNLV's 17 intercollegiate athletic teams are nicknamed the Rebels or Lady Rebels (the men's basketball team is typically referred to as the Runnin' Rebels), which itself is odd as UNLV has no immediate connection to the confederacy (indeed, Nevada was not even a state at the beginning of the American Civil War, it became a state in 1864). (The name 'Rebels' comes from the fact that the school was the 'Southern' branch of the University of Nevada.) The school's colors are scarlet and grey. UNLV is a member of the Mountain West Conference in the NCAA's Division I. UNLV's men's soccer team competes in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. In 1990, UNLV won the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship.

UNLV was founded in 1957 as the southern regional extension division of the University of Nevada; it was renamed as Nevada Southern University in 1965 by the Nevada Board of Regents, who also hired the university's president. In 1968, Nevada Southern officially changed its name to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, which gave it equal status with its former parent, the University of Nevada, Reno.