East Carolina University (ECU) was established as a teacher training college in 1907. It became a university in 1967. Since its foundation it has expanded massively, from 43 acres to almost 1600.

ECU has 12 schools and colleges, including a graduate school and an honors college. The College of Education is the oldest college at the university, and is considered North Carolina’s top college for employment of graduates in teaching. The College of Nursing is also known for producing the highest number of nurses in the region.

Over 90 bachelor’s, 70 master’s and 16 doctoral programmes are available to study.

ECU is spread over three campuses: Main Campus, West Research Campus and Health Sciences Campus. Technologically-enhanced smart classrooms can be found on each campus. The university also has a field station located in New Holland, which investigates coastal resource management, ecotourism and coastal biology.

Athletics teams at ECU are known as Pirates. There are plenty of facilities for students to keep active, with four pools, two recreation centres and several running tracks. The university organises adventure trips off campus for sports such as hiking and climbing.

Students have free access to the Pirate Academic Success Center (PASC), a facility where tutors provide one-to-one coaching and study support. PASC provides almost 30,000 tutoring sessions each year.

The university is situated in Grenville, North Carolina.