Johns Hopkins University is a private institution that was founded in 1876. The school has campuses located in and around Baltimore and the District of Columbia, as well as in Italy and China. The main campus for undergraduates is the Homewood campus in north Baltimore. Most of the university’s schools use a semester-based academic calendar, with some offering an additional, three-week study period in January. English is the language of instruction. Undergraduate students are required to live in university housing for the first two years of their studies. Accommodations are not available for graduate students, with the exception of those enrolled in the school's Peabody Institute, a conservatory.

The university comprises nine academic divisions that offer studies in the arts and sciences, engineering, business, education, medicine, nursing, music, public health and international studies. Some of the most popular majors for undergraduates (at the Homewood campus) are public health studies, international studies and biomedical engineering. Johns Hopkins University’s graduate schools include the highly ranked School of Medicine, School of Nursing and School of Education. The Johns Hopkins Hospital, a teaching hospital, is highly ranked in many specialties. Undergraduate students can get involved in research with support from initiatives such as the Provost’s Undergraduate Research Awards program, which provides financing for students to design and conduct research with the help of a faculty sponsor. Among the institution's research facilities is the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, an affiliated research center that is a hub for national security- and space-related research.

Johns Hopkins University is ranked #11 in Best Global Universities. Schools are ranked according to their performance across a set of widely accepted indicators of excellence.