In the United States, the term "national university" connotes the highest institutional level in education, differing in meaning from a "federally-chartered university."
In Argentina, the national universities are the result of the 1918 Argentine university reform and subsequent reforms, which were intended to provide a secular university system without direct clerical or government influence by bestowing self-government on the institutions.
In the US, "national university" denotes regionally-outstanding institutions with at least a national admissions strategy, receipt of largescale grants, international research activity, endowments above $350 million, and regional excellence with respective prestige.
Some prominent American public national universities include UVA, UF, and Indiana; while some prominent American private national universities include Penn, WUSTL, Cornell, and MIT.
Some of the US's federally-chartered places of higher education include: