The Twin Cities campus comprises locations in Minneapolis and Falcon Heights, a suburb of St. Paul, approximately 3 mi (4.8 km) apart.

[18] The Minnesota Golden Gophers compete in 21 intercollegiate sports in the NCAA Division I Big Ten Conference and have won 29 national championships.

[13] It struggled in its early years and relied on donations to stay open from donors, including South Carolina Governor William Aiken Jr.[23][24] In 1867, the university received land grant status through the Morrill Act of 1862.

[32] The original Minneapolis campus overlooked the Saint Anthony Falls on the Mississippi River, but it was later moved about a mile (1.6 km) downstream to its current location.

The original site is now marked by a small park known as Chute Square at the intersection of University and Central Avenues.

The Superblock is one of the most popular locations for on-campus housing because it has the largest concentration of students living on campus and has a multitude of social activities between the residence halls.

The Gateway area, the easternmost section of campus, is primarily composed of office buildings instead of classrooms and lecture halls.

Many of the buildings on the East Bank were designed by the prolific Minnesota architect Clarence H. Johnston, including the Jacobean Folwell Hall and the Beaux-Arts edifices of Northrop Auditorium and Walter Library, which he considered the heart of the university.

The Malcolm Moos Health Sciences Tower, which is the tallest building on the Twin Cities campus, is a noted example of brutalist architecture.

It also ushered in a new era of architecture at the university, which continued with the completion of the McNamara Alumni Center in 2000 and Bruininks Hall (formerly STSS) in 2010.

[41] The extensive lawns, flowers, trees, and surrounding University research farm plots create a greener and quieter campus.

[46] The Washington Avenue Bridge crossing the Mississippi River provides access between the East and West Banks in Minneapolis, on foot and via designated bike lanes and a free shuttle service.

[56] The university also maintains a vigilant stance on cybersecurity, conducting annual external assessments and updating strategies for risk mitigation.

[67][68][69][70] In August 2020, the University of Minnesota agreed to pay $500,000 to a woman who in the fall of 2016, accused several Gophers football players of sexually assaulting her.

[100] The 2015 Times Higher Education World University Rankings placed Minnesota 46th worldwide, based primarily on teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and international outlook.

The university developed Gopher,[102] a precursor to the World Wide Web which used hyperlinks to connect documents across computers on the internet.

[104] The university also became a member of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) in 2007 and has led data analysis projects searching for gravitational waves — their existence was confirmed by scientists in February 2016.

Besides everyday news coverage, the paper has also published special issues, such as the Grapevine Awards, Ski-U-Mah, the Bar & Beer Guide, Sex-U-Mah, and others.

Liminal was created in the absence of an undergraduate literary journal and continues to bring poetry and prose to the university community.

The Republic is a biweekly newspaper run entirely by students, reporting on campus, state, and national news with commentary on sports, economics, and arts and entertainment.

Several episodes of Great Conversations have been made since 2002, featuring one-on-one discussions between University faculty and experts brought in from around the world.

Tech Talk was a show meant to help people who feel intimidated by modern technology, including cell phones and computers.

The Golden Gophers' most notable rivalry is the annual college football game against the Wisconsin Badgers for Paul Bunyan's Axe.

To date, this remains the highest consecutive championship count in NCAA Division I FBS college football history, a record shared with the Georgia Bulldogs.

Most recently, in April 2014 the Golden Gophers defeated SMU to win the NIT championship at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The Golden Gophers women's basketball team has enjoyed success in recent years under Pam Borton, including a Final Four appearance in 2004.

[137] The Minnesota Golden Gophers baseball team boasts a storied history marked by championship success, particularly in the Big Ten Conference.

Along with Big Ten titles the Golden Gophers have made the College World Series 5 times with a 17-7 record and 3 NCAA championships with their most recent being in 1964.

Along with nine Big Ten titles, the Golden Gophers have made the NCAA tournament six times, with their highest placement being 6th in 2022, with a total team score of 197.1125.

[141] The cross country and track and field programs have produced several professional runners, including Ben Blankenship, Gabriele Grunwald, and Charlie Lawrence.