Centralized system offices staff support the work of the three universities by providing critical services that are vital to its missions.

[6] The largest university in the Chicago area, UIC serves approximately 34,000 students within 16 colleges & schools including Applied Health Sciences, Architecture, Design, and the Arts, Business Administration, Dentistry, Education, Engineering, Graduate, Honors, Liberal Arts & Sciences, Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health, Social Work, Urban Planning & Public Affairs, Law, and the College of Medicine (largest branch of three branches of the medical school) which is one of the nation's largest medical schools.

It was one of the 37 public land-grant institutions created shortly after Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Act in 1862.

UIUC and its alumni are particularly well known for their contributions to engineering, including inventions such as the LED, plasma screen, and the integrated circuit.

The university is highly ranked in psychology, engineering, law, library and information science, chemistry, computer science, labor and industrial relations, educational psychology, finance, accounting, business administration, communication, and music.

Until 2007, the symbol of the university's athletic teams was a Native American figure, Chief Illiniwek, which sparked significant controversy.

Currently the university boasts the world's most technologically advanced[citation needed] Computer Science building, Siebel Center, as well as many other world-class research laboratories such as the Electrical and Computer Engineering Building and the Loomis Laboratory of Physics.

In 2017 the University of Illinois System launched the Discovery Partners Institute (DPI), a center for tech workforce development and applied R&D in Chicago.

SHIELD Illinois eventually performed over 7.2 million SARS-CoV-2 tests at over 2,300 sites including approximately 1,700 K-12 schools.

[1] Most of the $3.82 billion endowment is assigned to support the Urbana campus, which is the oldest and largest part of the system.

Collectively, the University of Illinois System has one of the world's largest alumni networks with more than 810,000 members internationally.