Lincoln University (LU) is a public state-related historically black university (HBCU) near Oxford, Pennsylvania. Founded as the private Ashmun Institute in 1854, it has been a public institution since 1972 and was the United States’ first degree-granting HBCU. Its main campus is located on 422 acres near the town of Oxford in southern Chester County, Pennsylvania

While a majority of its students are African Americans, the university has a long history of accepting students of other races and nationalities. Women have received degrees since 1953, and made up 66% of undergraduate enrollment in 2019. 

According to U.S. News & World Report, Lincoln University ranks number 19 in the 2020 magazine’s ranking of HBCUs. In 2020 the US News & World Best Colleges Report rated Lincoln 119 among Regional Universities North.

Lincoln University’s International and Study Abroad Program had student participation in Service-Learning Projects in the countries of EcuadorArgentinaSpainIrelandCosta RicaJapanFranceCambodiaZambiaLiberia, Ghana, KenyaRussiaAustraliaThailand, the Czech RepublicMexico, and South Africa

The Lincoln-Barnes Visual Arts program is a collaboration between Lincoln University and the Barnes Foundation. It established a Visual Arts program that leads to a Bachelor of Fine Arts, and most recently, a Pan-Africana Studies major has been added to the list undergraduate majors available at the institution.

Lincoln University offers 38 undergraduate majors and 23 undergraduate minors.