The University of Notre Dame du Lac (or simply Notre Dame) (our lady) ( ) is a private research university located in Notre Dame, Indiana. It was founded by Father Edward Sorin, CSC, who was also the school's first president. Founded as an all-male institution, it became co-educational in 1972. The school's Catholic origins are evident around campus with the ornate Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Indiana together with numerous chapels and religious iconography.

The university is organized into five colleges and one professional school, the oldest of which awarded degrees as early as 1849. Many of the colleges' academic programs have been ranked highly in national publications, with the university as a whole ranked in the top 20 nationally by U.S. News and World Report. Many of the graduate programs participate in research endeavors, with a stated goal by the university president, Father John I. Jenkins, CSC, to become a pre-eminent research institution. Additionally, the university's library system is one of the top-100 largest in the United States.

More than 80% of the University's 8,000 undergraduates live on campus in one of 27 single-sex residence halls, each of which field teams for more than a dozen intramural sports. Notre Dame's alumni are located around the world and number near 120,000.

Notre Dame is also known for its sports programs, especially its college football team. The sports teams are members of the NCAA Division I, and are known collectively as the Fighting Irish, a name it adopted in the 1920s. The football team, an Independent, has accumulated multiple national championships, Heisman Trophy winners, and members in the College Football Hall of Fame. Additionally, other sport teams, most members of the Big East Conference, have won 18 national championships throughout the years.