system of higher education institutions in New York (New York City), New York, U.S. It was created in 1961 to combine New York City's municipally supported colleges (now numbering 21, including the CUNY Baccalaureate Program). The university includes the Graduate School and University Center, New York's four original liberal arts colleges (City College of New York 【CCNY】, Hunter College, Brooklyn College, and Queens College), six other four-year colleges, a four-year technical college, a law school, and six two-year community colleges; in addition, the Mount Sinai School of Medicine is affiliated with CUNY. The four-year institutions are largely autonomous. An open-admissions policy inaugurated in 1970 makes all New York City residents who earn high school diplomas eligible for admission to a CUNY institution.

The oldest of the CUNY colleges is the City College of New York, founded as the all-male Free Academy in 1847 by the New York City Board of Education, under the auspices of politician and diplomat Townsend Harris (Harris, Townsend). It was chartered as a college in 1866. During the first half of the 20th century many of the city's civic and business leaders were students there, as were such prominent New York intellectuals as Sidney Hook (Hook, Sidney) and Irving Kristol. Women were first admitted to graduate programs in 1930, and the college was completely coeducational by 1951.

Hunter College was founded in 1870 as a teacher-training institution for women. It added instruction at the college level in 1888, was fully accredited as a college in 1905, and began offering graduate instruction for both men and women in 1921; it became fully coeducational in 1964. The college now includes schools of nursing, health sciences, and social work.

Brooklyn College, founded in 1930, and Queens College, founded in 1937, offer training in liberal arts and education. They also offer, with CCNY and other institutions, combined programs in engineering and health-related fields. The Graduate School and University Center, founded in 1961, is the only school in the CUNY system to offer the Ph.D. degree.

The College of Staten Island, formed in 1976 by the merger of Richmond College (founded 1965) and Staten Island Community College (1955), offers liberal arts and vocational programs. York College (1966) offers liberal arts. Lehman College, formerly Hunter College's Bronx campus (opened 1931), joined CUNY in 1968; it offers liberal arts, education, communications, and health programs.

Baruch College, founded in 1919 as part of CCNY, became a separate institution within the university in 1968; it specializes in business and public administration. John Jay College of Criminal Justice, founded in 1964, trains criminal-justice agency personnel and public-service professionals. Medgar Evers College, founded in 1969, serves a predominantly African-American student body.