Though not a land-grant (land-grant college) institution in the sense of being a product of the Morrill Act of 1862, the University of Michigan profited from earlier federal grants of land in 1826 and 1836. Under the vigorous presidencies of Henry P. Tappan (1852–63), who adopted European (especially German) academic models and fostered teaching education, and James Burrill Angell (Angell, James Burrill) (1871–1909), Michigan became a leader in broadening higher education. It was the first American medical school to establish its own hospital and offered the first course in American history in any college. It was among the first colleges to admit women (1870) and African Americans (1868). Angell succeeded in reorganizing the university to include all the principal professional schools and a graduate school. He also broadened the curriculum to allow students to take elective classes.

The university consists of schools and colleges of architecture and urban planning; art and design; business; dentistry; education; engineering; graduate studies; information; kinesiology; law; literature, science, and the arts; medicine; music, theatre, and dance; natural resources and environment; nursing; pharmacy; public health; public policy; and social work.

Special facilities and programs include the Institute for Social Research and its subsidiary the Survey Research Center, the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, a hospital complex, a broadcasting station, the Biomechanics Research Laboratory, wave tanks and propeller tunnels for marine design studies, Great Lakes research ships and research aircraft. The university also has several museums and maintains astronomical research observatories in Michigan, Arizona, and Chile.