At Northern Illinois University, create an educational experience as unique as you, and pursue your passion from day one. Choose from more than 100 areas of study (majors, minors and certificates), from STEM fields to the visual and performing artswith so much in between. Join us at NIU and earn a degree that can take you anywhere. Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a publich research facility in Dekalb, Illinois. In addition to the main campus in DeKalb, it has satellite centers in Chicago, Hoffman Estates, Naperville, Rockford, and Oregon. The university is composed of seven colleges and has a student body of 25,000 with over 240,000 alumni. Many of NIU’s programs are nationally accredited for meeting high standards of academic quality, including business, engineering, nursing, visual and performing arts, and all teacher certification programs. NIU is one of only two public universities in Illinois that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the highest levels of all sports, Division I. The university’s athletic teams are known as the Huskies and compete in the Mid-American Conference (MAC).