Missouri State University (
MSU or
MO State), formerly
Southwest Missouri State University, is a
public university located in
Springfield, Missouri, United States and was founded in 1906. It is the state's second largest university, with an official enrollment of 22,385 in the fall 2014 semester. In 2011, students represented 50 states, the District of Columbia, the
Virgin Islands, and 83 countries. The Springfield campus is one of two degree-granting institutions within the
Missouri State University System, the other being a two-year campus in
West Plains, Missouri. A bachelor of science in business from MSU is offered at the
Missouri State University Branch Campus Dalian in the People's Republic of China. In addition to its main campus, MSU maintains a fruit research station in
Mountain Grove and the Department of Defense and Strategic Studies program housed in
Fairfax, Virginia. The school is classified by the
Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education as one of six master's colleges and universities in Missouri. In the 2014
U.S. News and World Report the school was ranked 68th in the category Midwestern regional universities.