The U.S. News & World Report 2003 edition of America's Best Colleges ranked Xavier third among 142 Midwest comprehensive colleges and universities. Xavier University, founded in 1831, is a private coeducational university located in Cincinnati. Xavier provides a liberal arts education in the Catholic, Jesuit tradition. The university is the third-largest independent institution in Ohio, the sixth-oldest Catholic university in the nation and among 28 Jesuit colleges and universities nationwide. Xavier, while primarily an undergraduate institution emphasizing the liberal arts, also provides graduate and professional education in areas of its demonstrated competence and where it meets a particular need of society, especially Xavier s regional constituency. Xavier s international study programs offers opportunities in more than 16 countries and its three service learning semesters provide study curricula in Nicaragua, Nepal and urban Cincinnati.