Can I use the University API for commercial purposes?

Yes, but you must have a premium subscription. Commercial use of the University API is not permitted on the free tier. See our pricing page to choose a plan that fits your needs.

How do I get an API key and start using the University API?

Sign up for a free account to instantly get your API key, then pass it in the X-Api-Key header on every request. The documentation above includes ready-to-run examples in cURL, Python, JavaScript, Node.js, and more.

What happens if I exceed my quota for the month?

Your API requests will simply be denied once you hit your monthly quota — you will never be charged more than the plan you signed up for. To increase your quota, you can upgrade your plan any time on our pricing page .

What happens if a request to the University API fails?

The API responds with a standard HTTP status code and a JSON error message describing the problem. See our error codes reference for the full list of codes and how to resolve each one, or contact support if you need help.

What coverage does the University API provide?

The University API covers over 80,000 universities, colleges and other institutions of higher learning in 227 countries and territories, compiled from national education registries (such as IPEDS in the US and AISHE in India), Wikidata and the Research Organization Registry. Filter by country with an English country name or an ISO code (for example Germany , DE or DEU ). Enrollment is available for many institutions, while tuition, degree types and student-faculty ratios come from the U.S. Department of Education and are only returned for US institutions. To look up cities or countries more broadly, see the related City API and Country API .

How do I search for a specific university by name?

Pass the name parameter, which supports partial matches (for example, 'Harvard' will match 'Harvard University') and ignores case and accents. It also matches native-language names (such as 東京大学 ), acronyms (such as UNAM ), former names, and the names of schools within a university, so 'Harvard Law School' returns Harvard University. Free users can search by name or country , while advanced filters require a premium plan .

Can I look up a university from an email address or domain?

Yes. Premium users can pass an email address or domain as the domain parameter (for example jane@student.mit.edu or ox.ac.uk ); subdomains are matched to their parent domain, and the main institution is listed before its campuses and affiliated units. This is useful for verifying student or staff email addresses. Each result also includes a domains array. To check that an address can receive mail at all, see the Validate Email API .

What fields does the University API response include?

Each result is a JSON object with fields such as name , native_name , aliases , city , state , country , country_code , latitude , longitude , website , domains , founded , level , control , a stable id , and, for US institutions, degree_types , enrollment , student_faculty_ratio and tuition . Fields are only included when data is available; on a failed request you instead receive an error .

Can I filter universities by enrollment, tuition, or location?

Yes, premium users can use advanced filters including city , state , domain , level (such as university or community_college ), control (public or private), min_enrolled , max_enrolled , min_tuition , max_tuition , min_faculty_ratio and max_faculty_ratio , plus offset and limit for pagination. Tuition and faculty-ratio filters apply to US institutions only. Closed institutions are excluded unless you set status . These filters require a premium plan , which you can start by registering .

University API

The University API provides information about over 80,000 universities, colleges and other institutions of higher learning in 227 countries and territories, including native-language names, acronyms, websites and email domains. US institutions also include enrollment, tuition, student-faculty ratios and degree types from the U.S. Department of Education.

Free users can search by name or country - premium users have access to advanced filters including location, email domain, institution level, enrollment, faculty ratios, and tuition.

Data is compiled from national education registries (such as IPEDS in the US and AISHE in India), Wikidata and the Research Organization Registry (ROR).

Coverage

Country	Institutions
India	27,500
United States	8,700
Indonesia	5,900
China	3,600
Brazil	2,700
Japan	2,000
Canada	1,800
Germany	1,400
United Kingdom	1,200
Russia	1,200
Nigeria	1,200
France	1,100
215 other countries and territories	21,700

Online

(4.7)

From 10,194 users

500+

Applications using this API

API Status

Online - All Systems Operational

API Response Times

Average	P50	P75	P90	P95
220ms	230ms	292ms	460ms	1086ms

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https://api.api-ninjas.com/v1/university

Returns institutions matching the provided filters, closest name matches first, then by enrollment (largest first). At least one filter parameter is required. Free users can use name or country - all other filters are premium-only. Closed institutions are excluded unless status is set.

Parameters

name optional
The name of the institution to search for. Can be a partial match (e.g., "Harvard" will match "Harvard University") and ignores case and accents. Also matches native-language names (e.g., 東京大学), acronyms (e.g., UNAM), former names, and the names of schools within a university (e.g., "Harvard Law School" returns Harvard University). At least one filter parameter (excluding offset/limit) must be provided.
country optional
The country to filter by: an English country name, or an ISO 3166 two- or three-letter code (e.g., Germany, DE or DEU). Case-insensitive. USA also returns US territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam. At least one filter parameter (excluding offset/limit) must be provided.
city optional Premium only
The city where the institution is located.
state optional Premium only
The state, province or region where the institution is located, as a code (e.g., MA, ON) or a name (e.g., Bavaria).
region optional Premium only
Same as state.
domain optional Premium only
An email domain or email address, e.g. student.mit.edu or jane@ox.ac.uk. Returns the institutions that use the domain; subdomains are matched to their parent domain. Main institutions are listed before their campuses and affiliated units.
level optional Premium only
The type of institution. One of university, college, polytechnic, community_college, vocational or specialized (e.g., art, music, medical, law, military or religious institutions).
control optional Premium only
Ownership. One of public, private_nonprofit, private_forprofit or private (private, profit status unknown).
recognition optional Premium only
Set to recognized to return only institutions listed by a national education registry (e.g., IPEDS in the US, AISHE in India).
status optional Premium only
active (default), closed or all. Closed institutions have stopped operating or merged into another institution.
id optional Premium only
Return a single institution by its id (from a previous response). Closed institutions are included.
min_faculty_ratio optional Premium only
Minimum student-to-faculty ratio as a number (e.g., 15 for 15:1 ratio). US institutions only.
max_faculty_ratio optional Premium only
Maximum student-to-faculty ratio as a number (e.g., 20 for 20:1 ratio). US institutions only.
min_enrolled optional Premium only
Minimum number of enrolled students.
max_enrolled optional Premium only
Maximum number of enrolled students.
min_tuition optional Premium only
Minimum published annual tuition and fees (in USD). US institutions only.
max_tuition optional Premium only
Maximum published annual tuition and fees (in USD). US institutions only.
offset optional Premium only
The number of results to skip. Must be zero or a positive integer. Default is 0.
limit optional Premium only
The maximum number of results to return. Must be between 1 and 30. Default is 10 for premium users, fixed at 5 for free users.

Headers

X-Api-Key required
API Key associated with your account.

Response

The /v1/university endpoint returns a JSON array of objects, or an error if the request is unsuccessful. Not every field is returned for every institution — fields marked optional below are only included when data is available for that particular record. Fields noted as US-only come from the U.S. Department of Education and are not available elsewhere.

name
The full name of the institution, in English where available.
degree_types
An array of degree types offered by the institution (e.g., "Bachelor's degree", "Master's degree"). US institutions only.
address
The street address of the institution.
city
The city where the institution is located.
state
The state, province or region where the institution is located: a code for US and Canadian institutions (e.g., "MA" for Massachusetts), the name elsewhere (e.g., "Bavaria").
postal_code
The postal/zip code of the institution.
country
The country where the institution is located: "USA" for the US and its territories, "CANADA" for Canada, and the English country name elsewhere (e.g., "Germany").
county
The county where the institution is located. US institutions only.
timezone
The timezone abbreviation for US and Canadian institutions (e.g., "EST", "PST"). See timezone_iana for all institutions.
latitude
The latitude coordinate of the institution, as a string.
longitude
The longitude coordinate of the institution, as a string.
phone
The contact phone number of the institution.
email
The contact email address of the institution. Only returned for some records.
website
The official website URL of the institution.
institution_type
The type of institution (e.g., "Public", "Private (Not For Profit)", "Private (For Profit)"). Canadian institutions show a category such as "University", "College" or "Career College".
years
The length of the institution's longest undergraduate programs: "4 Years", "2 Years" or "Under 2 Years". US institutions only.
enrollment
The number of enrolled students, as a string. See enrollment_year.
student_faculty_ratio
The student-to-faculty ratio (e.g., "7 to 1"). US institutions only.
tuition
Published in-state tuition and fees for the latest academic year, in USD. US institutions only.
id
Unique API Ninjas institution ID. Stays the same across data updates; pass it as the id parameter to fetch this institution again.
country_code
ISO 3166-1 two-letter country code (e.g., "US", "DE").
region_code
ISO 3166-2 code of the state, province or region, without the country prefix (e.g., "MA", "BY").
native_name
The name in the local language, when it differs from name (e.g., "Technische Universität München").
aliases
An array of other names: official and translated names, former names and common short forms.
acronym
The common acronym (e.g., "TUM", "UNAM").
domains
An array of web and email domains used by the institution (e.g., "harvard.edu").
founded
The year the institution was founded.
level
The type of institution: "university", "college", "polytechnic", "community_college", "vocational" or "specialized".
control
Ownership: "public", "private_nonprofit", "private_forprofit" or "private".
recognition
"recognized" when the institution is listed by a national education registry (e.g., IPEDS in the US, AISHE in India).
status
"active", or "closed" for institutions that have stopped operating or merged into another institution.
parent_id
The id of the parent institution, for branch campuses and constituent or affiliated colleges.
timezone_iana
The IANA timezone of the institution (e.g., "America/New_York", "Europe/Berlin").
enrollment_year
The year the enrollment figure refers to.
tuition_in_state
Published in-state tuition and fees for the latest academic year, in USD. US institutions only.
tuition_out_of_state
Published out-of-state tuition and fees for the latest academic year, in USD. US institutions only.
ror_id
The Research Organization Registry ID of the institution (e.g., "03vek6s52").
wikidata_id
The Wikidata item ID of the institution (e.g., "Q13371").
research_output
The number of scholarly works affiliated with the institution, from OpenAlex.

Live Demo

Live demo · no API key required

Query parameters

name

country

Get a free API key to get started — no credit card required.

Headers

X-Api-KeyLog in or sign up to get your API key

GET

https://api.api-ninjas.com/v1/university?name=Harvard

Sample response

[

{

"name": "Harvard University",

"degree_types": [

"Certificate of less than 1 year",

"Associate's degree",

"Bachelor's degree",

"Postbaccalaureate certificate",

"Master's degree",

"Post-master's certificate",

"Doctor's degree - research/scholarship",

"Doctor's degree - professional practice"

"address": "Massachusetts Hall",

"city": "Cambridge",

"state": "MA",

"postal_code": "02138",

"country": "USA",

"county": "Middlesex",

"timezone": "EST",

"latitude": "42.374471",

"longitude": "-71.118313",

"phone": "(617) 495-1000",

"website": "https://www.harvard.edu/",

"institution_type": "Private (Not For Profit)",

"years": "4 Years",

"enrollment": "30259",

"student_faculty_ratio": "7 to 1",

"tuition": 61676,

"id": 9157,

"country_code": "US",

"region_code": "MA",

"aliases": [

"Harvard U.",

"Harvard Univ.",

"University of Harvard"

"domains": [

"harvard.edu"

"founded": 1636,

"level": "university",

"control": "private_nonprofit",

"recognition": "recognized",

"status": "active",

"timezone_iana": "America/New_York",

"enrollment_year": 2024,

"tuition_in_state": 61676,

"tuition_out_of_state": 61676,

"ror_id": "03vek6s52",

"wikidata_id": "Q13371",

"research_output": 1113844

}

]

Code Examples

curl -X GET "https://api.api-ninjas.com/v1/university?name=Harvard&country=USA" \
  -H "X-Api-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"

If your programming language is not listed in the Code Example above, you can still make API calls by using a HTTP request library written in your programming language and following the above documentation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use the University API for commercial purposes?
Yes, but you must have a premium subscription. Commercial use of the University API is not permitted on the free tier. See our pricing page to choose a plan that fits your needs.
How do I get an API key and start using the University API?
Sign up for a free account to instantly get your API key, then pass it in the X-Api-Key header on every request. The documentation above includes ready-to-run examples in cURL, Python, JavaScript, Node.js, and more.
What happens if I exceed my quota for the month?
Your API requests will simply be denied once you hit your monthly quota — you will never be charged more than the plan you signed up for. To increase your quota, you can upgrade your plan any time on our pricing page.
What happens if a request to the University API fails?
The API responds with a standard HTTP status code and a JSON error message describing the problem. See our error codes reference for the full list of codes and how to resolve each one, or contact support if you need help.
What coverage does the University API provide?
The University API covers over 80,000 universities, colleges and other institutions of higher learning in 227 countries and territories, compiled from national education registries (such as IPEDS in the US and AISHE in India), Wikidata and the Research Organization Registry. Filter by country with an English country name or an ISO code (for example Germany, DE or DEU). Enrollment is available for many institutions, while tuition, degree types and student-faculty ratios come from the U.S. Department of Education and are only returned for US institutions. To look up cities or countries more broadly, see the related City API and Country API.
How do I search for a specific university by name?
Pass the name parameter, which supports partial matches (for example, 'Harvard' will match 'Harvard University') and ignores case and accents. It also matches native-language names (such as 東京大学), acronyms (such as UNAM), former names, and the names of schools within a university, so 'Harvard Law School' returns Harvard University. Free users can search by name or country, while advanced filters require a premium plan.
Can I look up a university from an email address or domain?
Yes. Premium users can pass an email address or domain as the domain parameter (for example jane@student.mit.edu or ox.ac.uk); subdomains are matched to their parent domain, and the main institution is listed before its campuses and affiliated units. This is useful for verifying student or staff email addresses. Each result also includes a domains array. To check that an address can receive mail at all, see the Validate Email API.
What fields does the University API response include?
Each result is a JSON object with fields such as name, native_name, aliases, city, state, country, country_code, latitude, longitude, website, domains, founded, level, control, a stable id, and, for US institutions, degree_types, enrollment, student_faculty_ratio and tuition. Fields are only included when data is available; on a failed request you instead receive an error.
Can I filter universities by enrollment, tuition, or location?
Yes, premium users can use advanced filters including city, state, domain, level (such as university or community_college), control (public or private), min_enrolled, max_enrolled, min_tuition, max_tuition, min_faculty_ratio and max_faculty_ratio, plus offset and limit for pagination. Tuition and faculty-ratio filters apply to US institutions only. Closed institutions are excluded unless you set status. These filters require a premium plan, which you can start by registering.

Explore API integration use cases for recommended APIs and workflow examples.

University API

Coverage

/v1/universityGET

Parameters

name optional

country optional

city optional Premium only

state optional Premium only

region optional Premium only

domain optional Premium only

level optional Premium only

control optional Premium only

recognition optional Premium only

status optional Premium only

id optional Premium only

min_faculty_ratio optional Premium only

max_faculty_ratio optional Premium only

min_enrolled optional Premium only

max_enrolled optional Premium only

min_tuition optional Premium only

max_tuition optional Premium only

offset optional Premium only

limit optional Premium only

Headers

X-Api-Key required

Response

name

degree_types

address

city

state

postal_code

country

county

timezone

latitude

longitude

phone

email

website

institution_type

years

enrollment

student_faculty_ratio

tuition

id

country_code

region_code

native_name

aliases

acronym

domains

founded

level

control

recognition

status

parent_id

timezone_iana

enrollment_year

tuition_in_state

tuition_out_of_state

ror_id

wikidata_id

research_output

Live Demo

Code Examples

Frequently Asked Questions

`name` optional

`country` optional

`city` optional Premium only

`state` optional Premium only

`region` optional Premium only

`domain` optional Premium only

`level` optional Premium only

`control` optional Premium only

`recognition` optional Premium only

`status` optional Premium only

`id` optional Premium only

`min_faculty_ratio` optional Premium only

`max_faculty_ratio` optional Premium only

`min_enrolled` optional Premium only

`max_enrolled` optional Premium only

`min_tuition` optional Premium only

`max_tuition` optional Premium only

`offset` optional Premium only

`limit` optional Premium only

`X-Api-Key` required

`name`

`degree_types`

`address`

`city`

`state`

`postal_code`

`country`

`county`

`timezone`

`latitude`

`longitude`

`phone`

`email`

`website`

`institution_type`

`years`

`enrollment`

`student_faculty_ratio`

`tuition`

`id`

`country_code`

`region_code`

`native_name`

`aliases`

`acronym`

`domains`

`founded`

`level`

`control`

`recognition`

`status`

`parent_id`

`timezone_iana`

`enrollment_year`

`tuition_in_state`

`tuition_out_of_state`

`ror_id`

`wikidata_id`

`research_output`