The Florida State University (commonly referred to as Florida State or FSU) is a space-grant and sea-grant public university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a comprehensive doctoral research university with medical programs and significant research activity as determined by the Carnegie Foundation. The university comprises 15 separate colleges and 39 centers, facilities, labs and institutes that offer more than 300 programs of study, including professional programs. Florida State was officially established in 1851 and is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the state of Florida. Florida State University was declared in 2010 to be a "Budget Ivy" university by the Fiske Guide to Getting into the Right College. In 1935 Florida State University was awarded the first chapter of Phi Beta Kappa in Florida and is among the ten percent of American universities to have earned a chapter of the national academic honor society.

Florida State University is one of two Florida public universities to qualify as a "preeminent university" by Florida senate bill 1076, signed in 2013. As a result of this legislation, the preeminent universities now receive additional funding that is intended to improve the academics and national reputation of higher education within the state of Florida. As one of Florida's primary graduate research universities, Florida State University awards over 2,000 graduate and professional degrees each year. In 2007, the Florida Legislature allowed Florida State and the University of Florida to charge 40% higher tuition than other institutions in the State University System of Florida.

The Florida State University is also home to nationally ranked programs in many academic areas, including the sciences, engineering, social policy, film, music, theater, dance, visual art, business, political science, psychology, social work, medicine, and law. Florida State is home to Florida's only National Laboratory – the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and is the birthplace of the commercially viable anti-cancer drug Taxol. The university is also known for its undergraduate study abroad options: according to Uni in the USA, "the large numbers of students that study abroad nicely compliment the students that study here from abroad."

The Florida State University athletics programs are favorites of passionate students, fans and alumni across the United States, which often appear in conjunction with the Marching Chiefs of the FSU College of Music. Florida State is a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference and has won twelve national athletic championships as well as multiple individual competitor NCAA championship awards.