Fordham University is a private, nonprofit, coeducational research university in the United States, with three campuses in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St. John's College, placed in the care of the Society of Jesus shortly thereafter, and has since become an independent institution under a lay Board of Trustees, which describes the University as "in the Jesuit tradition."

Fordham is composed of four undergraduate colleges and six graduate schools. Enrollment at Fordham includes approximately 8,000 undergraduate and 7,000 graduate students spread over three campuses in New York State: Rose Hill in the Bronx, Lincoln Center in Manhattan, and Westchester in West Harrison. In addition, the University operates a foreign center in London Fordham awards bachelor's (BA, BFA, and BS), master's, and doctoral degrees. It also offers a five-year BA/BS engineering program in cooperation with Columbia University and Case Western Reserve University and a BFA program in dance in partnership with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

Fordham Preparatory School, a four-year, all-male college preparatory school, was once integrated with the University and shares its founding. It became legally independent in 1972 and moved to its own facilities on the northwest corner of the Rose Hill campus; however, it remains connected to the University in many ways.