Harding University is located in Searcy, Arkansas, an award-winning [citation needed] city of 22,858 in the United States, about 50 miles (80 km) north-east of Little Rock. It is a private liberal arts Christian university associated with the Churches of Christ. The university takes its name from James A. Harding.

The school was founded in 1924 as Harding College in Morrilton, Arkansas and moved a decade later to the campus of the defunct Galloway Female College in Searcy. Today, the University contains forty-eight buildings, a Harding School of Theology in Memphis, Tennessee, satellite campuses in North Little Rock and Bentonville, and International campuses in Brisbane, Australia; Vina del Mar, Chile; London, England; Porto Rafti, Greece; Florence, Italy; France; and Zambia, Africa. The fall 2011 student body of 7,155 students includes 4,340 undergraduate and 2,815 graduate students from all fifty states and more than fifty foreign countries. The fall 2011 enrollment is the 25th consecutive record fall enrollment for the University and includes 53 undergraduates who were selected as a National Merit Finalist.

Harding University also operates Camp Tahkodah in Floral, Arkansas, Harding Academy in Searcy, and the Harding School of Theology in Memphis, Tennessee.