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Founded in 1876, Texas A&M University is a public research university situated in the city of College Station, Texas, in the United States.

The university first opened as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas and was the state¡¯s inaugural public institution of higher learning.

In 1971 and 1989, it was labelled as a sea-grant and a space-grant institution, making it one of the first four universities to be awarded with the triple distinction of land-grant, sea-grant and space-grant designations.

Today, Texas A&M is one of the biggest research universities in the nation; its faculty is responsible for over $866 million in research expenditures.

Texas A&M University is also one of just 62 members of the renowned Association of American Universities (AAU) ¨C an organisation encompassing leading public and private universities in the United States and Canada.

Home to 16 colleges and schools, the university offers 139 undergraduate degree programmes and 268 graduate degree programmes. Among its student body are approximately 5,000 international students from more than 100 different countries.

Located 90 miles northwest of Houston, and within a three-hour¡¯s drive of Austin and Dallas, the university¡¯s main campus houses more than 59,000 students. It also has branch campuses in Galveston, Texas, and Doha, Qatar.

Sporting the colours maroon and white, students of Texas A&M are known as ¡®Aggies¡¯. The name derives from the turn of the 20th century when students of the university were nicknamed ¡®farmers¡¯. The term Aggie was first?introduced during the 1920s. In 1949, the yearbook name changed from The Longhorn to Aggieland, making Aggie the official student body nickname.

Texas A&M has a strong athletics scene and counts the American football quarterback Johnny Manziel among its former students.

The university prides itself on its friendliness. One of its oldest traditions states that everyone on campus should be greeted with a ¡®Howdy!¡¯ to ensure that no-one ever feels like a stranger.