It is a private research institution in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. Frank Wakely Gunsaulus, a pastor in Chicago, had the idea for the school in 1890. He envisioned a place where students from a variety of backgrounds might get the education they needed to play important roles in an evolving industrial society. They gives students the opportunity to earn undergraduate and graduate degrees in a variety of disciplines, such as science, engineering, architecture, design, business, and computer science. The Armour College of Engineering, the College of Architecture, the College of Science, the College of Computing, the Chicago-Kent College of Law, the Stuart School of Business, and the Institute of Design are among the colleges that comprise the university.

It is specifically renowned for the engineering programmes that it offers, including information technology and engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and aerospace engineering, amongst others. It has its main campus in the southern part of the city of Chicago. It is home to a number of notable architectural icons, some of which were constructed by world-famous architects such as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Rem Koolhaas. It is active in a variety of research activities as well as partnerships with organisations in both the private and public sectors, in addition to its academic programmes. It has a robust culture of entrepreneurship and actively promotes innovation as well as the transfer of technology through its various institutes and centers. It is widely considered to be a highly prestigious educational establishment due to the quality of its academic programmes, the significant contributions it makes to research, and the importance it places on innovation and technology.