The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a world-class teaching and research institution, committed to the advancement of knowledge and education of students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century. MIT is independent, coeducational, and privately endowed. Its five schools and one college encompass 33 academic departments, as well as numerous interdisciplinary centers and programs whose work cuts across traditional departmental boundaries.