Western Carolina University (WCU) is a coeducational public university located in Cullowhee, North Carolina. The university is a constituent campus of the University of North Carolina system. The fifth oldest institution of the sixteen four-year universities in the UNC system, the university was founded to educate the people of the western North Carolina mountains. The university has expanded its mission to serve the entire state and the nation and has grown to become a major cultural, scientific, and educational force in the state and region. WCU now serves more than 9,500 full time undergraduate and post graduate students, providing an education to students from 46 states and 39 countries. Western Carolina University is located in Jackson County, in the unincorporated village of Cullowhee, North Carolina. The university operates satellite campuses in both Asheville and Cherokee with programs offered online and at various community colleges. The main campus is located in a valley of the Tuckasegee River between the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains, 52 miles (84 km) west of Asheville, North Carolina and 5 miles south of Sylva, NC.