Georgia College & State University (Georgia College) is a public liberal arts university in Milledgeville, Georgia with approximately 7,000 students. It was designated as Georgia's "Public Liberal Arts University" in 1996 by the Board of Regents, and is a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. The university places emphasis on providing the quality, values, and virtues of a private liberal arts college, but at a lower and more reasonable cost. Its "private university" approach includes a student to faculty ratio that averages 17 to 1. GCSU was chartered in 1889 as Georgia Normal and Industrial College. Its emphasis at the time was largely vocational, and its major task was to prepare young women for teaching or industrial careers. In 1917, in keeping with economic and cultural changes in the state, Georgia Normal and Industrial College was authorized to grant degrees, the first of which was awarded in 1921. In 1922, the institution's name was changed to Georgia State College for Women. The University has been a unit of the University System of Georgia since it was formed in 1932.