The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of higher education in the United States. Pitt evolved into the Western University of Pennsylvania with an alteration to its charter in 1819, and upon relocating to its current campus in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh in 1908, the school received its current moniker, the University of Pittsburgh. For most of its history Pitt was a private institution, until it became part of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education in 1966. Pitt has been placed in the top cluster of seven leading U.S. public research universities and among the clusters comprising the overall top 25 research universities, is ranked among U.S. News & World Report's top public universities, has been placed among the best for the quality of life of its students, has been named as a "best value" by various publications, and has appeared in multiple rankings of the world's top universities.