Tufts University is a private research university in Medford (Medford, Massachusetts)/Somerville (Somerville, Massachusetts), near Boston, Massachusetts, USA (United States). The university is home to the nations oldest graduate school of international relations, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

In 1852, Tufts College was founded by Universalist (Universalism)s who had for years worked to open a non-sectarian institution of higher learning. Charles Tufts donated the land for the campus on Walnut Hill (Walnut Hill, Medford, Massachusetts), the highest point in Medford, saying that he wanted to set a "light on the hill." The name was changed to "Tufts University" in 1954, although the corporate name remains "the Trustees of Tufts College." After over a century as a small New England liberal arts college, the French-American nutritionist Jean Mayer became president of Tufts in the late 1970s and, through a series of rapid acquisitions, transformed the school into an international research university.

Tufts is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France. The university emphasizes public service (public services) in all of its disciplines and is well-known for internationalism (Internationalism (politics)) and its study abroad programs.