What is Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education?
{{Infobox_University |image = |name = Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) |native_name = |latin_name = |motto = |established = July 1, 1983 |type = Public University System |staff = |faculty = 5,500 [http://www.apscuf.org/about/message.html] |president = |provost = |student_body_president= |student_body_vice_president= |principal = |rector = |chancellor = Dr. John C. Cavanaugh |vice_chancellor = Dr. Peter Garland |students = 110,428 <ref>PASSHE Fact Sheet, available at http://www.passhe.edu/content/?/about/facts, retrieved 16 Dec 2007.</ref> |undergrad = |postgrad = |doctoral = |profess = |city = [[Harrisburg, Pennsylvania|Harrisburg]] |state = [[Pennsylvania]] |country = [[United States|USA]] | |campus = 14 campuses |free_label = |free = |colors = |colours = |mascot = |nickname = |affiliations = [[NCAA]] [[Division II|D-II]]; [[PSAC]] [[Keystone Library Network]] |footnotes = |website = http://www.passhe.edu/ |logo = }} The '''Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE)''' is the second largest provider of [[higher education]] in [[Pennsylvania]] after the Commonwealth system and a large [[public university]] system in the [[United States]]. It is the [[World's largest universities|tenth-largest]] university system in the United States and 43rd largest in the world. The system is 14 state-owned schools, all of which are [[NCAA]] [[Division II]] members. ==History== The ''Normal School Act of 1857'' was passed on the last day of session on 20 May 1857.<ref>John Edward Merryman, ''The Indiana Story 1875-1975: Pennsylvania's first state university...'' Clearfield, Pennsylvania: Kurtz Brothers, 1976(p. 18).</ref> It created 12 school districts.<ref>Merryman, pp. 18-20</ref> Afterward, the School Code of 1911 made Pennsylvania buy