Pennsylvania University

Pennsylvania University

The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn) is a private, coeducational research university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to the university, it is America's first university and is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States. Penn is also a member of the Ivy League and is one of the Colonial Colleges.

Benjamin Franklin, Penn's founder, advocated an educational program that focused as much on practical education for commerce and public service as on the classics and theology. Penn was one of the first academic institutions to follow a multidisciplinary model pioneered by several European universities, concentrating several "faculties" (e.g., theology, classics, medicine) into one institution.

Penn is acknowledged as a leader in the arts and humanities, the social sciences, architecture, communications and education. Penn is particularly noted for its schools of business, law and medicine (see BusinessWeek magazine and U.S. News and World Report). About 4,500 professors serve nearly 10,000 full-time undergraduate and 10,000 graduate and professional students.

In FY2006, Penn's academic research programs undertook more than $660 million in research, involving some 4,200 faculty, 870 postdoctoral fellows, 3,800 graduate students, and 5,400 support staff. Much of the funding is provided by the National Institutes of Health for biomedical research. In 2005, Penn was awarded $470 million in grants by the NIH, ranking it second behind Johns Hopkins University among all universities.

Penn tops the Ivy League in annual spending, with a projected 2007 budget of $4.77 billion, including $2.43 billion for the academic component and $2.34 billion for the Health System (Hospitals, clinical practices, health care affiliates).In 2006, it ranked fourth among U.S. universities in fundraising, bringing in about $409.5 million in private support.

Penn is incorporated as "The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania." The university is one of 14 founding members of the Association of American Universities.

History

In 1740, a group of Philadelphians joined together to erect a great preaching hall for the evangelist Rev. George Whitefield. Designed and built by Edmund Woolley, it was the largest building in the city and it was also planned to serve as a charity school. The fundraising, however, fell short and although the building was erected, the plans for both a chapel and the charity school were suspended.

In the fall of 1749, eager to create a college to educate future generations, Benjamin Franklin circulated a pamphlet titled "Proposals for the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania," his vision for what he called a "Publick Academy of Philadelphia."

However, according to Franklin's autobiography, it was in 1743 when he first drew up a proposal for establishing the academy, "thinking the Rev. Richard Peters a fit person to superintend such an institution." Unlike the other three American Colonial colleges that existed at the time — Harvard, William and Mary, and Yale — Franklin's new school would not focus merely on education for the clergy.

He advocated an innovative concept of higher education, one which would teach both the ornamental knowledge of the arts and the practical skills necessary for making a living and doing public service. The proposed program of study became the nation's first modern liberal arts curriculum.

Franklin assembled a board of trustees from among the leading citizens of Philadelphia, the first such non-sectarian board in America. At the first meeting of the 24 members of the Board of Trustees (November 13, 1749) the issue of where to locate the school was a prime concern. Although a lot across Sixth Street from Independence Hall was offered without cost by James Logan, its owner, the Trustees realized that the building erected in 1740, which was still vacant, would be an even better site.

On February 1, 1750 the new board took over the building and trusts of the old board. In 1751 the Academy, using the great hall at 4th and Arch Streets, took in its first students. A charity school also was opened in accordance with the intentions of the original "New Building" donors, although it lasted only a few years.


Quad in the Fall, facing Ware College HouseFor its date of founding, the University uses 1740, the date of "the creation of the earliest of the many educational trusts the University has taken upon itself"(the charity school mentioned above) during its existence.

The institution was known as the College of Philadelphia from 1755 to 1779. In 1779, not trusting then-provost Rev. William Smith's loyalist tendencies, the revolutionary State Legislature created a University of the State of Pennsylvania.

The result was a schism, with Rev. William Smith continuing to operate an attenuated version of the College of Philadelphia. In 1791 the legislature issued a new charter, merging the two institutions into the University of Pennsylvania with twelve men from each institution on the new board of trustees. These three schools were part of the same institution and were overseen by the same board of Trustees.

Penn has two claims to being the first university in the United States, according to university archive director Mark Frazier Lloyd: founding the first medical school in America in 1765, makes it the first university de facto, while, by virtue of the 1779 charter, "no other American institution of higher learning was named University before Penn."

After being located in downtown Philadelphia for more than a century, the campus was moved across the Schuylkill River to property purchased from the Blockley Almshouse in West Philadelphia in 1872, where it has since remained in an area now known as University City.

Academics

Undergraduate Programs:

The School of Arts & Sciences
The School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS)
The School of Nursing
The Wharton School

Graduate and Professional schools

Annenberg School for Communication
Graduate School of Education
Law School
Graduate School of Arts & Sciences
School of Dental Medicine
School of Design (formerly the Graduate School of Fine Arts)
School of Engineering and Applied Science
School of Medicine
University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice
University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine
Wharton School (business school)

Joint-degree and interdisciplinary programs

Penn offers specialized joint-degree programs, which award candidates degrees from multiple schools at the University upon completion of graduation criteria of both schools. Undergraduate programs include:
The Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology
The Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business
Nursing and Health Care Management
The Roy and Diana Vagelos Program in Life Sciences and Management

Pennsylvania University ranked 14th in the 2007 THES - QS World University Ranking

Pennsylvania University ranked 11th in the 2008 THES - QS World University Ranking

Pennsylvania University ranked 12th in the 2009 THES - QS World University Ranking

Pennsylvania University ranked 12th in the 2010 QS World University Ranking

Pennsylvania University ranked 9th in the 2011 QS World University Ranking

Tokyo University

The University of Tokyo was established in 1877 as the first national university in Japan. As a leading research university, the University of Tokyo offers courses in essentially all academic disciplines at both undergraduate and graduate levels and conducts research across the full spectrum of academic activity. The university aims to provide its students with a rich and varied academic environment that ensures opportunities for both intellectual development and the acquisition of professional knowledge and skills.

The University of Tokyo has a faculty of over 4,000 and a total enrollment of about 29,000, evenly divided between undergraduate and graduate students. As of 2006 there were 2,269 international students, and over 2,700 foreign researchers come annually to the university for both short and extended visits. The University of Tokyo is known for the excellence of its faculty and students and ever since its foundation many of its graduates have gone on to become leaders in government, business, and the academic world.

History

The university was founded by the Meiji government in 1877 under its current name by amalgamating older government schools for medicine and Western learning. It was renamed "the Imperial University (帝國大學 Teikoku daigaku)" in 1886, and then Tokyo Imperial University (東京帝國大學 Tōkyō teikoku daigaku?) in 1887 when the Imperial University system was created. In 1947, after Japan's defeat in World War II, it re-assumed its original name. With the start of the new university system in 1949, Todai swallowed up the former First Higher School (today's Komaba campus) and the former Tokyo Higher School, which henceforth assumed the duty of teaching first and second-year undergraduates, while the faculties on Hongo main campus took care of third and fourth-year students.

Although the university was founded during the Meiji period, it has earlier roots in the Astronomy Agency (天文方; 1684), Shoheizaka Study Office (昌平坂学問所; 1797), and the Western Books Translation Agency (蕃書和解御用; 1811). These institutions were all official agents of the 徳川幕府 Tokugawa (1603-1867) government, and were instruments for the importation and translation of European studies and civilizations.

Kikuchi Dairoku, an important educational figure in Japan, was one of the presidents of Tokyo Imperial University.


The University Today

The University of Tokyo is composed of three campuses: Hongo, Komaba, and Kashiwa. In addition, some University of Tokyo facilities are situated in other parts of both Tokyo and the country. The main campus of the university is located in Hongo Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo and occupies about 56 hectares of the former Kaga Yashiki, the Tokyo estate of a major feudal lord. Parts of the seventeenth century landscaping of the original estate have been preserved to provide greenery and open space. The campus is graced by the Kaga Estate's celebrated Akamon, or Red Gate, which dates from 1827 and has been designated as an 'Important Cultural Property' by the Japanese Government. Most of the faculties, graduate schools, and research institutes of the university are located on the Hongo Campus.

The Komaba Campus, located in the Komaba section of Meguro-ku, Tokyo, occupies an area of about 35 hectares. Facilities such as the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Graduate School of Mathematical Sciences, the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, and the Institute of Industrial Science stand on this campus.

The Kashiwa Campus, the newest of the three, is located in Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture, a suburb of Tokyo. Housed on this approximately 24-hectare campus are the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, the Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, the Institute for Solid State Physics, among other research facilities.
The University of Tokyo in the twenty-first century is being built up on the strong links among these three campuses.

Student life

Students carry out two annual festivals: the Komaba Festival in November on the Komaba Campus, organized and run by first and second-year undergraduates, and the May Festival or 'Gogatsusai' on the Hongo Campus, organized by a committee drawn from all undergraduate students at the university. The latter is a three-day event and a chance for students, with the support of the university, to promote their academic and extracurricular activities to society. These festivals are both open to the public, and many visitors come to get a glimpse of activities at the university. In addition, the University of Tokyo has recently introduced a new 'open campus' annual event, which introduces university life to high school students hoping to enter this university from all over Japan.

As the preeminent academic institution in Japan, the University of Tokyo has a long history of nurturing and promoting academic excellence. One of the ways the university does this is through recognizing the achievements of outstanding students with the newly-introduced, twice-yearly President's Award. In spring each year, several students are selected from among those nominated by their professors for the award recognizing outstanding academic achievement, and in autumn, a second award is made to students for their extracurricular and cultural activities. From 2007, a single student is also chosen from all those awarded the President's Award that year for the President's Grand Award, recognizing particularly outstanding achievement in any field.

Since 2000, the University of Tokyo has held the 'UT Forum' on a roughly annual basis in partnership with a leading university or universities overseas. The UT Forum is a chance for the university to present the latest research activities and results and for both faculty and graduate students taking part to deepen international relationships. In parallel with the researchers' forum, undergraduate and graduate students also organize and present a students' forum, where they have a chance to experience all aspects of the planning and implementation of an international conference and to develop valuable links with their peers and academics around the world.

Organization

The university organization consists of the College of Arts and Sciences, nine faculties, 15 graduate schools and 11 institutes (for full details see the organization chart on pages 7 and 8 ). There are also 21 university-wide centers open to scholars of all departments and faculties of the University of Tokyo (see the organization chart on page 8 for a complete list); several of these centers are also open to scholars from all universities in Japan. The university-wide centers were created with the aim of facilitating interfaculty collaboration and interdisciplinary research, and often with specific research problems in mind.

There are also many research facilities connected to the various faculties of the University (see the organization chart on page 7 ). All the institutes and research facilities work closely with their related faculties and graduate schools, and many of the faculty members associated with these institutes engage in graduate school teaching and supervise graduate students working towards advanced degrees.

The university library system, centered on the General Library, is composed as a network linking the 55 libraries affiliated with the various faculties, institutes, and graduate schools. It holds about 8.1 million books and periodicals, including many rare publications. In response to recent technological innovations, the library system has been actively digitalizing scholarly information. The University Museum is actually a system of specialized museums covering a wide range of fields from paleontology to Andean anthropology, and its collection holds nearly half of the university's 6.4 million items related to research.

Academics

Faculties
Faculty of Law
Faculty of Medicine
Faculty of Engineering
Faculty of Letters
Faculty of Science
Faculty of Agriculture
Faculty of Economics
College of Arts and Sciences
Faculty of Education
Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Graduate Schools
Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology
Graduate School of Education
Graduate Schools for Law and Politics
Graduate School of Economics
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Graduate School of Science
Graduate School of Engineering
Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences
Graduate School of Medical Science
Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Graduate School of Mathematical Science
Graduate School of Frontier Sciences
Graduate School of Information Science and Technology
Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies / Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies
Graduate School of Public Policy

Institutes
Institute of Medical Science
Earthquake Research Institute
Institute of Oriental Culture
Institute of Social Science
Institute of Industrial Science
Historiographical Institute
Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences
Institute for Cosmic Ray Research
Institute for Solid State Physics
Ocean Research Institute
Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology

Tokyo university ranked 17th in the 2007 THES-QS World University ranking

Tokyo university ranked 19th in the 2008 THES-QS World University ranking
Tokyo university ranked 22nd in the 2009 THES-QS World University ranking
Tokyo university ranked 24th in the 2010 QS World University ranking

Tokyo university ranked 25th in the 2011 QS World University ranking

University College London

University College London


University College London, commonly known as UCL, is the oldest multi-faculty constituent college of the University of London, one of the two original founding colleges, and the first British University to be founded on a non-religious basis. With 21,800 staff and students, UCL is one of the largest colleges of the University and is larger than most other universities in the United Kingdom. It is a member of the Russell Group of Universities, a part of the 'G5' sub-group of elite universities, and a part of the Golden Triangle.

UCL consistently ranks among the top five university institutions in the UK league tables and in the top 25 universities across the world, with an annual turnover of over £550 million.In 2005, UCL was granted the power to award its own degrees, and currently offers its students a choice of a UCL or a University of London degree. The current provost of UCL is Professor Malcolm Grant.

UCL was founded in 1826 under the name "London University", as a secular alternative to the religious universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The philosopher Jeremy Bentham is considered to be the spiritual father of UCL as he played a major role in the development of the College.



It became University College London in 1836 and acquired degree-awarding powers, when it joined with King's College London to create the new University of London. In 1907 the University of London was reconstituted and many of the colleges, including UCL, lost their separate legal existence. This continued until 1977 when a new charter restored UCL's independence.

UCL has a long-running, mostly friendly rivalry with King's College London. UCL is often referred to by students from the latter using nicknames such as the "Godless Scum of Gower Street", in reference to a comment made at the founding of KCL, which was based on Christian principles. UCL students and staff also refer to King's as "Strand Polytechnic" in a similar attitude. Historically the university rivalry was known as 'Rags'.



KCL's mascot, "Reggie", was lost for many years in the 1990s. It was recovered after being found dumped in a field, restored at the cost of around £15,000 and placed on display in the students' union.It is in a glass case and filled with concrete to prevent theft, particularly by UCL students who once castrated it. (KCL, to be fair, had also stolen one UCL mascot, Phineas).It is often claimed that KCL students played football with the embalmed head of Jeremy Bentham. Although the head was indeed stolen, the football story is a myth which is denied by official UCL documentation about Bentham found next to his display case (his Auto Icon) in the college cloisters. The head is now kept in the college vaults.

Academics

UCL's research and teaching is organised within a network of faculties and academic departments.

In order to facilitate greater interdisciplinary interaction in research and teaching, UCL have also recently introduced a model of strategic faculty groupings, with three new schools covering:

UCL School of Life and Medical Sciences (comprising UCL Biomedical Sciences and UCL Life Sciences)
UCL Built Environment, UCL Engineering Sciences and UCL Mathematical & Physical Sciences
UCL Arts & Humanities, UCL Laws, UCL Social & Historical Sciences and the UCL School of Slavonic & East European Studies.

The list below includes the various academic units operating within each of these schools. These units include, as well as the established faculties and departments, a range of other, less formal academic groupings based within academic departments or operating as distinct academic entities within faculties.

UCL Arts & Humanities
UCL Bartlett, Faculty of the Built Environment
UCL Biomedical Sciences
UCL Engineering Sciences
UCL Laws
UCL Life Sciences
UCL Mathematical & Physical Sciences
UCL Social & Historical Sciences
UCL School of Slavonic & East European Studies
UCL Interdepartmental and cross-faculty research groups and centres

University College London ranked 9th in the 2007 THES-QS World University ranking

University College London ranked 7th in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking

University College London ranked 4th in the 2009 THES-QS World University Ranking

University College London ranked 4th in the 2010 QS World University Ranking

University College London ranked 7th in the 2011 QS World University Ranking

London School of Economics

London School of Economics

The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a specialist constituent college of the University of London. Located on Houghton Street in Westminster, off the Aldwych and next to the Royal Courts of Justice and Temple Bar, in the City of London, it describes itself as 'the world‘s leading social science institution for teaching and research'.

LSE was founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidney and Beatrice Webb, Graham Wallas, and George Bernard Shaw, with funding provided by private philanthropy, including a bequest of £20,000 from Henry Hunt Hutchinson to the Fabian Society. The Fabians believed in advancing socialist causes by reformist rather than revolutionary means. The LSE was established to further the Fabian aim of bettering society, focusing on research on issues of poverty, inequality and related issues. This led the Fabians, and the LSE, to be one of the main influences on the UK Labour Party.

While LSE's initial reputation was that of a socialist-leaning institution, this had changed by the 1960s, with LSE Director Walter Adams fighting hard to remove LSE from its Fabian roots. This led to many student protests, which also involved Lionel Robbins, who had returned to LSE as chairman of governors, having been a member of staff for many years.

The school was founded with the initial intention of renewing the training of Britain's political and business elite, which seemed to be faltering due to inadequate teaching and research - the number of postgraduate students was dwarfed by those in other countries. A year before the founding, the British Association for the Advancement of Science pushed for the need to advance the systematic study of social sciences as well. In fact, Sidney and Beatrice Webb used the curriculum of the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (best known as Sciences Po), which covered the full-range of the social sciences, as part of their inspiration for molding the LSE's educational purpose. LSE was opened in October 1895 at No. 9 John Street, Adelphi.

The school expanded rapidly and was moved along with the British Library of Political and Economic Science to No. 10 Adelphi Terrace after a year. The LSE was recognised as a Faculty of Economics within the University of London in 1900. The school began enrolling students for bachelor degrees and doctorates in 1900, as it began to expand into other areas of social sciences, including international relations, history, philosophy, psychology and sociology. The school moved to its current site near the Aldwych - not far from Whitehall - in 1902. The Old Building, which remains a significant office and classroom building, was opened on Houghton Street in 1922.

During these years and under the directorship of William Beveridge, future father of the welfare state and the National Health Service, LSE redefined the study of economics and the new conception of the study of economics as "a science which studies human behaviour as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses" is looked to as the norm. LSE in this sense must be looked at as the father of modern economics studies. Under Beveridge, Friedrich Hayek was appointed as a professor and he brought about the ascendancy of the LSE through his famous debates with John Maynard Keynes.

The famed Keynes-Hayek debates which occurred between Cambridge and the LSE still shapes the two major schools of economic thought today as nations still debate the merits of the welfare state versus an economy solely controlled by the market. LSE's influence upon modern economics is undeniable since it both formed the very basis for economic thought as well as shaped modern perception of free market economics. Hayek's works continue to influence the study of economics across the globe. At the other extreme, during these years Harold Joseph Laski, a professor of political science at the LSE was influential in British politics as an advocate of far left policies. Many renowned world leaders including John F. Kennedy studied under his guidance at the LSE.

Anthony Giddens, the former director of the LSE stands as the creator of the 'Third Way' followed by both Tony Blair (who unveiled the Fabian Window at LSE in 2005) and Bill Clinton. His policy created a balance between the traditional welfare state and the belief in total free market economics. This policy is being put into effect by governments all across the world as free market economies continue to deal with wealth inequalities and bettering the welfare of the general population.

The LSE is dedicated solely to the study and research of social sciences, and is the only university in the United Kingdom to do so. The School offers over 120 MSc programmes, 30 BSc programmes and 2 BA programmes (International History and Geography)[3]. Courses are taught in over thirty research centres and twenty-one departments, including Accounting and Finance, Management, Anthropology, Economic History, Economics, The Development Studies Institute, the European Institute, the Gender Institute, Geography and Environment, Government (Political Science), Industrial Relations, Information Systems, International History, International Relations, Law, Mathematics, Mannheim Centre for Criminology & Criminal Justice, Media and Communications, Operational Research, Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method, Social Policy, Social Psychology, Sociology, and Statistics.Since these programmes are all within the social sciences they closely resemble one other and students often take courses in other departments. Many engage in a practice known as "auditing," where students attend lectures by professors whose classes they are not formally enrolled in. The intake sizes of many of the masters programmes are unusually large for this level, and some cohorts contain well in excess of 100 students.

There is fierce competition for entry to the LSE, with approximately seventeen applicants for every available place at undergraduate level, making it the most competitive university in the UK for undergraduate admissions. Some courses, including law and economics are significantly higher than this, and in 2007 the approximate UCAS entry points were 476 (equivilent to AAAA at A-Level). Entrance standards are also high for postgraduate students (particularly for those seeking external funding), who are usually expected to have (for taught Master's courses) a First Class or Upper Second Class UK honours degree, or its overseas equivalent [8].

The process of postgraduate admissions to the LSE is conducted on a rolling basis, as opposed to a deadline system. Applications are accepted from mid-October and the evaluation process begins in mid-November. Applications are considered as they "roll in" and the candidate can receive one of three outcomes; acceptance, rejection, or placement on a waiting-list/interim decision.

The admissions process continues without any set deadline until all available places have been allocated. This process does give a higher probability of acceptance for early applications over late ones. The consideration process ends once the places have been allocated, meaning that all applications in queue for consideration are returned with the notification that since the programme is full, neither an acceptance nor rejection can be given. The applications success rate for programmes vary by their size, although most of the major courses have an intake of approximately 5%-10% of applicants. As part of the admissions process, LSE admissions officers often meet with prospective candidates at university fairs. Plans are afoot to increase the number of places offered, by expansion allowed by the purchase of additional faculty buildings

LSE also offers the TRIUM Global Executive MBA programme jointly with Stern School of Business of NYU and HEC School of Management, Paris. It is divided into six modules held in five international business locations over a 16-month period. Whitefield Consulting Worldwide, a global MBA consultancy, has ranked the TRIUM Executive MBA programme as second worldwide. The Financial Times' most recent rankings of executive MBA programmes placed TRIUM as fourth worldwide.

The LSE Summer School was established in 1989 and has expanded extensively with more than 3,000 participants in 2006, a similar number to the university's full-time undergraduate programme. The Summer School offers over 50 subjects based on regular undergraduate courses at the LSE, and takes place over two sessions of three weeks each, in July and August each year. LSE also offers the LSE-PKU Summer School in collaboration with Peking University. Courses from both Summer Schools can be used as credit against other qualifications, and some courses can be taken as part of a conditional offer for LSE Masters programmes.

London School of Economics ranked 59th in the 2007 THES-QS World University Ranking

London School of Economics ranked 66th in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking

London School of Economics ranked 67th in the 2009 THES-QS World University Ranking

London School of Economics ranked 80th in the 2010 QS World University Ranking

London School of Economics ranked 64th in the 2011 QS World University Ranking

EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY

UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH

The University of Edinburgh (Scottish Gaelic: Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann), founded in 1582,is a renowned centre for teaching and research in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was the sixth university to be established in the British Isles, making it one of the ancient universities of Scotland. The university is also amongst the largest in the United Kingdom.

History

The founding of the University is attributed to Bishop Robert Reid of St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, Orkney, who left the funds on his death in 1558 that ultimately provided the University's endowment. The University was established by a Royal Charter granted by James VI in 1582, becoming the fourth Scottish university at a time when more populous neighbour England had only two.

By the 18th century Edinburgh was a leading centre of the European Enlightenment (see Scottish Enlightenment) and became one of the continent's principal universities.

Statue of David Hume

Students at the university are represented by Edinburgh University Students' Association (EUSA), which consists of the Students' Representative Council (SRC), founded in 1884 by Robert Fitzroy Bell, and Edinburgh University Union (EUU) which was founded in 1889.

In 2002 the University was re-organised from its 9 faculties into three ‘Colleges’, and now comprises the Colleges of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS), Science and Engineering (CSE), and Medicine and Veterinary Medicine (MVM). Within these Colleges are 21 ‘Schools’, which are of roughly equal sizes, generally significantly larger than the more-numerous departments they replaced.

Colleges and Schools

College of Humanities and Social Science
School of Arts, Culture and Environment
School of Divinity
School of Health in Social Science
School of History, Classics and Archaeology
School of Law (Edinburgh Law School)
School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures
University of Edinburgh Business School
Moray House School of Education
School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences
School of Social and Political Studies

College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine
School of Biomedical Sciences
School of Clinical Sciences and Community Health
School of Molecular and Clinical Medicine
Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies

College of Science and Engineering
School of Biological Sciences
School of Chemistry
School of GeoSciences
School of Engineering and Electronics
School of Informatics
School of Mathematics
School of Physics

University of Edinburgh ranked 23rd in the 2007 THES-QS World University ranking

University of Edinburgh ranked 23rd in the 2008 THES-QS World University ranking
University of Edinburgh ranked 20th in the 2009 THES-QS World University ranking
University of Edinburgh ranked 22nd in the 2010 QS World University ranking

University of Edinburgh ranked 20th in the 2011 QS World University ranking

YALE UNIVERSITY

YALE UNIVERSITY


Yale University is a private university in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1701 as the Collegiate School, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is a member of the Ivy League. Particularly well-known are its undergraduate school, Yale College, and the Yale Law School, each of which has produced a number of U.S. presidents and foreign heads of state.

In 1861, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences became the first U.S. school to award the Ph.D. degree. Also notable is the Yale School of Drama which has produced many prominent Hollywood and Broadway actors, as well as the art, forestry and environment, music, medical, management and architecture schools, each of which is often cited as among the finest in its field.

The university's assets include a $22.5 billion endowment (the second-largest of any U.S. academic institution) and more than a dozen libraries that hold a total of 12.1 million volumes (the second-largest university library system). Yale has 3,300 faculty members, who teach 5,300 undergraduate students and 6,000 graduate students.

Yale's 70 undergraduate majors are primarily focused on a liberal curriculum, and few of the undergraduate departments are pre-professional in nature. About 20% of Yale undergraduates major in the sciences, 35% in the social sciences, and 45% in the arts and humanities. All tenured professors teach undergraduate courses, more than 2,000 of which are offered annually.

Yale uses a residential college housing system modeled after those at Oxford and Cambridge. Each of 12 residential colleges houses a representative cross-section of the undergraduate student body, and features facilities, seminars, resident faculty, and support personnel.

Yale's graduate programs include those in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences — covering 53 disciplines in the Humanities, Social Sciences, Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences and Engineering — and those in the Professional Schools of Architecture, Art, Divinity, Drama, Forestry & Environmental Sciences, Law, Management, Medicine, Music, Nursing, and Public Health.

Yale and Harvard have been rivals in almost everything for most of their history, notably academics, rowing and American football.

Yale president Richard C. Levin summarized the university's institutional priorities for its fourth century: "First, among the nation's finest research universities, Yale is distinctively committed to excellence in undergraduate education. Second, in our graduate and professional schools, as well as in Yale College, we are committed to the education of leaders."

The nicknames "Elis" (after Elihu Yale) and "Yalies"are often used, both within and outside Yale, to refer to Yale students.





Admissions

The acceptance rate for Yale College for the Class of 2011 was 9.6%.For the Class of 2010, the acceptance rate was 8.9% with a 71.1% yield; 728 were waitlisted, of which 56 were admitted.

Yale College offers need-blind admissions and need-based financial aid to all applicants, including international applicants. Yale commits to meet the full demonstrated financial need of all applicants, and more than 40% of Yale students receive financial assistance. Most financial aid is in the form of grants and scholarships that do not need to be paid back to the University, and the average scholarship for the 2006–2007 school year will be $26,900.

Half of all Yale undergraduates are women, more than 30% are minorities, and 8% are international students. Furthermore, 55% attended public schools and 45% attended independent, religious, or international schools.

Admissions policies



Yale, like nearly all of its peer institutions, has been criticized for its supposed preferential admissions policies toward certain groups. These groups include African-Americans and Hispanics (affirmative action), children of alumni (legacy preferences), and athletes (athletic recruitment). However, Yale offers need-blind admissions and need-based financial aid to all applicants, including applicants from lower income groups and international applicants.

In the 2005 book The Chosen, Jerome Karabel unfavorably chronicles the use of non-academic criteria at Yale and its peer institutions throughout their histories. In the 2006 book The Price of Admission, Daniel Golden makes similar points regarding preferences given to wealthy and famous applicants.

In 2006, Yale came under public pressure for its admission of Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi, former ambassador-at-large for the Taliban, as a non-degree student. Critics on both the right and left questioned the University's decision, both in light of Yale's refusal to allow ROTC on campus and the University's lack of support for programs offering educational opportunities for victims of the Taliban regime. In the summer of 2006, Yale denied Hashemi's application to its more selective degree-granting program, now called the Eli Whitney Students Program.

Academics

Yale University comprises three major academic components:

Yale College (the undergraduate program),

the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences,

and the professional schools.

Yale College

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Professional Schools
School of Architecture
School of Art
Divinity School
School of Drama
School of Engineering & Applied Science
School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
Law School
School of Management
School of Medicine
School of Music
School of Nursing
School of Public Health
Institute of Sacred Music

Other Programs
Summer Session
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Yale University ranked 4th in the 2007 THES-QS World University Ranking

Yale University ranked 2nd in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking

Yale University ranked 3rd in the 2009 THES-QS World University Ranking

Yale University ranked 3rd in the 2010 QS World University Ranking

Yale University ranked 4th in the 2011 QS World University Ranking

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

Princeton University is a private coeducational research university located in Princeton, New Jersey. It is one of eight universities that belong to the Ivy League.

Originally founded at Elizabeth, New Jersey, in 1746 as the College of New Jersey, it relocated to Princeton in 1756 and was renamed “Princeton University” in 1896. Princeton was the fourth institution of higher education in the U.S. to conduct classes.

Princeton has never had any official religious affiliation, rare among American universities of its age. At one time, it had close ties to the Presbyterian Church, but today it is nonsectarian and makes no religious demands on its students.The university has ties with the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton Theological Seminary and the Westminster Choir College of Rider University.

History

Chartered in 1746 as the College of New Jersey—the name by which it was known for 150 years—Princeton University was British North America's fourth college. Located in Elizabeth for one year and then in Newark for nine, the College of New Jersey moved to Princeton in 1756. It was housed in Nassau Hall, which was newly built on land donated by Nathaniel FitzRandolph. Nassau Hall contained the entire College for nearly half a century.

In 1896, when expanded program offerings brought the College university status, the College of New Jersey was officially renamed Princeton University in honor of its host community of Princeton. Four years later, in 1900, the Graduate School was established.

Princeton has traditionally focused on undergraduate education and academic research, though in recent decades it has increased its focus on graduate education and offers a large number of professional Master's degrees and PhD programs in a range of subjects. The Princeton University Library holds over six million books. Among many others, areas of research include anthropology, geophysics, entomology, and robotics, while the Forrestal Campus has special facilities for the study of plasma physics and meteorology.

Princeton offers two main undergraduate degrees: the Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) and the Bachelor of Science in engineering (B.S.E.). Courses in the humanities are traditionally either seminars or semi-weekly lectures with an additional discussion seminar, called a "precept" (short for "preceptorial"). To graduate, all A.B. candidates must complete a senior thesis and one or two extensive pieces of independent research, known as "junior papers" or "J.P.s." They must also fulfill a two-semester foreign language requirement and distribution requirements with a total of 31 classes. B.S.E. candidates follow a parallel track with an emphasis on a rigorous science and math curriculum, a computer science requirement, and at least two semesters of independent research including an optional senior thesis. All B.S.E. students much complete at least 36 classes. A.B. candidates typically have more freedom in course selection than B.S.E. candidates because of the fewer number of required classes, though both enjoy a comparatively high degree of latitude in creating a self-structured curriculum.

Undergraduates at Princeton University agree to conform to an academic honesty policy called the Honor Code. Students write and sign the honor pledge, "I pledge my honor that I have not violated the Honor Code during this examination," on every in-class exam they take at Princeton. (The form of the pledge was changed slightly in 1980; it formerly read, "I pledge my honor that during this examination, I have neither given nor received assistance.") The Code carries a second obligation: upon matriculation, every student pledges to report any suspected cheating to the student-run Honor Committee. Because of this code, students take all tests unsupervised by faculty members. Violations of the Honor Code incur the strongest of disciplinary actions, including suspension and expulsion. Out-of-class exercises are outside the Honor Committee's jurisdiction. In these cases, students are often expected to sign a pledge on their papers that they have not plagiarized their work ("This paper represents my own work in accordance with University regulations."), and allegations of academic violations are heard by the University Committee on Discipline.

Princeton offers postgraduate research degrees in mathematics, physics, astronomy and plasma physics, economics, history, political science, philosophy, and English. Although Princeton offers professional graduate degrees in engineering, architecture, and finance, it has no medical school, law school, or business school like other research universities.

Its most famous professional school is the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs (known as "Woody Woo" to students), founded in 1930 as the School of Public and International Affairs and renamed in 1948.

The university's library system houses over eleven million holdings including six million bound volumes; The main university library, Firestone Library, housing almost four million volumes, is one of the largest university libraries in the world (and among the largest "open stack" libraries in existence). Its collections include the Blickling homilies.

In addition to Firestone, many individual disciplines have their own libraries, including architecture, art history, East Asian studies, engineering, geology, international affairs and public policy, and Near Eastern studies. Seniors in some departments can register for enclosed carrels in the main library for workspace and the private storage of books and research materials. In February 2007, Princeton became the 12th major library system to join Google's ambitious project to scan the world's great literary works and make them searchable over the Web.

Academics

Undergraduate students at Princeton benefit from the resources of a world-class research institution that is simultaneously dedicated to undergraduate teaching. Princeton faculty have a reputation for balancing excellence in their respective fields with a dedication to their students as classroom instructors and as advisors of independent work.

Undergraduates fulfill general education requirements, choose among a wide variety of elective courses, and pursue departmental concentrations and interdisciplinary certificate programs. Required independent work is a hallmark of undergraduate education at Princeton. Students graduate with either the Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) or the Bachelor of Science in engineering (B.S.E.).

The Graduate School offers advanced degrees spanning the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering. Doctoral education is available in all disciplines. It emphasizes original and independent scholarship whereas master's degree programs in architecture, engineering, finance, and public affairs and public policy prepare candidates for careers in public life and professional practice.

Undergraduate

Undergraduate courses in the humanities are traditionally either seminars or lectures held 2 or 3 times a week with an additional discussion seminar that is called a "precept" (short for "preceptorial"). To graduate, all A.B. candidates must complete a senior thesis and, in most departments, one or two extensive pieces of independent research that are known as "junior papers." Juniors in some departments, including architecture and the creative arts, complete independent projects that differ from written research papers. A.B. candidates must also fulfill a two-semester foreign language requirement and distribution requirements with a total of 31 classes. B.S.E. candidates follow a parallel track with an emphasis on a rigorous science and math curriculum, a computer science requirement, and at least two semesters of independent research including an optional senior thesis. All B.S.E. students must complete at least 36 classes. A.B. candidates typically have more freedom in course selection than B.S.E. candidates because of the fewer number of required classes. Nonetheless, in the spirit of a liberal arts education, both enjoy a comparatively high degree of latitude in creating a self-structured curriculum.

Undergraduates agree to conform to an academic honesty policy called the Honor Code. Students write and sign the honor pledge, "I pledge my honor that I have not violated the Honor Code during this examination," on every in-class exam. (The form of the pledge was changed slightly in 1980; it formerly read, "I pledge my honor that during this examination, I have neither given nor received assistance.") The Code carries a second obligation: Upon matriculation, every student pledges to report any suspected cheating to the student-run Honor Committee. Because of this code, students take all tests unsupervised by faculty members or teaching assistants. Violations of the Honor Code incur suspension or expulsion, the strongest of disciplinary actions. Out-of-class exercises are outside the Honor Committee's jurisdiction. In these cases, students are often expected to sign a pledge on their papers to aver that they have not plagiarized their work ("This paper represents my own work in accordance with University regulations.").

Graduate

Princeton offers postgraduate research degrees in many fields in the social sciences, engineering, natural sciences, and humanities. Although Princeton offers professional graduate degrees in engineering, architecture, and finance, it has no medical school, law school, or business school like other research universities. The university's most famous professional school is the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, founded in 1930 as the School of Public and International Affairs and renamed in 1948 after university president Woodrow Wilson.

Princeton is one of the most selective colleges in the United States, admitting only 9.5% of undergraduate applicants in 2007.In September 2006, Princeton University announced that all applicants for the Class of 2012 would be considered in a single pool, effectively ending the Early Decision program.

In 2001, Princeton was the first university to eliminate loans for all students who qualify for aid, expanding on earlier reforms. U.S. News & World Report and Princeton Review both cite Princeton as having the fewest number of students graduating with debt even though 60% of incoming students are on some type of financial aid.The Office of Financial Aid estimates that Princeton seniors on aid will graduate with average indebtedness of $2,360, compared to the national average of about $20,000.

Princeton University ranked 6th in the 2007 THES-QS World University Ranking

Princeton University ranked 12th in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking
Princeton University ranked 8th in the 2009 THES-QS World University Ranking
Princeton University ranked 10th in the 2010 QS World University Ranking

Princeton University ranked 13th in the 2011 QS World University Ranking