University of Athens

The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greek: Εθνικόν και Καποδιστριακόν Πανεπιστήμιον Αθηνών), usually referred to simply as the University of Athens, is the oldest university in Greece and has been in continuous operation since its establishment in 1837. Today, it is the second-largest institution of higher learning in Greece (the largest is the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), with more than fifty thousand undergraduate students.

History

National and Capodistrian University of Athens was founded on 3 May 1837, and was housed in the residence of architect Stamatis Kleanthes, on the north east side of the Acropolis. It was the first University not only in the newly- established Greek State but in all the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean in general.

The "Othonian University", as it was called before taking its present name, "National and Capodistrian University of Athens", consisted of four Faculties, Theology, Law, Medicine and Arts (which included applied sciences and mathematics). It had 33 professors, 52 students and 75 non-matriculated "auditors".New classes began in a new building, which designed by the Danish architect Christian Hansen, in November 1841.

A major change in the structure of the University came about in 1904, when the Faculty of Arts was split into two separate Faculties: that of Arts and that of Sciences, the latter consisting of the departments of Physics and Mathematics and the School of Pharmacy. In 1919, a department of Chemistry was added, and in 1922 the School of Pharmacy was renamed a Department. A further change came about when the School of Dentistry was added to the Faculty of Medicine..

In this first and "heroic" period for Greek education, the University faculty made great efforts to fill the gap between their newly founded institution and older ones in other countries.

Between 1895 and 1911, an average of one thousand new students entered the Faculties each year, a figure which rose to two thousand at the end of World War I. This led to the decision to introduce entrance examinations for all the Faculties, beginning in the academic year 1927-28. Since 1954 the number of students admitted each year has been fixed by the Ministry of Education and Religion, on the proposal of the Faculties.

In the 1960's construction work began on the University Campus in the suburb of Ilissia. The Ilissia campus now houses the Schools of Philosophy, Theology and Sciences.

Academics and Schools

The University of Athens is divided into schools, faculties and departments as follows. The naming is nοt consistent in English for historical reasons, but in Greek the largest divisions are generally named “σχολές” (schools) and are divided in “τμήματα” (departments), furthermore subdivided in “τομείς” (divisions).

School of Theology
Faculty of Theology
Faculty of Social Theology

School of Philosophy
Faculty of Philology
Faculty of History and Archaeology
Faculty of Philosophy, Pedagogy and Psychology
Faculty of English Studies
Faculty of French Language and Literature
Faculty of German Studies
Faculty of Italian and Spanish Language and Literature
Faculty of Theatre Studies
Faculty of Music Studies
Faculty of Turkish and Modern Asian Studies
Faculty of Slavic Studies

Schools of Health Sciences
Faculty of Medicine
Faculty of Dentistry
Faculty of Pharmacy
Faculty of Nursing

School of Law, Economics and Political Sciences
Faculty of Law
Faculty of Economic Studies
Faculty of Political Science and Public Administration

School of Sciences
Faculty of Physics
Faculty of Biology
Faculty of Geology and Geoenvironment
Faculty of Chemistry
Faculty of Mathematics
Faculty of Informatics and Telecommunications

Independent faculties
Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Science
Faculty of Primary Education
Faculty of Early Childhood Education
Faculty of Communication and Mass Media Studies
Faculty of Philosophy & History of Science

University of Athens ranked 200th in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking

University of Athens ranked 177th in the 2009 THES-QS World University Ranking

University of Buenos Aires

The University of Buenos Aires (Spanish: Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is the largest university in Argentina and the largest university by enrollment in Latin America,surpassing both the National Autonomous University of Mexico and the Universidade Estácio de Sá of Brazil.  Founded on August 12, 1821 in the city of Buenos Aires, it consists of 13 faculties, 6 hospitals, 10 museums and is linked to 3 high schools: Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires, Escuela Superior de Comercio Carlos Pellegrini and Instituto Libre de Segunda Enseñanza.

To enter any of the available programmes of study in the university, students who have successfully completed high school must pass a first year called CBC, which stands for Ciclo Básico Común (Common Basic Cycle). Only upon completion of this first year may the student enter the chosen faculty; until then, they must attend courses in different buildings, and have up to 3 years to finish the 6 subjects (which vary depending on the programme of study chosen) assigned in two groups of 3. Each subject is of one semester duration (March-July or August-November). If someone passes all 6 subjects in their respective semesters, the CBC will take only one year. Potential students of economics, instead, take a 2-year common cycle, the "CBG" (General Basic Cycle), comprising 12 subjects.

The UBA has no central campus. A centralized Ciudad Universitaria (literally, "university city") was started in the 1960s, but contains only two schools, with the others at different locations in Buenos Aires.

Access to the university is free of charge for everyone, including foreigners.

History

The University of Buenos Aires (UBA) was inaugurated 12 August, 1821 by the initiative of Bernardino Rivadavia - at the time Ministry of Government of Buenos Aires . Since then, the institution has followed, first as a provincial and then -since 1881- as a national University, the course that the country and city's history have taken. The institution has also gone along paths that contributed to its growth as a cultural and scientific academic centre and a place for the training of professionals, circulation and production of knowledge.  
   
In 1885, the "Avellaneda Law" was passed aiming at the organization of the two existing National Universities at that moment: Buenos Aires University and Córdoba University . This law provided a legal framework that contemplated the university autonomy and established the method to be applied to the naming and appointment of authorities. It also made the university responsible for issuing the degrees that enable the practise of different professions, assigning the institution, in this way, an institutional profile tightly linked to a Professional University - a characteristic which would be pointed out as a limitation to the scientific development of the university by some reformers.

When the National unification was completed, Argentina entered a process of integration to the worldwide market. This new situation involved responding to demands such as the reception of immigrant inhabitants and, together with it, the growth of cities; the development of an urbane infrastructure; the State's responsibility in connection to education and public health policies; and the creation of a political and administrative frame. The State's requirement of knowledge and professionals placed the University in a central position.  
   
  Throughout history, the University has shown the capacity of adapting in order to cater for the State's, the Markets', the production areas' and the Society's needs.
Different changes in Europe led to a transformation of the conceptions about scientific research in Argentina - as well as in the rest of the world- which were reflected in the University. There was a clash - specially seen in the Medicine and Law Schools -between the conceptions of a University focused on the professional development and a University concentrated on scientific research. By the end of XIX several museums and research centres were created: the Pathology Institute (1887), the Ethnographic Museum of the Faculty of Philosophy and Literature (1904), among others.

The UBA also underwent a process of democratization and experienced a progression in the modernization of knowledge early in its history. The Reform that took place between 1905 and 1906 established the values that represent the Argentine university tradition nowadays: those of autonomy and democracy; teaching, scientific research and university extension. This democratization implied, among other things, the incorporation of teachers in the election of authorities. The most significant achievement of the Reform was the constitution of a threefold government with the representation of teachers' senate, students and graduates.

The Reform also brought in its train a renewal of plans of studies concerning the ways of transmission and creation of spaces for research - which was tightly linked to the interest of groups of students and teachers intent on creating a scientific university.

It is worth highlighting the contributions that foreign thinkers and scientists - such as Ortega, Augusto Pi Suñer, Einstein, Le Corbousier and Gasset- made to this process of modernization.

In the 1930's both the democratization and autonomy of the University were jeopardized by the military coups and repressive actions that took place in the country.

Among the social and political turmoil, the UBA experienced, nonetheless, a process of scientific update which included the institutionalization of research teams, the upgrade of libraries and the creation of new courses of studies (sociology, psychology, economy, etc.). The spread of scientific information acquired a relevant place with the creation of the University Publishing House (EUDEBA). The creation of institutions which do not belong to the University such as the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA), the Institute of Industrial Technology (INTI) and the National Council of Scientific and Technical Investigation (CONICET) reinforced the concept of modernization propelled by a developmental ideology.

The University of Buenos Aires went through an institutional reconstruction during the first years of democracy. It regained autonomy and the threefold governmental structure.

In the 20 years of democracy in the university, basic functions were restored: teaching, research and University extension. In this period, plans have been updated and new courses of studies created.

One of the first innovations was the creation of the CBC which provided an answer to the gap in the articulation between high schools and university studies.
The long tradition of university extension was taken up again and the Secretary of Extension was created. One of its most important developments was the foundation of the Cultural Centre "Ricardo Rojas".

Academics and Schools

The faculties that compose the university are:
Ciclo Básico Común
Facultad de Psicología (psychology)
Facultad de Ingeniería (engineering)
Facultad de Odontología (dentistry)
Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica (pharmacy and biochemistry)
Facultad de Filosofía y Letras (philosophy and literature)
Facultad de Derecho (law)
Facultad de Medicina (medicine)
Facultad de Ciencias Sociales (social sciences)
Facultad de Veterinaria (veterinary medicine)
Facultad de Agronomía (agronomy)
Facultad de Ciencias Económicas (economics)
Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (exact science and natural science)
Facultad de Arquitectura, Diseño y Urbanismo (architecture, design and urbanism)

Of these, only the last two have their buildings located in Ciudad Universitaria, a campus-like location in Núñez, in northern Buenos Aires. The others are scattered around the city in buildings of various sizes, with some having more than one building. There are projects to move more faculties to Ciudad Universitaria, the first one in order of importance it's the Faculty of Psychology, whose building is already designed to be emplaced in this Campus.

University of Buenos Aires ranked 197th in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking

Dalhousie University

Dalhousie University is a university located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. As the largest post-secondary educational institution in the Maritime Provinces it offers a wide array of programs, including a medical program and the Dalhousie Law School. The chancellor is Mr. Fred Fountain; Dr. Tom Traves serves as president and vice-chancellor.

Dalhousie is consistently named among Canada's top research universities. It is a member of the Group of Thirteen, more commonly referred to as the G13, a group of the leading research universities in Canada.

In 2003 and 2004, The Scientist magazine placed Dalhousie among the top five places in the world, outside the United States, for postdoctoral work and conducting scientific research. In 2007 Dalhousie topped the list of The Scientist’s “Best Places to Work in Academia”. The annual list divides research and academic institutions into American and international lists; Dalhousie University is ranked first in the international category. According to a survey conducted by The Scientist magazine, Dal was named the best non-commercial scientific institute in which to work in Canada.

Dalhousie University was ranked as the eighth-best university (Medical Doctoral Rankings) in Canada by Maclean's Magazine in 2008. In addition, Maclean's ranked Dalhousie's law school sixth overall for two consecutive years.In the 2008 edition of the annual Times Higher Education Supplement-Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings, Dalhousie ranked 11th in Canada and 197th internationally.

History

Dalhousie College was founded in 1818 as a non-denominational university by the 9th Earl of Dalhousie, at the time the Governor of Nova Scotia.  Dalhousie University awarded its first BA in 1866.

Using money acquired from the duties collected during the occupation of parts of Maine in the War of 1812, Ramsay established Dalhousie as a college open to all people regardless of class or creed. At the laying of the cornerstone on May 22, 1820, Lord Dalhousie said that this University was "founded on the principles of religious tolerance." Dalhousie remained one of only three universities founded on secular constitutional premises until as late as the 1950s. Although it was technically founded in 1818, Dalhousie did not have its first students until November 1st, 1838. However, following the death of the University's first principal, Thomas McCulloch, in 1843 the school was once again allowed to fall into inactivity. Dalhousie did not permanently open its door again until November 10, 1863.

In 1876 the experiment was commenced in Halifax, Nova Scotia of a University to hold examinations in arts, law, and medicine, and to confer degrees.

Dalhousie was distinctive as an urban institution, situated in downtown Halifax on the site of the present City Hall. This status was seen not only, in the early days at least, in the use of much of the college's lowest floor as vault space for Oland Brewery, but also in the consistent drawing of about one-third of the student body from the city and in the college's ability to draw upon local professional populations in the establishment of professional faculties such as medicine (1868) and law (1883). Finances remained difficult into the 1880s, but by the end of that decade the accumulated donations of the philanthropist George Munro, brother-in-law of Board of Governors member John Forrest, had provided the stimulus that led to growth in student numbers and the emergence of Dalhousie as a centre of scholarship acknowledged throughout the dominion.

Dalhousie's colours of black and gold come from the jerseys worn by the Dalhousie University Rugby Football Club (who still wear those colours, as well as the school crest on their jerseys).

The Halifax Conservatory became affiliated with Dalhousie in 1889. 

In 1920 the University of King's College in Windsor, Nova Scotia, English Canada's oldest degree granting institution, burned down. Through a grant from the Carnegie Foundation, King's College was able to relocate to Halifax and entered into a partnership with Dalhousie University. While often seen as a separate but integrated institution, King's shares Dalhousie's Arts and Sciences Faculty, but offers several interdisciplinary humanities degree programmes, such as Contemporary Studies, History of Science and Technology and Early Modern Studies.

In 1936, the Institute of Public Affairs was established at Dalhousie University.

Dalhousie expanded its presence in south-end Halifax during the 1960s and 1970s when it built the Dalplex athletic facility, the Killam Library, the Life Sciences Centre, the Dalhousie Student Union building and a district heating plant, all on what is referred to as the Studley Campus (the main campus). Also at this time, Dalhousie built the Tupper Building for its Faculty of Medicine and expanded existing buildings to house the Faculty of Dentistry and College of Pharmacy, all on the adjacent Carleton Campus, located immediately to the east of the Studley Campus, and co-located with two of Halifax's teaching hospitals (the Victoria General Site of the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre and the IWK Health Centre for Women, Children, and Youth).

Nova Scotia Technical College in Halifax launched its program in architecture in 1961. Nova Scotia Technical College was later the Technical University of Nova Scotia (TUNS). [11] Following a period of government-mandated consolidation of post-secondary institutions during the 1990s, the Technical University of Nova Scotia was merged with Dalhousie University in 1997. It was initially known as Dalhousie University Polytechnic, or DalTech, but in 2000 the DalTech nickname was dropped and the engineering, architecture and computer science faculties of TUNS were fully integrated into Dalhousie University. The Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Architecture and Planning are located on the Sexton Campus, east of the Carleton Campus and closer to downtown Halifax. The Faculty of Computer Science moved to its own building, the Goldberg Computer Science Building on Studley Campus, in 1999.

Dalhousie is part of the Canadian Ivy League. Among North American universities, only Harvard, Yale, Princeton, McGill and the University of Toronto boast more Rhodes Scholars than Dalhousie.

Academics and Schools

Dalhousie comprises eleven faculties:
Architecture and Planning The following degrees are offered: Bachelor of Commmunity Design, Bachelor of Community Design Honours, Master of Planning, Master of Planning Studies, Bachelor of Environmental Design Studies, Master of Architecture
 
Arts and Social Sciences
Computer Science
Dentistry
Engineering Students can choose to specialize in the following disciplines: Biological Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Metallurgical Engineering and Mining Engineering
Graduate Studies
Health Professions
Law
Management
Medicine
Science

Dalhousie University ranked 197th in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking

University of Bern

The University of Bern (German: Universität Bern, French: Université de Berne) is a university in the Swiss capital of Berne. It was founded in 1834. The university is regulated and financed by the Canton of Berne.

The University of Bern offers top quality across the board: it enjoys special recognition in leading-edge disciplines, is reputed for the excellent quality of its teaching, offers a delightful setting, and a campus environment intimately linked to the social, economic and political life of the city.

The university’s comprehensive offering includes 8 faculties and some 160 institutes that date back to the XVIth century. With 13,000 students, it is of mid-range size among Swiss universities. Unlike the bigger institutions, it retains a human dimension and a warm and friendly atmosphere.

History

The History of the University of Bern
1528-1805: From the «Hohe Schule» to the Academy
The actual foundations of the University of Bern were laid as early as the 16th century when it
became necessary to assure the training of protestant ministers after the Reformation. The original number of three professors was doubled by the end of the 17th century. During the 18th century education in the humanities and divinity stayed in the foreground. With the onset of the Age of Enlightenment Chairs of Law and of Mathematics were added.

In 1805 the Bern government reorganised the entire tertiary education system by expanding the School of Theology into an Academy with four faculties. Thus not only ministers but also lawyers and physicians (including veterinarians) could complete their entire education in Bern. The Philosophical Faculty (Humanities and Natural Sciences) was to lay the foundation for the three «higher» faculties.

1834: Foundation of the University
In 1831, the patrician regime of Bern had to give way to the Liberals, and the new government
fulfilled the need for a loyal civil service and educated elite by transforming the Academy into a
University following the German model. The University Law passed in 1834 introduced academic freedom for study and instruction. The number of professors increased from 29 to 45. In the beginning entry requirements were very low in order to enable the rural population to gain access to higher education. The University of Bern was soon drawn into the great political altercations of the time. Only in the second half of the century did circumstances allow for a more serene development.

In 1885, the number of students exceeded for the first time the number of 500, and by the end of the century had risen to over 1000 mainly due to the influx of foreign students. In 1868/1870,
female students from Russia helped breach the University to women. By the end of the 19th
century, the Institute of Natural Sciences left the old Monastery to move into its own building, and in 1903, the new Main Building of the University on the «Grosse Schanze» could be inaugurated.

After 1900: New Faculties, Expansion of Institutes and Departments
After the turn of the century, the number of faculties and departments increased. The Veterinary School had separated from the University in 1868 and reunited with it in 1900 as a separate faculty.

As a reaction to the papal dogma of infallibility a national catholic church, independent from Rome, was founded. Unique in Switzerland, the University of Bern established a Faculty of Independent Catholic Theology («Christkatholische Theologische Fakultät») to support this development. In the course of the 19th century the two directions within the Faculty of Philosophy moved more and more apart, and in 1921 the formal separation between the Faculties of Philosophical History on the one hand and of Natural Sciences on the other took place. With the growing prominence of Economic Sciences, a separate department was established in 1912 within the Faculty of Law, which in 1954 was renamed Faculty of Law and Economics.

City of Bern

After 1945: Expansion and Reorganisation
Up to the end of the Second World War, the University went through a period of quiet expansion. Its position in the economic and cultural life was widely appreciated. In the fifties and sixties of the last century demands were raised for the «development of the formative potential» and «enlargement of the academic and technical sector of education». While there were still only 250 professors (very few among them women) and 2122 students in 1956, a phase of rapid growth now began. The University also increased in space. The Humanities moved into locations outside the Main Building in order to meet their need for more room. But the rapid expansion soon led to new problems and requirements. Federal educational policies became more and more influential, and in order to better control the ever increasing complexity of the University, a revision of the University Law (modified previously in 1954) seemed vital. But a restructuring plan proposed by governmentcommissioned experts in 1969 was never realized, nor was a corresponding draft law that had been submitted by the University Administration.

An attempt to ratify a partial revision via referendum failed in 1982 and in 1989, when Bern counted 9000 students and 1200 professors (and still hardly any women among them), a minimally revised law was passed. Finally, with the new law of September 1st, 1997 the University became its own legal entity with explicit remits set by the cantonal government.

Academics and Schools

At the moment, the University has an enrollment of roughly 13,000 students, studying in eight different faculties:

Christian Theology: Reformed denomination and Old Catholic denomination
Law
Medicine
Veterinary Medicine
Economics and Social Studies
Philosophic-historical Studies
Philosophic-scientific Studies
Philosophic-humanistic Studies

The Philosophical-Historical Faculty is similar to the Arts & Sciences departments at American universities, with majors (Hauptfächer) in a variety of languages, history, linguistics, economics, philosophy, psychology, etc. The Philosophical-Scientific Faculty is restricted to the "hard" sciences, like chemistry or physics. The philosophic-Humanistic Faculty was founded 2005 and allows studies in Education, Sports and psychological studies. The department of Old Catholic Theology at the Faculty of Theology is the only place in the world to study theology in this kind of denomination.

The Faculty of Theology has the lowest number of students, while the Philosophical-Historical Faculty has the most students.

University of Bern ranked 192nd in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking

University of Bern ranked 193rd in the 2009 THES-QS World University Ranking

University of Bern ranked 162nd in the 2010 QS World University Ranking

University of Bern ranked 143th in the 2011 QS World University Ranking

Technische Universität Berlin

The Technical University of Berlin (Berlin Institute of Technology, TUB, TU Berlin, German: Technische Universität Berlin) is located in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in 1879 and, with nearly 30,000 students, is one of the largest technical universities in Germany. It also has the highest proportion of foreign students out of universities in Germany, with 20.9% in the summer semester of 2007, roughly 5,598 students. The university alumni and professor list include eight Nobel Prize winners.

History

he institution was unified in 1879 under the name Royal Technical College of Charlottenburg (later Berlin) by merging the Building Academy (Bauakademie), established in 1799, and the Vocational Academy, established in 1829. Since 1916 it has been integrated with the former Mining Academy, which was the oldest institution, founded in 1770. The college was closed after World War II on April 20, 1945 and the university re-opened on April 9, 1946 under its current name.

"The university’s reopening in 1946 was purposely conceived as a new beginning, so as to make a clear break with the National Socialist past. This fresh start was also to be expressed in its new name: as Germany’s first technical university it was named simply “Technische Universität”. Its educational mission was reallocated as well with an emphasis on “universal education”. By including the Humanities in its compendium of subjects, the TU Berlin became the first technical university in Germany to present a humanistic element in its scholastic profile. The aim was to breach the gap between technological research and social responsibility. The challenge of gaining insight into interaction between society and technology remains an important issue even today.

Right from its inception, the TU Berlin was open to embracing reforms and innovations. Fundamental changes within the German university system eventually led to the student movements of the late 1960s. Given its central location, the TU Berlin was often the focal point of student activities in Berlin during this time frame. The 1960s and 1970s were characterized by a significant expansion of German universities, with the number of students attending the TU Berlin increasing accordingly. Forthermore, parts of the former Pädagogische Hochschule (college of education) Berlin were merged with the TU Berlin on April 1, 1980.

Since the 1980s, however, universities have also felt the direct impact of public funding constraints. The fall of the Berlin Wall prompted a sudden explosion of science and research capacities in Berlin, with costs rising as a result. Initiation of the so-called University Contract Agreement (Hochschulverträge) posed a real challenge to the Federal State of Berlin. Since the late 1990s, this agreement provides financial planning security to universities, but in return demands that they adopt a number of reforms. The TU Berlin has consistently met these challenges by adopting lean, modern university administration practices, by modifying the scholastic program to fit our Bachelors/Masters program and by ensuring excellence in research.
"

Academics

TU Berlin has consisted of the following schools:
Humanities
Mathematics and Natural Sciences
Process Sciences and Engineering
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Mechanical Engineering and Transport Systems
Planning - Building - Environment (merge of former schools of "Civil Engineering and Applied Geosciences" and "Architecture - Environment - Society")
Merge with school 6 (see above)
Economics and Management

TU Berlin ranked 188th in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking

Pohang University of Science and Technology

Pohang University of Science and Technology or POSTECH is a private university, based in Pohang, South Korea, which is dedicated to research and education in science and technology. In 1998, it was ranked by Asiaweek as the best science and technology university in Asia. Furthermore, from 2002 - 2006, one of Korea's most circulated daily newspapers, Joongangilbo ranked POSTECH as the leading university in Korea.

History

The official history of POSTECH begins on November 9, 1986. However, the school's opening is actually celebrated on December 3 (concatenating 12 from the month and 3 from the day gives 123). The full name of POSTECH at the beginning was Pohang Institute of Science and Technology.

The first students matriculated on March 2, 1987, all of whom lived in 4 dormitories in their first year.

Academics and Schools

The university has ten undergraduate departments and 15 graduate departments which includes five professional schools.

Academic departments
Mathematics
Physics
Chemistry
Life Science
Materials Science and Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Industrial and Management Engineering
Electronic and Electrical Engineering
Computer Science & Engineering
Chemical Engineering
Division of Humanities and Social Sciences

Professional Graduate Schools
School of Interdisciplinary Bioscience and Bioengineering (I-BIO)
School of Environmental Science and Engineering (SEE)
Graduate School for Information Technology (GIST)
Graduate Institute of Ferrous Technology (GIFT)
Technology Innovation & Management Graduate Program (TIM)

Pohang University of Science and Technology ranked 188th in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking

Pohang University of Science and Technology ranked 134th in the 2009 THES-QS World University Ranking

Pohang University of Science and Technology ranked 112nd in the 2010 QS World University Ranking

Pohang University of Science and Technology ranked 98th in the 2011 QS World University Ranking

Brandeis University

Brandeis University is a private research university with a liberal arts focus,located in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, nine miles (14 km) west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2009, it was ranked by the U.S. News and World Report as the number 31 national university in the United States.Forbes listed Brandeis University as number 30 among all national universities and liberal arts colleges combined and among the top 15 national research universities in 2009.

Brandeis was founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian coeducational institution on the site of the former Middlesex University. The university is named for the first Jewish Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Louis Dembitz Brandeis (1856–1941).

The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, founded in 1959, is noteworthy for its graduate programs in social policy, social work, and international development

Brandeis sponsors the Wien International Scholarship for international undergraduate students.

History

Founded in 1948, Brandeis University is named for the late Louis Dembitz Brandeis, the distinguished associate justice of the United States Supreme Court, and reflects the ideals of academic excellence and social justice he personified. Coeducational classes began on the site of the former Middlesex University in Waltham, Massachusetts, with 107 students and 13 faculty members. 

Guided for 20 years by its founding president, Abram L. Sachar, Brandeis grew quickly, establishing itself as an important national and international center for teaching and research. In 1962, only 14 years after the university's founding, Phi Beta Kappa accreditation was conferred. Under each succeeding president, the university continued to grow in breadth and stature, while maintaining the very human scale of its educational environment and its solid liberal arts focus.

In 1985, Brandeis was elected to membership in the Association of American Universities, which represents the 62 leading research universities in the United States and Canada.

Academics and Schools

The schools of the University include:
The College of Arts and Sciences
The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
The Heller School for Social Policy and Management
Rabb School of Summer and Continuing Studies
Brandeis International Business School

The College of Arts and Sciences comprises 24 departments and 22 interdepartmental programs, which offer 41 majors and 46 minors.

The Brandeis University Press, a member of the University Press of New England, publishes books in a variety of scholarly and general interest fields.

The Goldfarb Library at Brandeis has more than 1.2 million books and 60,000 e-journals.

Brandeis University ranked 185th in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking

Lomonosov Moscow State University

M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (Russian: Моско́вский госуда́рственный университе́т и́мени М.В.Ломоно́сова, Moskóvskiy gosudárstvennyy universitét ímeni M. V. Lomonósova), for a time the Lomonosov University or MSU (Russian: университе́т Ломоно́сова, Universitét Lomonósova; Russian: МГУ, MGU), is the largest university in Russia. Founded in 1755, it also claims to be the oldest university in Russia and the tallest educational building in the world. As of 2004, the university has some 4,000 staff teaching 31,000 students and 7,000 postgraduates. Its current rector is Viktor Sadovnichiy. In 1940, the university was renamed in honor of its founder, Mikhail Lomonosov.

History

The establishment of the university was instigated by Ivan Shuvalov and Mikhail Lomonosov, and the decree ordering its creation was issued by Russian Empress Elizabeth on January 25 (January 12 old style), 1755. The first lectures were held on April 26. January 25 is still celebrated as Students' Day in Russia.

It is disputed whether Moscow State University or St. Petersburg State University is actually the oldest higher education institution in Russia. While the former was established in 1755, the latter, which has been in continuous operation under the moniker "university" since 1819, claims to be the successor of the university established on January 24 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great together with the Academic Gymnasium and Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

Originally located in the Principal Medicine Store on Red Square, the university was transferred by Catherine the Great to the present Neoclassical building on the other side of Mokhovaya Street. The main building was constructed between 1782 and 1793 in the Neo-Palladian style, designed by Matvei Kazakov, and rebuilt after the Fire of Moscow (1812) by Domenico Giliardi.

In the 18th century, the university had three faculties: philosophy, medicine, and law. A college for future students was affiliated with the university before being abolished in 1812. In 1779, Mikhail Kheraskov founded a boarding school for noblemen (Благородный пансион), which was transformed into a gymnasium for the Russian nobility in 1830. The university press, run by Nikolay Novikov in the 1780s, published the most popular newspaper in Imperial Russia — Moskovskie Vedomosti.

In 1804, medical education was split into Clinical (therapy), Surgical, and Obstetrics faculties. In 1884-1897, the Department of Medicine, supported by private donations, City Hall, and the national government, built an extensive, 1.6 kilometer long, state-of-the-art medical campus in Devichye Pole, between the Garden Ring and Novodevichy Convent. It was designed by Konstantin Bykovsky, with University doctors like Nikolay Sklifosovskiy and Fyodor Erismann acting as consultants. The campus, and medical education in general, were separated from the University in 1918. Devichye Pole is now operated by the independent Moscow Medical Academy and various other state and private institutions.

In 1905, a social-democratic organization was created at the university calling for the tsar to be overthrown and for Russia to be turned into a republic. The Tsarist government repeatedly began closing the university. In 1911, in a protest over the introduction of troops onto the campus and mistreatment of certain professors, 130 scientists and professors resigned en masse, including prominent figures such as Nikolay Dimitrievich Zelinskiy, Pyotr Nikolaevich Lebedev, and Sergei Alekseevich Chaplygin. Thousands of students were also expelled.

After the October Revolution in 1917, the school began allowing the admission of children of the proletariat and peasants, not just those of the well-to-do. In 1919, tuition fees were abolished, and a preparatory facility was created for children of the working class so that they would be able to pass the admission examinations. The political repressions of the 1930s and 1950s severely limited the development of scientific ideas, as Soviet scientists had virtually no contacts with their colleagues abroad. Certain branches of science (e.g. genetics) were condemned for being based on anti-Communist ideologies, and a number of scientists and scholars were sentenced to life imprisonment.

World War II (known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War) was one of the most difficult periods in the history of Russia. University students and staff began to enlist in the army on the third day of fighting. One of the divisions formed out of University volunteers fought defending Moscow.

Many Moscow State University professors, students, and staff were evacuated during the war first to Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, then to Sverdlovsk, returning to Moscow in 1943, after the German troops were defeated near the capital. During the war, over 3,000 specialists were trained at the University. University scientists continued their research, and their contributions to applied science allowed improvements in aircraft development, the accuracy of artillery fire, etc. Also, new explosives were invented, a study of uranium was carried out, a blood coagulant was introduced into medical practice, University geologists discovered tungsten and new oil deposits in Central Asia, and University geographers supplied the Red Army with maps and charts. University lawyers made their contribution during the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials.

During the post-war period, the leading role of Moscow State University in the restoration and further development of the country was fully recognized. There was a fivefold increase in state funding, and a new University campus was built on Vorobievy Gory (Sparrow Hills), where all the lecture halls and laboratories had the most modern equipment available at the time.

After 1991, nine new faculties were established. In 1992, the university was granted a unique status: it is funded directly from the state budget (bypassing the ministry of education), which provides a significant level of independence.

On September 6, 1997, the entire front of the university was used as the backdrop for a concert by French electronic musician Jean Michel Jarre, who had been specially invited to perform there by the mayor of the city. The entire front of the building was used as a giant projection screen, while fireworks, lasers, and searchlights were all launched from various points around the building. The stage was directly in front of the building, and the concert, titled "The Road To The 21st Century" in Russia, but renamed "Oxygen In Moscow" for worldwide video/DVD release, attracted a world record crowd of 3.5 million people.

On March 19, 2008, Russia's most powerful supercomputer to date, the SKIF MSU (Russian: СКИФ МГУ; skif is Russian for "scythian") was launched at the university. Its peak performance is 60 TFLOPS and LINPACK is 47.170 TFLOPS, making it the fastest supercomputer in the CIS.

Academics and Faculties

As of 2008, the university has 30 faculties and 15 research centers:
Faculty of Global Studies
Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics
Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics
Faculty of Physics
Faculty of Chemistry
Faculty of Biology
Faculty of Bioengineering and Bioinformatics
Faculty of Soil Science
Faculty of Geology
Faculty of Geography
Faculty of Materials Science
Faculty of Medicine
Faculty of History
Faculty of Philology
Faculty of Philosophy
Faculty of Economics
Higher School of Business Administration
Faculty of Law
Faculty of Journalism
Faculty of Psychology
The Institute of Asian and African countries
Faculty of Sociology
Faculty of Foreign Languages and Area Studies
Faculty of Public Administration
Faculty of Fine and Performing Arts
Faculty of World Politics
Faculty of Education
Faculty of Further Education
Moscow School of Economics
Faculty of Military Training

Lomonosov Moscow State University Ranked 183rd in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking

Lomonosov Moscow State University Ranked 155th in the 2009 THES-QS World University Ranking

Lomonosov Moscow State University Ranked 93rd in the 2010 QS World University Ranking

Lomonosov Moscow State University Ranked 112th in the 2011 QS World University Ranking