University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university located in Oxford, England. While having no known date of foundation, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest surviving university. It grew rapidly from 1167 when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris. After disputes between students and Oxford townsfolk in 1209, some academics fled northeast to Cambridge where they established what became the University of Cambridge. The two "ancient universities" are frequently jointly referred to as "Oxbridge". The university is made up of a variety of institutions, including 38 constituent colleges and a full range of academic departments which are organised into four divisions. All the colleges are self-governing institutions as part of the university, each controlling its own membership and with its own internal structure and activities. Being a city university, it does not have a main campus; instead, all the buildings and facilities are scattered throughout the city centre. Most undergraduate teaching at Oxford is organised around weekly tutorials at the self-governing colleges and halls, supported by classes, lectures and laboratory work provided by university faculties and departments.

Oxford is the home of several notable scholarships, including the Clarendon Scholarship which was launched in 2001 and the Rhodes Scholarship which has brought graduate students to study at the university for more than a century. The university operates the largest university press in the world and the largest academic library system in the United Kingdom. Oxford has educated many notable alumni, including 27 Nobel laureates, 26 British prime ministers (most recently David Cameron, the incumbent) and many foreign heads of state. The University of Oxford has no known foundation date. Teaching at Oxford existed in some form as early as 1096, but it is unclear when a university came into being. It grew quickly in 1167 when English students returned from the University of Paris. The historian Gerald of Wales lectured to such scholars in 1188 and the first known foreign scholar, Emo of Friesland, arrived in 1190. The head of the university was named a chancellor from at least 1201 and the masters were recognised as a universitas or corporation in 1231. The university was granted a royal charter in 1248 during the reign of King Henry III. After disputes between students and Oxford townsfolk in 1209, some academics fled from the violence to Cambridge, later forming the University of Cambridge.

Organisation:

As a collegiate university, Oxford's structure can be confusing to those unfamiliar with it. The university is a federation, comprising over forty self-governing colleges and halls, along with a central administration headed by the Vice-Chancellor. Academic departments are located centrally within the structure of the federation; they are not affiliated with any particular college. Departments provide facilities for teaching and research, determine the syllabi and guidelines for the teaching of students, perform research, and deliver lectures and seminars. Colleges arrange the tutorial teaching for their undergraduates, and the members of an academic department are spread around many colleges. Though certain colleges do have subject alignments (e.g., Nuffield College as a centre for the social sciences), these are exceptions, and most colleges will have a broad mix of academics and students from a diverse range of subjects. Facilities such as libraries are provided on all these levels: by the central university (the Bodleian), by the departments (individual departmental libraries, such as the English Faculty Library), and by colleges (each of which maintains a multi-discipline library for the use of its members).

Admission:

In common with most British universities, prospective students apply through the UCAS application system, but prospective applicants for the University of Oxford, along with those for medicine, dentistry, and University of Cambridge applicants, must observe an earlier deadline of 15 October. To allow a more personalised judgement of students, who might otherwise apply for both, undergraduate applicants are not permitted to apply to both Oxford and Cambridge in the same year. The only exceptions are applicants for organ scholarships and those applying to read for a second undergraduate degree.

Most applicants choose to apply to one of the individual colleges, which work with each other to ensure that the best students gain a place somewhere at the University regardless of their college preferences. Shortlisting is based on achieved and predicted exam results, school references, and, in some subjects, written admission tests or candidate-submitted written work. Approximately 60% of applicants are shortlisted, although this varies by subject. If a large number of shortlisted applicants for a subject choose one college, then students who named that college may be reallocated randomly to under-subscribed colleges for the subject. The colleges then invite shortlisted candidates for interview, where they are provided with food and accommodation for around three days in December. Most applicants will be individually interviewed by academics at more than one college. Students from outside Europe can be interviewed remotely, for example, over the Internet. Offers are sent out in early January, with each offer usually being from a specific college. One in four successful candidates receives an offer from a college that they did not apply to. Some courses may make "open offers" to some candidates, who are not assigned to a particular college until A Level results day in August.

Scholarships:

There are many opportunities for students at Oxford to receive financial help during their studies. The Oxford Opportunity Bursaries, introduced in 2006, are university-wide means-based bursaries available to any British undergraduate. With a total possible grant of £10,235 over a 3-year degree, it is the most generous bursary scheme offered by any British university. In addition, individual colleges also offer bursaries and funds to help their students. For graduate study, there are many scholarships attached to the university, available to students from all sorts of backgrounds, from Rhodes Scholarships to the relatively new Weidenfeld Scholarships. Oxford also offers the Clarendon Scholarship which is open to graduate applicants of all nationalities. The Clarendon Scholarship is principally funded by Oxford University Press in association with colleges and other partnership awards.

Students successful in early examinations are rewarded by their colleges with scholarships and exhibitions, normally the result of a long-standing endowment, although since the introduction of tuition fees the amounts of money available are purely nominal. Scholars, and exhibitioners in some colleges, are entitled to wear a more voluminous undergraduate gown; "commoners" are restricted to a short, sleeveless garment. The term "scholar" in relation to Oxford therefore had a specific meaning as well as the more general meaning of someone of outstanding academic ability. In previous times, there were "noblemen commoners" and "gentlemen commoners", but these ranks were abolished in the 19th century. "Closed" scholarships, available only to candidates who fitted specific conditions such as coming from specific schools, now exist only in name.

Clubs and Societies:

Sport is played between college teams, in tournaments known as cuppers (the term is also used for some non-sporting competitions). In addition to these there are higher standard university wide groups. Significant focus is given to annual varsity matches played against Cambridge, the most famous of which is The Boat Race, watched by a TV audience of between five and ten million viewers. This outside interest reflects the importance of rowing to many of those within the university. Much attention is given to the termly intercollegiate rowing regattas: Christ Church Regatta, Torpids and Summer Eights. A blue is an award given to those who compete at the University team level in certain sports. As well as traditional sports, there are teams for activities such as Octopush and quidditch.

There are two weekly student newspapers: the independent Cherwell and OUSU's The Oxford Student. Other publications include the Isis magazine, The Owl Journal, the satirical Oxymoron, and the graduate Oxonian Review. The student radio station is Oxide Radio. Most colleges have chapel choirs. Music, drama, and other arts societies exist both at collegiate level and as university-wide groups. Unlike most other collegiate societies, musical ensembles actively encourage players from other colleges. Most academic areas have student societies of some form which are open to all students, regardless of course, for example the Scientific Society. There are groups for almost all faiths, political parties, countries and cultures. The Oxford Union (not to be confused with the Oxford University Student Union) hosts weekly debates and high profile speakers. There have historically been elite invite-only societies such as the Bullingdon Club. Sports teams, but also other societies and groups organised especially for the purpose, often take part in crewdates. These evenings involve 'crews' (often one of each gender, hence the name) going for a meal and consuming much alcohol, before heading to a nightclub.

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton was the fourth chartered institution of higher education in the Thirteen Colonies and thus one of the nine Colonial Colleges established before the American Revolution. The institution moved to Newark in 1747, then to the current site nine years later, where it was renamed Princeton University in 1896. Princeton provides undergraduate and graduate instruction in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering. It offers professional degrees through the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the School of Architecture and the Bendheim Center for Finance. The University has ties with the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton Theological Seminary, and the Westminster Choir College of Rider University. Princeton has the largest endowment per student in the United States.

The University has graduated many notable alumni. It has been associated with 41 Nobel laureates, 17 National Medal of Science winners, the most Abel Prize winners and Fields Medalists of any university (four and eight, respectively), ten Turing Award laureates, five National Humanities Medal recipients, 209 Rhodes Scholars, and 126 Marshall Scholars. Two U.S. Presidents, 12 U.S. Supreme Court Justices (three of whom currently serve on the court), and numerous living billionaires and foreign heads of state are all counted among Princeton's alumni. Princeton has also graduated many prominent members of the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Cabinet, including eight Secretaries of State, three Secretaries of Defense, and two of the past four Chairs of the Federal Reserve. It is consistently ranked as one of the top universities in the world.

Campus:

The main campus sits on about 500 acres (2.0 km2) in Princeton. In 2011, the main campus was named by Travel+Leisure as one of the most beautiful in the United States. The James Forrestal Campus is split between nearby Plainsboro and South Brunswick. The University also owns some property in West Windsor Township.:44 The campuses are situated about one hour from both New York City and Philadelphia. The first building on campus was Nassau Hall, completed in 1756, and situated on the northern edge of campus facing Nassau Street. The campus expanded steadily around Nassau Hall during the early and middle 19th century. The McCosh presidency (1868–88) saw the construction of a number of buildings in the High Victorian Gothic and Romanesque Revival styles; many of them are now gone, leaving the remaining few to appear out of place. At the end of the 19th century Princeton adopted the Collegiate Gothic style for which it is known today. Implemented initially by William Appleton Potter and later enforced by the University's supervising architect, Ralph Adams Cram, the Collegiate Gothic style remained the standard for all new building on the Princeton campus through 1960. A flurry of construction in the 1960s produced a number of new buildings on the south side of the main campus, many of which have been poorly received. Several prominent architects have contributed some more recent additions, including Frank Gehry (Lewis Library), I.M. Pei (Spelman Halls), Demetri Porphyrios (Whitman College, a Collegiate Gothic project), Robert Venturi (Frist Campus Center, among several others), and Rafael Viñoly.

A group of 20th-century sculptures scattered throughout the campus forms the Putnam Collection of Sculpture. It includes works by Alexander Calder (Five Disks: One Empty), Jacob Epstein (Albert Einstein), Henry Moore (Oval With Points), Isamu Noguchi (White Sun), and Pablo Picasso (Head of a Woman). Richard Serra's The Hedgehog and The Fox is located between Peyton and Fine halls next to Princeton Stadium and the Lewis Library. At the southern edge of the campus is Lake Carnegie, a man-made lake named for Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie financed the lake's construction in 1906 at the behest of a friend who was a Princeton alumnus. Carnegie hoped the opportunity to take up rowing would inspire Princeton students to forsake football, which he considered "not gentlemanly." The Shea Rowing Center on the lake's shore continues to serve as the headquarters for Princeton rowing.

Organization:

The Trustees of Princeton University, a 40-member board, is responsible for the overall direction of the University. It approves the operating and capital budgets, supervises the investment of the University's endowment and oversees campus real estate and long-range physical planning. The trustees also exercise prior review and approval concerning changes in major policies, such as those in instructional programs and admission, as well as tuition and fees and the hiring of faculty members. With an endowment of US$21 billion, Princeton University is among the wealthiest universities in the world. Ranked in 2010 as the third largest endowment in the United States, the university has the greatest per-student endowment in the world (over US$2 million for undergraduates). Such a significant endowment is sustained through the continued donations of its alumni and is maintained by investment advisers. Some of Princeton's wealth is invested in its art museum, which features works by Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, Jackson Pollock, and Andy Warhol among other prominent artists.

Rankings:

From 2001 to 2015, Princeton University was ranked either first or second among national universities by U.S. News & World Report (USNWR), holding the top spot for 13 of those 15 years. Princeton was ranked first in the most recent 2015 U.S. News rankings, as well as #1 in a separate ranking for "best undergraduate teaching." In the 2014–15 Times Higher Education assessment of the world's greatest universities, Princeton was ranked 7th. In the 2014/15 QS World University Rankings, it was ranked 9th overall in the world and 5th among US universities. In the "America's Top Colleges" rankings by Forbes in 2014, Princeton University was ranked fourth among all national colleges and universities, after holding the number one position for a number of years.

In the 2015 U.S. News & World Report "Graduate School Rankings", all thirteen of Princeton's doctoral programs evaluated were ranked in their respective top 20, 8 of them in the top 5, and 4 of them in the top spot (Economics, History, Mathematics, Sociology). In Princeton Review's rankings of "softer" aspects of students' college experience, Princeton University was ranked first in "Students Happy with Financial Aid" and third in "Happiest Students", behind Clemson and Brown. Princeton was ranked the 360th top college in the United States by Payscale and CollegeNet's Social Mobility Index college rankings. Princeton was ranked 7th among 300 Best World Universities in 2011 compiled by Human Resources & Labor Review (HRLR) on Measurements of World's Top 300 Universities Graduates' Performance . Princeton University has an IBM BlueGeneL supercomputer, called Orangena, which was ranked as the 89th fastest computer in the world in 2005 (LINPACK performance of 4713 compared to 12250 for other U.S. universities and 280600 for the top-ranked supercomputer, belonging to the U.S. Department of Energy).

Santa Clara University

Santa Clara University is a private non-profit Jesuit university located in Santa Clara, California. It has 5,435 full-time undergraduate students, and 3,335 graduate students. Founded in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California, and has remained in its original location for 164 years. The University's campus surrounds the historic Mission Santa Clara de Asis, which traces its founding to 1776. The Campus mirrors the Mission's architectural style, and provides a fine early example of Mission Revival Architecture. The university offers bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and doctoral degrees through its six colleges, the School of Arts and Sciences, School of Education and Counseling Psychology, SCU Leavey School of Business, School of Engineering, Jesuit School of Theology, and the School of Law. Santa Clara's sports teams are called the Broncos. Their colors are red and white. The Broncos compete at the NCAA Division I levels as members of the West Coast Conference in 19 sports. The Broncos own a long history of success on the national stage in a number of sports.

The university is situated in Santa Clara, California, adjacent to the city of San Jose in Santa Clara County at the southern part of the Bay Area. It is commonly known by the abbreviation SCU; its students and 81,000 alumni, which live in all fifty states and around the world are called "Santa Clarans" or "Broncos" and its athletic teams are called the Broncos. The school is promoted as "the Jesuit university in Silicon Valley." Built around historic Mission Santa Clara, the present university is home to a population of approximately 5,435 undergraduate and 3,335 Master's, Juris Doctor, and PhD students. The institution employs 522 full-time faculty members, who are divided between four professional schools and the College of Arts and Sciences, all of which are located on the 106-acre (43 ha) mission campus. In July 2009 the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley (JST), formerly an independent institution, legally merged with the university, taking the name "Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University." Although a division of SCU, it retains its campus in Berkeley, California. JST is one of two Jesuit seminaries in the United States with ecclesiastical faculties approved by the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education. The other, Weston Jesuit School of Theology, completed a similar affiliation with Boston College in June 2008, becoming Boston College School of Theology and Ministry.

For the 2013–2014 academic year, the university's operating budget was $387 million, and its endowment was over $760 million. For the same period, undergraduate tuition and fees totaled $42,156 and the average cost of room and board was $12,546. Santa Clara University is civilly chartered and governed by a board of trustees, which appoints the president. By internal statute, the president must be a member of the Jesuit order, although the members of the board are primarily non-Jesuits. About 42 Jesuit priests and brothers are active teachers and administrators in various departments and centers located on the main campus in Santa Clara. An additional 15 Jesuits currently hold faculty positions at the university's Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley. Jesuits comprise around 7% of the permanent faculty and hold teaching positions in biology, computer engineering, counseling psychology, economics, English, history, law, philosophy, physics, political science, psychology, religious studies, and theater arts in addition to theology. They also serve in campus and residence-hall ministry, and some act as faculty directors in residential learning communities (RLC's). SCU maintains its Catholic and Jesuit affiliation and supports numerous initiatives intended to further its religious mission. Students are invited, but not required, to attend the Sunday evening student Masses in the mission church and encouraged to participate in campus ministry programs and lectures. All bachelor's degrees require three religious studies courses as part of the academic core. An emphasis on social justice is furthered through the Pedro Arrupe Partnership and Kolvenbach Solidarity programs, which offer service opportunities in the community and immersion opportunities throughout the world.

Academics and Rankings:

As of Fall 2012, Santa Clara had an enrollment of 5,250 undergraduate and 3,269 graduate and professional students (total of 8,519 students). Men make up 52.3% of the total student population; women 47.7%. Santa Clara offers undergraduates the opportunity to pursue 45 majors in its three undergraduate schools and colleges: the College of Arts and Science, the School of Engineering, and the Leavey School of Business. Santa Clara University also has six graduate and professional schools, including the School of Law, School of Engineering, the Leavey School of Business, the School of Education and Counseling Psychology, and the Jesuit School of Theology (campus located in Berkeley, California). The student to faculty ratio is 12:1 with 71% of all classes being fewer than 30 students. The 2013 annual ranking of U.S. News & World Report categorizes it as 'more selective'.For the Class of 2018 (enrolled fall 2014), Santa Clara received 14,985 applications and accepted 7,395 (49.3%). Of those accepted, 1,328 enrolled, a yield rate (the percentage of accepted students who choose to attend the university) of 17.4%. SCU's freshman retention rate is 95%, with 86% going on to graduate within six years. The enrolled first-year class of 2018 had the following standardized test scores: the middle 50% range (25th percentile-75th percentile) of SAT scores was 590-680 for SAT Critical Reading and 620-700 for SAT Math, while the middle 50% range of ACT scores was 27-32.The average Grade Point Average (GPA) was 3.67 (unweighted 4 point scale).

For SCU's 2011–2012 school year, undergraduate tuition and fees were $37,368, room and board cost $11,742, and books estimated at $5,000, totaling $54,110. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching classifies Santa Clara as a master's level university. In U.S. News & World Report's rankings of master's universities (West) for 2016, Santa Clara University ranks 2nd overall, and is tied for 3rd for best undergraduate teaching. In 2016 U.S. News & World Report ranked the Leavey School of Business' Part-Time MBA program tied for 37th best in the nation. The undergraduate business program was ranked 62nd in the nation by U.S. News & World Report for 2015  and 43rd in the nation by Bloomberg Businessweek in 2014. The School of Engineering was ranked by U.S. News & World Report as 14th in 2015 for engineering schools with focus on undergraduate and Master's engineering programs.

Santa Clara's School of Law was ranked by U.S. News & World Report in 2016 as tied for 94th in the nation, with its Intellectual Property Law program recognized as tied for 4th nationally. In 2015 Forbes ranked Santa Clara University 85th out of the 650 best private and public colleges and universities in America. In 2008, the first year of the list, Santa Clara was ranked No. 318 out of 569. Kiplinger's Personal Finance ranked SCU 38th on the 2015 Best Values in Private Universities list, and 4th in California. The Princeton Review named Santa Clara University one of the nation’s best institutions for undergraduate education in its 2012 annual guidebook, The Best 376 Colleges. In its 2012 ranking of alumni financial success, intellectual development, and career preparation, "The Alumni Factor" listed Santa Clara 43rd out of the top 177 colleges and universities.

PayScale in 2012 ranked Santa Clara 17th in the nation out of 606 schools in the category "Mid-Career Salary Rank for Private Schools", 28th out of 1,248 in "Overall College ROI Rank," and 23rd out of 458 in "ROI Rank for Private Universities." Santa Clara University was named to the 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for community service programs and student involvement. Santa Clara University made About.com's list of the top 23 Catholic Colleges and universities in the country. Newsweek in 2012 ranked Santa Clara University as the second most beautiful college in America. SCU has the 3rd highest undergraduate graduation rate nationally (85 percent) among 626 national master's level universities.

Seton Mountain University

Seton Hill University is a Catholic liberal arts university of about 2,500 students in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. Formerly a women's college, it became a coeducational university in 2002. Recently, Seton Hill received attention for being the first university to provide iPads to all students. The school was founded in 1885 by the Sisters of Charity. It is named for Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774–1821), who founded the Sisters of Charity and who, after her death, was canonized as the United States' first native-born saint. In 1914, Seton Hill Junior college was opened by the Sisters of Charity. With the approval of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Seton Hill College was created four years later. In 1946, 40 male World War II veterans were accepted as students at Seton Hill. 

During the 1980s, men were regularly admitted to many programs at Seton Hill College, including music and theater. In 2002, Seton Hill was officially granted university status by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. After president JoAnne Boyle formalized the school's new status as a university, the teams' nickname was changed from "Spirits" to "Griffins," and several men's athletics teams were added, including American football. In 2006, Seton Hill announced it was transferring to NCAA Division II and joining the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC). They had belonged to the NAIA. In 2012, Seton Hill announced its move to the PSAC. Seton Hill University received widespread public attention after announcing a technology plan that includes providing an iPad to all full-time students, as well a 13" MacBook to all incoming freshmen, and a plan to upgrade the student machines after two years. Upon graduation, students keep both machines. Beginning in the fall of 2013, new full-time students will receive an iPad Mini and new full-time freshmen will be provided with a MacBook Air.

programs:

As of the 2012–2013 academic year, Seton Hill divides its undergraduate programs into six divisions: Social Sciences, Natural and Health Sciences, Humanities, Education, Business, and the Visual and Performing Arts, which includes art, music and theater. In addition to their major, all students take liberal arts core classes in arts, mathematics, sciences, culture, history, and writing. As of the 2012–2013 academic year, Seton Hill offers twelve graduate programs. Subjects include art, writing, education, therapy, business, orthodontics, and physician assistant studies.

Athletics:

Seton Hill athletics, known as the Griffins, compete in Division II of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA). During the 2012–2013 academic year, Seton Hill was a member of the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC). As of July 1, 2013, following the breakup of the WVIAC, along with the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, also from the WVIAC, Seton Hill is a member of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC). Seton Hill varsity men's and women's sports include football, men's & women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, men's wrestling, men's and women's lacrosse, men's and women's track and field, softball, baseball, women's cheerleading, women's field hockey, women's equestrian, men's and women's soccer, women's volleyball, women's golf, and women's tennis.

In 2005, 60% of the entering class was male, due to an influx of male students who were interested in new sports programs such as football. In 2008, the football team had a 10-3 record. The football team and the men's soccer team each won the inaugural West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference's team sportsmanship award in 2008. In 2006, the baseball team received a berth to the NAIA World Series in the program's third year of existence. In 2014, the baseball team had its most successful season; winning the PSAC, the Atlantic Regional, and advancing to the College World Series. The team ended up finishing top six in the country.

Campus Life:

In 2003, the school conferred an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree upon Steve Forbes, president and CEO of Forbes, Inc. In 2006, the convocation speaker was U.S. Representative John Murtha (D-Pa). Seton Hill has a student-to-faculty ratio of 15:1. The typical class size for courses in the major is about 20-25. Liberal arts core classes tend to be larger, at 30-45 students.

Recent changes on campus include the addition of a site of Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM), and two arts facilities in downtown Greensburg: a visual arts center and a new performing arts building (devoted to music, theater, and dance). In early 2013, the university received a $7 million grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation. The grant is the largest in Seton Hill's history and is a component of the university’s $75 million plan for campus expansion and renewal. Active clubs representing the diverse cultural and student interests include the Chemistry Club, Biology Club, Forensic Science Club, Math Club, Gay-Straight Alliance, Respect Life Club, Students in Free Enterprise, and the Griffins @ Work club.

Notable Alumni:

Justice Maureen O'Connor, alumna of 1973 and sixth woman to have served as an Ohio Supreme Court justice. Admiral Ronne Froman, who graduated from Seton Hill College in 1969, served 31 years in the United States Navy, retiring as a rear admiral, and was the first female US Navy admiral to be "in charge of naval bases and stations around the world". She then filled several high-profile civilian positions in San Diego, California. Dr. Patricia Gabow, alumna of 1965, became the chief of renal disease at Denver General Hospital in 1973 and is now the Chief Executive Officer of Denver Health. Michele Moore Ridge, alumna of 1969, former First Lady of Pennsylvania (1995–2001). Nalo Hopkinson , writer

Southwest University

Southwest University (SWU, simplified Chinese: 西南大学; traditional Chinese: 西南大學; pinyin: Xīnán Dàxué) is a comprehensive university in Chongqing, China. Southwest University (SWU) is a comprehensive and national key university sponsored by the Ministry of Education of China. SWU was founded in July 2005, by the merger of Southwest Normal University and Southwest Agricultural University. The history of both universities can be traced back to 100 years ago. It is one of the "211 Project" universities (top 100) which get preferential support for their development and construction from the Central Government of China. The total number of the students at SWU is more than 80,000, of which 50,000 are full-time students. There are many international students working for their bachelors, masters, doctors degrees and advanced studies in SWU every year.

SWU is located in Chongqing municipality, which is the central city in the Western China Development Project. The Three Gorges, Dazu Stones Carving and Hotpot Food are worldwide famous and unique. Southwest University began to enroll international students in the 1950s. It is also one of the universities designated by the Ministry of Education to enroll Chinese Government Scholarship students. Most of the international students in SWU are now majoring in Chinese language, Pedagogy, Psychology, Economics, Business in China, Chinese Minorities Studies, Life Sciences, Food Sciences, Agriculture, Fine Arts, and Chinese Martial Arts for example. The qualified International students in Southwest University have the privileges and chances to get Chonqing Mayor Scholarships and SWU Excellent Overseas Students Scholarship. In addition SWU is donating a share of Integrative Insurance for Medical Care and Accidents for every long term overseas student.

The university covers a broad range of academic disciplines including philosophy, economics, law, pedagogics, literature, history, science, engineering, agriculture and management. It offers 40 national key disciplines, 66 doctoral programs, 9 postdoctoral programs, 159 master’s programs and 97 bachelor’s programs. SWU is known nationwide for its teaching methodological and agricultural studies. Studies in Pedagogics, psychology and agriculture have distinguished predominance in China; The Research of Silkworm genome is top in the world. A great deal of creative research works have been achieved in the fields like Zero Tillage Cultivation, Silkworm Genome, Studies on the Education and Psychological Behavior of Minorities in Southwestern China, and the Research on Human Time Cognition.

History:

Southwest University(Chinese: 西南大學） was originally established in 1906, during the Qing Dynasty. Much of its development occurred after the Republic of China was established. The modern university was established in July 2005, which absorbed the former Southwest China Normal University and Southwest Agricultural University, after the approval of the Chinese Ministry of Education. Southwest University is located near Jialing River, and is located at the foot of Jinyun Mountain, in Beibei District, Chongqing Municipality. The Southwest University is regarded as the top university and for agriculture research in Western China. Before the merger, the two universities were among the top comprehensive universities in Chongqing municipality.

Southwest China Normal University was one of the key comprehensive universities under the administration of the Chinese Ministry of Education. Originally it was created as the Southwest Teachers College. The college was the result of several mergers of the former National Women's Teachers College and the Sichuan Provincial Educational College in 1950. It was then established as Southwest China Normal University in 1985. Southwest Agricultural University was created in 1950, as the Southwest Agricultural College. The college was the end result of several institutions which were Sichuan Provincial Educational College, the Western China University and Xianghui College. In 1979, it was authorized by the State Council to be one of the national key universities. It was restructured as Southwest Agricultural College. In 1958, the college was upgraded as Southwest Agricultural University.

In 2001, Sichuan Animal Husbandry and Veterinary College and the Citrus Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agriculture were absorbed into Southwest Agricultural University. This marked the beginning of a new Southwest Agricultural University which specializes from teaching, pedagogy, psychology, agronomy and agriculture. Prior to the merger, Southwest China Normal University and Southwest Agricultural University were neighbors with only a wall separating the two universities. Both universities had a long historical relationship, which could be located back to their common origin, i.e. East Sichuan Teachers College in 1906. Southwest University employs 2,650 full-time teachers, and 300 professional researchers, 349 professors (research fellows), and 739 associate professors (associate research fellows, 113 PhD supervisors, and 513 Master's degree tutors. Southwest University over 50,000 students. Its scale and levels are ranked ahead of other higher education institutions in western China. The university library holds 3,800,000 volumes of items.

Stanford University

Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, and one of the world's leading educational institutions, with the top position in numerous rankings and measures in the United States. Stanford was founded in 1885 by Leland Stanford, former Governor of and U.S. Senator from California and leading railroad tycoon, and his wife, Jane Lathrop Stanford, in memory of their only child, Leland Stanford, Jr., who had died of typhoid fever at age 15 the previous year. Stanford admitted its first students on October 1, 1891 as a coeducational and non-denominational institution. Tuition was free until 1920. The university struggled financially after Leland Stanford's 1893 death and again after much of the campus was damaged by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Following World War II, Provost Frederick Terman supported faculty and graduates' entrepreneurialism to build self-sufficient local industry in what would later be known as Silicon Valley. By 1970, Stanford was home to a linear accelerator, and was one of the original four ARPANET nodes (precursor to the Internet).

The main campus is located in northern Santa Clara Valley adjacent to Palo Alto and between San Jose and San Francisco. Other holdings, such as laboratories, and nature reserves, are located outside the main campus. Its 8,180-acre campus is one of the largest in the United States. The university is also one of the top fundraising institutions in the country, becoming the first school to raise more than a billion dollars in a year. Stanford's academic strength is broad with 40 departments in the three academic schools that have undergraduate students and another four professional schools. Students compete in 36 varsity sports, and the university is one of two private institutions in the Division I FBS Pacific-12 Conference. It has gained 108 NCAA team championships, the second-most for a university, 476 individual championships, the most in Division I, and has won the NACDA Directors' Cup, recognizing the university with the best overall athletic team achievement, every year since 1994-1995.

Main Campus:

Stanford University is located on an 8,180-acre (3,310 ha) campus on the San Francisco Peninsula, in the northwest part of the Santa Clara Valley (Silicon Valley) approximately 37 miles (60 km) southeast of San Francisco and approximately 20 miles (32 km) northwest of San Jose. In 2008, 60% of this land remained undeveloped. The main campus is adjacent to Palo Alto, bounded by El Camino Real, Stanford Avenue, Junipero Serra Boulevard, and Sand Hill Road. The university also operates at several more remote locations.

Stanford's main campus is a census-designated place within unincorporated Santa Clara County, although some of the university land (including the Stanford Shopping Center and the Stanford Research Park) is within the city limits of Palo Alto. The campus also includes much land in unincorporated San Mateo County (including the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve), as well as in the city limits of Menlo Park (Stanford Hills neighborhood), Woodside, and Portola Valley. The United States Postal Service has assigned Stanford two ZIP codes: 94305 for campus mail and 94309 for P.O. box mail. It lies within area code 650. The university campus was listed by Travel + Leisure in September 2011 as one of the most beautiful campuses in the United States and by MSN as one of the most beautiful college campuses in the world.

Administration and Organization:

Stanford University is a tax-exempt corporate trust governed by a privately appointed 34-member Board of Trustees. Trustees serve five-year terms (not more than two consecutive terms) and meet five times annually. A new trustee is chosen by the remaining Trustees by ballot. The Stanford trustees also oversee the Stanford Research Park, the Stanford Shopping Center, the Cantor Center for Visual Arts, Stanford University Medical Center, and many associated medical facilities (including the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital). The Board appoints a President to serve as the chief executive officer of the university and prescribe the duties of professors and course of study, manage financial and business affairs, and appoint nine vice presidents. John L. Hennessy was appointed the 10th President of the University in October 2000. The Provost is the chief academic and budget officer, to whom the deans of each of the seven schools report. John Etchemendy was named the 12th Provost in September 2000.

The University is currently organized into seven academic schools. The schools of Humanities and Sciences (27 departments), Engineering (9 departments), and Earth Sciences (4 departments) have both graduate and undergraduate programs while the Schools of Law, Medicine, Education and Business have graduate programs only. The powers and authority of the faculty are vested in the Academic Council, which is made up of tenure and non-tenure line faculty, research faculty, senior fellows in some policy centers and institutes, the president of the university, and some other academic administrators, but most matters are handled by the Faculty Senate, made up of 55 elected representatives of the faculty. The Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU) is the student government for Stanford University and all registered students are members. Its elected leadership consists of the Undergraduate Senate elected by the undergraduate students, the Graduate Student Council elected by the graduate students, and the President and Vice President elected as a ticket by the entire student body. Stanford is the beneficiary of a special clause in the California Constitution, which explicitly exempts Stanford property from taxation so long as the property is used for educational purposes.

Research Centers and Institutes:

The Stanford Office of the Vice Provost and Dean of Research oversees more than eighteen independent laboratories, centers, and institutes. Other Stanford-affiliated institutions include the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (originally the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center), the Stanford Research Institute (a now independent institution which originated at the university), the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace (a major public policy think tank that attracts visiting scholars from around the world), and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (a multidisciplinary design school in cooperation with the Hasso Plattner Institute of University of Potsdam that integrates product design, engineering, and business management education). Unable to locate a copy in any of its libraries, the Soviet Union was obliged to ask the Hoover Institution for a microfilm copy of its original edition of the first issue of Pravda (dated March 5, 1917). Stanford is home to the papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. It also runs the John S. Knight Fellowship for Professional Journalists and the Center for Ocean Solutions, which brings together marine science and policy to address challenges facing the ocean.

Reputation and Rankings:

Stanford is ranked 4th (tied with Columbia University and the University of Chicago) among U.S national universities for 2016 by U.S. News and World Report. Notably, Stanford occupies the number one position in numerous domestic college ranking measures, leading Slate to dub Stanford "the Harvard of the 21st century," and The New York Times to conclude that "Stanford University has become America’s 'it' school, by measures that Harvard once dominated." From polls done by The Princeton Review in 2013, 2014 and 2015, the most commonly named "dream college" for students was Stanford; separately, parents, too, most frequently named Stanford as their "dream college." Just 12 years ago, a 2003 Gallup poll had Stanford only tied for second as the most prestigious university in the eyes of the general public. The Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings placed it third in the world in 2015, while the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), has ranked Stanford second in the world for many years.

Stellenbosch University

Stellenbosch University (formally University of Stellenbosch; Afrikaans: Universiteit van Stellenbosch) is a leading public research university situated in the town of Stellenbosch, South Africa. Other nearby universities are the University of Cape Town and University of the Western Cape. Stellenbosch University designed and manufactured Africa's first microsatellite, SUNSAT, launched in 1999. Stellenbosch University was the first African university to sign the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities. The students of Stellenbosch University are nicknamed 'Maties'. Some claim the term arises from their maroon rugby colours: a tamatie is the Afrikaans translation for tomato. It is more likely to come from the Afrikaans colloquialism maat originally used diminutively by the students of the University of Cape Town's precursor, the South African College.

History:

The origin of the university can be traced back to the Stellenbosch Gymnasium, which was founded in 1864 and opened on 1 March 1866. The first five students matriculated in 1870, but capacity did not initially exist for any tertiary education. However in the 1870s the Cape Colony's first locally-elected government took office and prioritised education. In 1873, four of the five 1870 matriculants became the institution's first graduates by attaining the "Second Class Certificate" through distance learning, and the gymnasium's student numbers rose to over a hundred. In 1874, a series of government acts provided for colleges and universities, with generous subsidies and staff. A personal intervention by the Prime Minister in the same year ensured that Stellenbosch qualified, after initially being allocated to be purely a secondary school. Later in 1874, the institution acquired its first Professor and in the coming few years its capacity and staff grew rapidly. Its first academic senate was constituted at the beginning of 1876, when several new premises were also acquired. The first M.A. degree (in Stellenbosch and in South Africa) was completed in 1878, and also in that year, the Gymnasium's first four female students were enrolled.

The institution became the Stellenbosch College in 1881 and was located at the current Arts Department. In 1887 this college was renamed Victoria College; when it acquired university status on 2 April 1918 it was renamed once again, to Stellenbosch University. Initially only one university was planned for the Cape but after the government was visited by a delegation from the Victoria College, it was decided to allow the college to be a university if it could raise £100,000.290-1 Jannie Marais, a wealthy Stellenbosch farmer, bequeathed the money required before his death 1915.291 There were certain conditions to his gift which included Dutch/Afrikaans having equal status to English and that the lecturers teach at least half their lectures in Dutch/Afrikaans and by 1930 very little if any tuition was in English. In December 2014, specialists at the university performed the first successful penis transplantation, on a 21-year-old man.

Location:

Stellenbosch, South Africa's oldest town after Cape Town, is a university town with a population of about 90,000 (excluding students). It is located about 50 kilometres from Cape Town and is situated on the banks of the Eersterivier ("First River") in the famous wine-growing region and is encircled by picturesque mountains. Teaching at Stellenbosch University is divided between the main campus in Stellenbosch, the Tygerberg campus (where the Faculty of Health Sciences is situated), the Bellville Park campus (where the University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB) is situated), and the Saldanha campus (housing the Faculty of Military Science at the Military Academy of the South African National Defence Force).

Facilities and Services:

The J.S. Gericke Library has collections scattered around the campus outside of the main facility, and all of which are catalogued on a computerised database, using the university's original mainframe, a UNIVAC. There are several other satellite libraries servicing the different faculties, including the Theology Library, Law Library and Tygerberg Medical Library. Stellenbosch University also has a Conservatory, with two concert halls. The Conservatory is the home of the internationally acclaimed Stellenbosch University Choir, who, along with being the oldest South African choir have received numerous awards overseas. The university also has a 430-seat theatre, known as the H.B. Thom Theatre and an open air amphitheatre. Accompanying these facilities is the university's own drama department, under the guidance of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. The department regularly puts on plays, dramas, productions, cabarets and musicals.

The Stellenbosch University Botanical Garden is the oldest university botanical garden in South Africa. The Langenhoven Students' Centre (Neelsie) houses the Student Representative Council, a food court, a cinema, a post office, a shopping centre, an advice office and all the student societies' offices. Student bands and various entertainment and activity promotions usually appear in the main food court during lunch hour. The university has its own radio station known as MFM (Matie FM), situated in the Neelsie. It broadcasts over the entire Stellenbosch area at 92.6 FM. Broadcasting a mix of music, news, entertainment and campus news. The university also distributes regular publications, Die Matie (appearing every fortnight), for its students and Kampusnuus (appearing monthly) for its staff. An official yearbook, Die Stellenbosch Student, is published annually and presented to all graduating students. Matieland is the name of the official alumni magazine. It is published twice a year and distributed to some 100 000 alumni and friends of the University.

Student Housing:

Stellenbosch had 34 residence halls (Afrikaans: koshuise) in configurations for women only, men only and mixed gender. Each residence is supervised by a warden (koshuisvader or koshuismoeder), assisted by a House Committee of senior students. The House Committee assists students with security, maintenance, and social programs. Each residence incorporates a laundry room and a common living room. Residences for women have a communal lounge while several men's residences include a pub.

The number of available rooms in university residences is limited, which requires some students to find private boarding. Students in private lodgings can join the Private Students' Organisation (PSO), also known as Private Wards. There are 6 PSO wards, and a student is assigned according to the location of their lodgings in Stellenbosch. Students who commute to the university are assigned to one of two mixed-gender wards. As of 2008, four new PSO wards had been commissioned.