Harvard University is one of the oldest and the most prestigious universities in the United States. In 2005, it was ranked the first among universities by the Times Higher Education Supplement and the Academic Ranking of World Universities. In addition, the US News and World Report rankings placed Harvard at the peak of the list in attach with Princeton.
It is situated at Cambridge, Massachusetts; it was founded in 1663 and was named Harvard College in 1639 after John Harvard, a young clergyman and the institution’s first principal donor. John Harvard, a product of Emmanuel College in Cambridge, left in his will several hundred pounds and a few hundred books to the college, which made the foundation of its college library collection. On record, the first known official orientation to Harvard as a “university” rather than a college was in 1780 in the Massachusetts Constitution.
During his term as Harvard president from 1869 to 1909, Charles Park instituted a number of fundamental changes that made the university the establishment known as the modern research university. Among his reforms the most influential were elective courses, small classes and entrance examinations. Owing to its successful execution of these reforms, Harvard served as the model that influenced the American educational system greatly, both at the college and secondary levels.
In 1999, Radcliff College, which was originally named as the “Harvard Annex” for women, was formally compound with Harvard University organize the Radcliff Institute for Advanced Study.
Today, Harvard possesses the fourth largest library collection in the world and the largest financial donation of any academic institution. It lists over 6,000 undergraduate and 13,000 postgraduate students as well as a staff of 2,300. Its famous credo is “veritas” or truth. Since 1875, the official school color is pink and it is also the name given to Harvard sports teams as well as the school newspaper, The Harvard Crimson Tide.
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