British Columbia University, Canada

University of British Columbia

The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Canadian public research university with campuses in Vancouver and Kelowna. UBC is rated as one of Canada’s top universities, and is well regarded worldwide.

One of UBC's Oldest building: Chemistry

The university boasts some of the city's best attractions & recreation facilities, including the Museum of Anthropology, the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research, and endless opportunities to explore forested trails in the adjoining 763-hectare Pacific Spirit Regional Park.

UBC's Vision for the 21st Century

The University of British Columbia, aspiring to be one of the world's best universities, will prepare students to become exceptional global citizens, promote the values of a civil and sustainable society, and conduct outstanding research to serve the people of British Columbia, Canada, and the world.

UBC consistently ranks as one of the top three Canadian universities by Research InfoSource and ranks as second in Canada and thirty-sixth in the world in the Academic Ranking of World Universities.

In 2006, Newsweek magazine ranked the University of British Columbia second in Canada and 27th in the world.The Times Higher Education Supplement of the UK ranked UBC as second in Canada and thirty-third in the world in 2007. According to Maclean's University Rankings, UBC has the highest percentage of Ph.D level professors among all public universities in North America (92%).

Rose Garden in UBC

It has received widespread recognition by Maclean's and Newsweek magazines for its foreign language program; the Chinese program is North America's largest, and the Japanese program is North America's second largest (after the University of Hawaii).The Department of Art History, Visual Arts and Theory has been recognized consistently for the world-class artists who teach there. In 2003 the National Post stated UBC had the highest entrance requirements for undergraduate admission out of all universities in Canada.

UBC ranked 33th in the 2007 THES-QS World University Ranking
UBC ranked 34th in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking
UBC ranked 40th in the 2009 THES-QS World University Ranking
UBC ranked 44th in the 2010 THES-QS World University Ranking 

Bristol University, UK

University of Bristol

The University of Bristol is a university in Bristol, England. It received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876. It is one of the original "red brick" universities.

Bristol ranks as one of the top 10 universities in the United Kingdom according to most published league tables. The University has an annual turnover of £260m and is the largest independent employer in Bristol.

The University is a member of the Russell Group,European-wide Coimbra Group and the Worldwide Universities Network, of which the University's Vice-Chancellor Prof Eric Thomas is the current Chair. The most recent Research Assessment Exercise gave 15 departments a 5* rating.Bristol has around 23,000 students and is one of two universities in Bristol, the other being the more recently established University of the West of England. The University has gained press attention for its high private school intake and the 2003 dispute over its admissions system.

History

The University was preceded by University College, Bristol, founded in 1876, where its first lecture was attended by only 99 students. The University was able to apply for a Royal Charter due to the financial support of the Wills and Fry families, who made their fortunes in tobacco plantations and chocolate, respectively. Although the Wills Family made vast sums of money from the slave-produced plantations, they later became abolitionists who gave their money to the city of Bristol. The Royal Charter was gained in May 1909, with 288 undergraduates and 400 other students entering the University in October 1909. Henry Overton Wills III became its first chancellor. The University College was the first such institution in the country to admit women on the same basis as men. However, women were forbidden to take examinations in medicine until 1906.

Wills Memorial Building

Since the founding of the University itself in 1909, it has grown considerably and is now one of the largest employers in the local area, although it is smaller by student numbers than the nearby University of the West of England. Bristol does not have a campus but is spread over a considerable geographic area. Most of its activities, however, are concentrated in the area of the city centre, referred to as the "University Precinct". It is a member of the Russell Group of research-led UK universities, the Coimbra Group of leading European universities and the Worldwide Universities Network WU League tables generally place Bristol within the top ten universities in the United Kingdom.

Royal Fort Tower

Bristol is also known for its research strength, having 15 departments gaining the top grade of 5* in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise. Overall, 36 out of 46 departments rated gained the top two ratings of 5 or 5*, and 76% of all the academic staff working in departments scored these top two levels. In terms of teaching strength, Bristol had an average Teaching Quality Assessment score of 22.05/24 before the TQA was abolished. For admission in October 2005, Bristol reported an average of 10.8 applications per place with the average A-level score on admission being 436.4.That year, Bristol's drop-out rate was 2.2% compared to the benchmark set by HEFCE of no more than 3.1%.

Academics

Faculty of Arts
Archaeology and Anthropology
Drama: Theatre, Film, Television
History of Art
Music
Philosophy
Classics & Ancient History
English
Historical Studies
Theology and Religious Studies
French
German
Hispanic, Portuguese and Latin American Studies
Italian
Russian

Faculty of Engineering
Aerospace Engineering
Civil Engineering
Computer Science
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Engineering Mathematics
Mechanical Engineering

Faculty of Medical and Veterinary Sciences
Anatomy
Biochemistry
Cellular & Molecular Medicine
Clinical Veterinary Science
Physiology and Pharmacology

Faculty of Science
Biological Sciences
Chemistry
Earth Sciences
Experimental Psychology
Geographical Sciences
Mathematics
Physics

Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry
Clinical Science at North Bristol
Clinical Science at South Bristol
Community-Based Medicine
Oral & Dental Science
Social Medicine

Faculty of Social Sciences and Law
Audiology
Politics
Social Work
Sociology
Education (Graduate School of)
Geographical Sciences
Policy Studies
Deaf Studies
Hearing and Balance Studies
Exercise, Nutrition and Health Sciences
Accounting and Finance
Economics
Management
Law

Bristol University ranked 37th in the 2007 Thes-QS World University Ranking

Bristol University ranked 32nd in the 2008 Thes-QS World University Ranking

Bristol University ranked 34th in the 2009 Thes-QS World University Ranking

Bristol University ranked 27th in the 2010 QS World University Ranking

Brandeis University, USA

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

Boston University, USA

Boston University (BU) is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Although chartered by the Massachusetts Legislature in 1869, Boston University traces its roots to the establishment of the Newbury Biblical Institute in Newbury, Vermont in 1839. The University organized formal Centennial observances both in 1939 and 1969.

History

"Boston University began as a Methodist seminary in 1839 in Vermont. The school was transferred to New Hampshire in 1847 and to Boston in 1867. It is now internationally recognized as a top institution of learning and research. Our faculty includes Nobel laureates, MacArthur Fellows, leading scientists, prize-winning authors, and many more valued scholars. Throughout its history, Boston University has stayed true to its founding mission of providing an excellent education and helping students become valuable members of society. Our most famous and respected alumnus, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., exemplifies the spirit of community and innovation that pervades our campus"

With more than 3,000 faculty members and nearly 30,000 students, Boston University is the fourth-largest private university in the United States of America and the city's fourth-largest employer. The University offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees through 18 schools and colleges and operates two urban campuses. The main campus is situated along the Charles River in Boston's Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood, where it is bisected by the Massachusetts Turnpike. The Boston University Medical Campus is in Boston's South End neighborhood.

The University's main Charles River Campus follows Commonwealth Avenue and the Green Line, beginning near Kenmore Square and continuing for over a mile and a half to its end near the border of Boston's Allston neighborhood. The Boston University Bridge over the Charles River into Cambridge represents the dividing line between Main Campus, where most schools and classroom buildings are concentrated, and West Campus, home to several athletic facilities and playing fields, the large West Campus dorm, and the new John Hancock Student Village complex.

As a result of its continual expansion, the Charles River campus contains an array of architecturally diverse buildings. The College of Arts and Science, Marsh Chapel (site of the Marsh Chapel Experiment), and the School of Theology buildings are the university's most recognizable and were built in the late-1930s and 1940s in collegiate gothic style. A sizable amount of the campus is traditional Boston brownstone, especially at Bay State Road and South Campus where BU has acquired almost every townhouse those areas offer. The buildings are primarily dormitories but many also serve as various institutes as well as department offices. From the 1960s-1980s many contemporary buildings were constructed including the Mugar Library, BU Law School and Warren Towers, all of which were built in the brutalist style of architecture, drawing mixed opinions.

The Metcalf Science Center for Science and Engineering, constructed in 1983, might more accurately be described as Structural Expressionism. Morse Auditorium, adjacent, stands in stark architectrual contrast, as it was constructed as a Jewish temple. The most recent additions to BU's campus are the Photonics Center, Life Science and Engineering Building, The Student Village (which includes the FitRec Center and Agganis Arena), and the School of Management. All these buildings were built in brick, a few with a substantial amount of brownstone and have been praised for successfully combining elements of old Boston (brownstone, brick, and federal architecture) with contemporary elements.

Academics

Colleges and schools at Boston University include:
College of Fine Arts (CFA)
College of Arts and Sciences (CAS)

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GRS)
College of Communication (COM)
College of Engineering (ENG)
College of General Studies (CGS)
College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (Sargent College) (SAR)
School of Education (SED)
Division of Extended Education
School of Hospitality Administration (SHA)
School of Law (LAW)
School of Management (SMG)
Metropolitan College (MET)
Boston University Brussels (BUB)
Boston University Science and Engineering Program (SEP)
School of Social Work (SSW)
School of Theology (STH)
University Professors Program (UNI) (will graduate its final class in 2011)
School of Medicine (MED)
Division of Graduate Medical Sciences (GMS)
Goldman School of Dental Medicine (SDM)
School of Public Health (SPH)

Rankings

U.S. News & World Report ranks Boston University 57th among national universities. Boston University was also ranked 20th among U.S. law schools, 34th among medical schools, and 41st among business schools. The Biomedical Engineering Graduate and Undergraduate Programs are ranked #7 and #8 respectively in the nation and rising by U.S. News and World Report. The undergraduate program is also the sixth largest ABET-accredited program in the nation.

The Financial Times ranks Boston University's MBA program as the #45 U.S. School for Career Progress.

Business Week ranks Boston University's MBA program #15, and its undergraduate business program #37.


"The Professional Ranking of World Universities" conducted by the Ecole des mines de Paris, ranks Boston University the 34th best school in the world and 15th best in the U.S. for the professional future of its alumni.

Newsweek (International Edition), in its August 2006 list of the Top 100 Global Universities, ranked Boston University the 35th best university in the United States, and 65th best in the world.

The Institute of Higher Education at Shanghai Jiao Tong University ranks Boston University 47th best overall university, and 45th best undergraduate university in the United States (two schools ranked above BU are graduate schools only; UCSF and Rockefeller), as well as 81st best in the world, on its list of the Top 500 universities in the world.

The Center for Measuring University Performance ranks Boston University among the top 50 research universities in the country.

The Wall Street Journal ranks Boston University's MBA program 41st nationally and the Information Technology department is ranked 10th in the world for academic excellence (September 2005).

Forbes ranks Boston University's MBA program 46th among domestic MBA programs (August 2005). They also ranked Boston University as the 25th most Entrepreneurial college in America.

The School of Management is ranked among the top 25 programs in the US by Entrepreneur magazine (April 2005)

The Times Higher Education Supplement ranks Boston University the 19th best university in the United States, and the 47th best university in the world, in its 2007 list of the Top 200 universities in the world.


Boston University ranked 47th in the 2007 THES-QS World University Ranking

Boston University ranked 46th in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking
Boston University ranked 54th in the 2009 THES-QS World University Ranking
Boston University ranked 64th in the 2010 QS World University Ranking

Birmingham University

The University of Birmingham is an English university in the city of Birmingham.

Founded in 1900 as a successor to Mason Science College, and with origins dating back to the 1825 Birmingham Medical School, it was the first of the so-called Red Brick universities to receive its Royal Charter.

The university is a member of the Russell Group of research universities and a founding member of Universitas 21. It currently has over 18,000 undergraduate and over 11,000 postgraduate students.

It is currently ranked as one of the top five British research institutions, and is ranked 11th overall in the UK, as well as 30th in Europe. It is one of three Universities in Birmingham; the other two being Aston University and Birmingham City University.

The university's main campus, in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham, is arranged around the 100-metre-high (328 feet) Chamberlain clock tower (nicknamed "Old Joe") commemorating Joseph Chamberlain, the university's first Chancellor. The Great Hall of the university is in the domed Aston Webb Building, which is named after one of its architects (the other was Ingress Bell).

The university's Selly Oak campus is a short distance to the south of the main campus. It was the home of a federation of nine higher education colleges, mainly focused on theology and education, which were integrated into the university for teaching purposes in 1999. Among these was Westhill College (later the University of Birmingham, Westhill) which merged with the university's School of Education in 2001. The UK daytime television show Doctors is filmed on this campus. The university also has buildings at several other sites in the city.

The university's main campus occupies a site some 3 miles (4.8 km) south-west of Birmingham city centre. The original 25 acre site was given to the university in 1900 by Lord Calthorpe. The original buildings on the Edgbaston site were built at the turn of the 20th century.

The original semi-circle of red-brick domed buildings form Chancellor's Court, at the centre of which stands the clock tower and which sit on a 30 ft (9.1 m) drop so the original architects placed their buildings on two tiers with a 16 ft (4.9 m) drop between them. The Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower, affectionately known as "Old Joe", is dedicated to the university's first chancellor Joseph Chamberlain.

The design of the clock tower draws its inspiration from the that of the Torre del Mangia, the medieval clock tower forming part of the Town Hall in Siena, Italy and is made from Accrington Red Brick. When it was built it was described as "the intellectual beacon of the Midlands" by the Birmingham Post. The clock tower was Birmingham's tallest building at 100 metres from the date of its construction in 1908 until 1969 and is still the third highest in the city. It is one of the top 50 tallest buildings (and the tallest clock tower) in the UK.

The clocktower has four clock faces are each 17 ft 3 in (5.25 m) in diameter. The minute hands are 13 ft 6 in (4.1 m) long. At its widest part, the hour hand is 2 ft (61 cm) across. The hands are made out of sheet copper and the frame is made of one solid casting, weighing half a ton (450 kg). The pendulum is 15 ft (4.6 m) long. The largest of the four hour bells weighs 13,619 lbs (6,177 kg).The whole weight of the clock and bells exceeds 20 tons (18,150 kg). There is a long held superstition that if an undergraduate walks under the tower while it is chiming, they will fail their degree.

The grand buildings were an outcome of the £50,000 given by steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie to establish a "first class modern scientific college" on the model of Cornell University in the United States. The University of Sydney in Australia was also modelled on Cornell. Funding was also provided by Sir Charles Holcroft.

Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College

The earliest beginnings of the university can be traced back to the Birmingham Medical School which began life through the work of William Sands Cox in his aim of a medical school along strictly Christian lines, unlike the London medical schools. The medical school was founded in 1828 but Cox began teaching in December 1825. Queen Victoria granted her patronage to the Clinical Hospital in Birmingham and allowed it to be styled “The Queen’s Hospital”. It was the first provincial teaching hospital in England. In 1843 the medical college became known as Queen’s College. [25]

On February 23, 1875, Sir Josiah Mason, the Birmingham industrialist and philanthropist, who made his fortune in making key rings, pens, pen nibs and electroplating, founded Mason Science College. It was this institution that would eventually form the nucleus of the University of Birmingham.

In 1882, the Departments of Chemistry, Botany and Physiology were transferred to Mason Science College, soon followed by the Departments of Physics and Comparative Anatomy. The transfer of the Medical School to Mason Science College gave considerable impetus to the growing importance of that college and in 1896 a move to incorporate it as a university college was made. As the result of the Mason University College Act 1897 it became incorporated as Mason University College on January 1, 1898, with the Right Honourable Joseph Chamberlain MP becoming the President of its Court of Governors.

Royal Charter

It was largely due to Chamberlain's tireless enthusiasm that the university was granted a Royal Charter by Queen Victoria on March 24, 1900. The Calthorpe family offered twenty-five acres (10 hectares) of land on the Bournbrook side of their estate in July. The Court of Governors received the Birmingham University Act 1900, which put the Royal Charter into effect, on May 31. Birmingham was therefore arguably the first so-called red brick university, although several other universities claim this title, including the University of Manchester, since Manchester Victoria made significant developments towards the formation of a civic university proper in 1851, despite not gaining official status until 1903.

The transfer of Mason University College to the new University of Birmingham, with Chamberlain as its first Chancellor and Sir Oliver Lodge as the first Principal, was complete. All that remained of Josiah Mason's legacy was his Mermaid in the sinister chief of the university shield and of his college, the double-headed lion in the dexter.

It became the first civic and campus university in England. The University Charter of 1900 also included provision for a Faculty of Commerce, as was appropriate for a university itself founded by industrialists and based in a city with enormous business wealth. Consequently, the faculty, the first of its kind in Britain, was founded by Sir William Ashley in 1901, who from 1902 until 1923 served as first Professor of Commerce and Dean of the Faculty. From 1905 to 1908, Edward Elgar held the position of Professor of Music at the university.

Academic departments

Being a large university Birmingham has departments covering a wide range of subjects, which are arranged into eight subject areas, which are Arts, Languages, Literature and History; Business; Education; Engineering (comprising Departments of Mechanical, Chemical, Civil, Electronic, Electrical and Computer Engineering and Metallurgy & Materials); Law; Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences; Science; and Social Sciences, Government and Politics.

On August 1, 2008, the university will be restructured and will be composed of five 'colleges':
Dentistry, Health Sciences and Medicine
Life and Environmental Sciences (Biosciences, Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Psychology, Sport and Exercise Sciences)
Engineering and Physical Sciences (Physical Sciences includes Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics and Astronomy)
Arts and Law (Historical Studies, Humanities, Law)
Social Sciences (Business, Education, Public Policy, Economics)

Charles Lapworth

The university is home to a number of well-known research centres and schools, including the Birmingham Business School, the oldest business school in England, the University of Birmingham Medical School, which produces more medical doctors than any other university in Britain, the Institute of Local Government Studies, the Centre of West African Studies, the European Research Institute and the Shakespeare Institute. Between 1964 and 2002, the University of Birmingham was also home to the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, a leading research centre whose members' work came to be known as the Birmingham School of Cultural Studies. Despite being established by one of the key figures in the founding of Cultural Studies, Richard Hoggart, and being later directed by the renowned theorist Stuart Hall, the department was controversially closed down.

Reputation

The University ranked 26th out of 113 higher education institutions in The Times 2008 Good University Guide, and came 18th in The Guardian's 2008 rankings. It is ranked fifth nationally for Research Excellence.

Birmingham is rated equal 92nd best university in the world in the Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (IHE-SJTU) Academic Ranking of World Universities 2007. In October 2007, the University was also ranked equal 65th best in the world by The Times Higher Education Supplement.

Due to Birmingham's role as a centre of light engineering, the university traditionally had a special focus on science, engineering and commerce, as well as coal mining. It now teaches a full range of academic subjects and has five-star rating for teaching and research in several departments; additionally, it is widely regarded as making a prominent contribution to cancer studies.

The university is particularly known for its research, with two thirds of its departments ranked nationally or internationally outstanding in the last Research Assessment Exercise in 2001. Languages, mathematics, biological sciences, physiotherapy, sociology and electrical and electronic engineering all recorded maximum points.The Department of Political Science and International Studies (POLSIS) is ranked 4th in the UK and 22nd in the world in the Hix rankings of political science departments

The University of Birmingham ranked 65th in The 2007 THES-QS World University Ranking 

The University of Birmingham ranked 75th in The 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking
The University of Birmingham ranked 66th in The 2009 THES-QS World University Ranking
The University of Birmingham ranked 59th in The 2010 QS World University Ranking