Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with an endowment of over
37 billion. Harvard is the United States’ oldest institution of higher learning, and is considered one of the most prestigious in the world.
In fact, Harvard has nine faculties: Arts and Sciences, Engineering and Applied Sciences, Business, Education, Government and International Affairs, Law, Medicine, Divinity School and the Graduate School of Design. The university offers bachelor’s degrees in over 250 areas of study, as well as master’s degrees in 96 fields. The undergraduate student body consists of about 6,000 undergraduates pursuing their academic interests through 34 different fields of study; approximately 400 students attend graduate school full-time.
Also Harvard was founded in 1636 by clergymen who had moved from Boston to settle near a body of water which they named “Newetowne”. It was named after their leader Reverend John Harvard who left his library to the College when he died. The school was later renamed after its first benefactor John Harvard (1607-1638), a minister from Southwark who became an early benefactor of Harvard College after receiving his A.B. degree from Emmanuel College at Cambridge University in 1636.
So Harvard grew from its beginnings as a small liberal arts college into America’s most prestigious university. In the late 1800s it became known for pioneering research in psychology and astronomy, and for its leading role in developing the American system of higher education that is still widely used today.
