Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut by Puritan clergymen as the Collegiate School, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine Colonial Colleges chartered before the American Revolution.
In fact, Yale’s original name was Collegiate School, but in 1718 the name was changed to Yale College to honor a financial gift from Elihu Yale, a governor of Madras, India.
In 1887, Yale adopted its current coat of arms designed by architect James Gamble Rogers with three Latin shields above a shield bearing an open book inscribed with “Veritas” (Truth). The book represents learning; the three shields represent faith, hope and charity; and the Latin inscription refers to John 8:32: “And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”
Moreover, Yale is organized into fourteen constituent schools: the original undergraduate college, the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and twelve professional schools. While the university is governed by a single board of trustees, it has separate faculties for its undergraduate and graduate students that exercise independent authority over their respective student bodies. The central administration is located in New Haven, while most campus activities take place in nearby New Haven or West Haven, Connecticut.
The university’s assets include an endowment valued at
25.4 billion as of September 2018 making it one of the largest financial endowments of any academic institution worldwide. It also has an active alumni network reaching around 400,000 people.
So Yale is consistently ranked among the world’s best institutions by several publications including U.S. News & World Report, Times Higher Education World University Rankings and so on.
