USA - Virginia - University of Virginia

West Lawn, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia.

Sent by Tana from Charlottesville in Virginia, USA.

The University of Virginia (UVA or Virginia) is a public research university located in Charlottesville City and Albemarle County in Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his Academical Village, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its original governing Board of Visitors included three U.S. presidents: Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe, the latter as sitting president of the United States at the time of its foundation. As its first two rectors, Presidents Jefferson and Madison played key roles in the university's foundation, with Jefferson designing both the original courses of study and the university's original architecture. The original campus contains President Monroe's former residence and law office, today used as a residential college.

Now expanded to 1,135 acres (459 ha) of central campus, the modern university is composed of eight undergraduate and three professional schools: the School of Law, the Darden School of Business, and the School of Medicine. The university has been a member of the Association of American Universities since 1904.

The university's leadership, faculty, research staff, and alumni have included several United States presidents, foreign heads of state, Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, Marshall Scholars, Fulbright Scholars, and 57 Rhodes Scholars—the most of any state university. Its alumni include 31 state governors (including fourteen Governors of Virginia) and 33 United States senators. UVA students and alumni have founded companies such as Reddit, Skillshare, VMware, and Space Adventures.

Its athletic teams, the Virginia Cavaliers, have twice won the Capital One Cup for overall athletics prowess and compete in NCAA Division I as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference (read more).

United Kingdom - England - Centre for Mathematical Sciences (University of Cambridge)

Centre for Mathematical Sciences (University of Cambridge).

Sent by Alex of Ann Arbor in Michigan, who studied his Masters in Fuid Mechanics at this college.

The Centre for Mathematical Sciences (CMS) at the University of Cambridge houses the university's Faculty of Mathematics, the Isaac Newton Institute, and the Betty and Gordon Moore Library. It is situated on Wilberforce Road, on a site which was formerly a St John's College playing field, and has been leased by St John's to the university as part of its expansion into West Cambridge.

The Isaac Newton Institute was opened in July 1992. Andrew Wiles announced his proof here of Fermat's Last Theorem on 23 June 1993, though it required additional fine tuning. The rest of the site was designed by Edward Cullinan architects and Buro Happold and construction under project manager Davis Langdon was completed in 2003. It consists of 340 offices in 7 'pavilions', arranged in a parabola around a 'central core' with lecture rooms, common space, and a grass-covered roof, as well as a gatehouse. The design won awards including the British Construction Industry Major Project Award 2003, the David Urwin Design Award 2003, the Royal Fine Art Commission Trust Specialist Award 2003 and the RIBA Award 2003 (read more).

USA - Washington - University of Washington Quad

SEATTLE

University of Washington Quad

Founded in 1861, University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast. The cherry trees located in the university quad are over 80 years old and come into full bloom by early April.

Sent by Matt who lives near Seattle, USA.

The Liberal Arts Quadrangle, more popularly known as the Quad, is the main quadrangle at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. It is often considered the school's trademark attraction. Raitt Hall and Savery Hall frame the northwestern boundary while Gowen, Smith, and Miller Halls frame the southeast. At the top of the quad sits the latest buildings on the quad, the Art and Music Buildings. The quad is lined with thirty Yoshino cherry trees, which blossom between mid-March and early April.

The history of the Quad traces back to the beginnings of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition campus. Although the Quad was not finished until 1950, its layout was produced as early as 1915 by its designers Henry Suzzallo, an early UW President, and architect Carl Gould, who designed numerous buildings on the UW campus. In 1915, the Board of Regents adopted Gould's "Revised General Plan of the University of Washington", known more commonly as the Regents Plan (read more).

Serbia - Captain Miša Mansion

Captain Miša Mansion, Belgrade.

Sent by Iva from Belgrade, Serbia.

The Mansion of Miša Anastasijević (Serbian: Капетан Мишино здање, romanized: Kapetan Mišino zdanje) is one of the most notable buildings in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the University of Belgrade's administration and governance building. 

The building was designed by Czech architect Jan Nevole and built in 1863. It had been originally designed to serve for the anticipated court of the grandson of Karađorđe Petrović, who was married to Captain Miša’s youngest daughter Sara. Nevertheless, following the realization of construction, Captain Miša Anastasijevic gave his mansion as a gift to “his mother country for educational purposes”. In September 1863, the Belgrade Higher School was moved into the building. This site is often regarded as one of the most beautiful buildings in Belgrade. Today, the seat of the University of Belgrade is headquartered within its premises (read more).

USA - Michigan - Michigan State University

MSU SPARTAN STADIUM
East Lansing, Michigan
This is band day at MSU; upwards of 3,000 musicians from 35 high schools from around the state are guests of Michigan State University. This half-time spectacle is an annual event. The seating capacity of the Spartan Stadium is 76,000.

Sent by Suzi from Seattle in Washington, USA.

Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the country. After the introduction of the Morrill Act in 1862, the state designated the college a land-grant institution in 1863, making it the first of the land-grant colleges in the United States. The college became coeducational in 1870. Today, Michigan State has facilities all across the state and over 634,000 alumni.

Michigan State is a member of the Association of American Universities and is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". The university's campus houses the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, the W. J. Beal Botanical Garden, the Abrams Planetarium, the Wharton Center for Performing Arts, the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, and the country's largest residence hall system (read more).

Taiwan - Tunghai University

Tunghai University.

Sent by WSH from Taipei, Taiwan.Tunghai University (THU; traditional Chinese: 東海大學; simplified Chinese: 东海大学; pinyin: Dōnghǎi Dàxué; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tang-hái Tāi-ha̍k; lit. 'East Sea University') is a private university in Xitun District, Taichung, Taiwan, established in 1955. It was founded by the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia (UBCHEA). The university is known for its liberal arts education.

Located at the foothills of Dadu Mountain, Tunghai University spans over a hundred hectares, making it the largest private university campus in Taiwan by land area. Its early campus architecture, which embodies both architectural aesthetics and historical significance was built to include modernism, traditional Chinese architecture along with locally indigenous elements. As a result, it has been designated as a cultural landscape by the Taiwan.
On the campus, the Luce Memorial Chapel (designed by architects Chen Chi-kwan and I. M. Pei) is a local landmark.

The university shares its name with Tokai University in Japan. The two universities have since entered a partnership agreement (read more).

Spain - Cantabria - Comillas Pontifical University

Comillas Pontificial University
Comillas - Cantabria

Sent by Estefania from Santander, Spain.

Comillas Pontifical University (Spanish: Universidad Pontificia Comillas) is a private university located in Madrid, Spain. It is aCatholic university run by the Society of Jesus.

The university ranks as the 5th best among Spain's law schools, in a ranking done by the national newspaper, El Mundo, 4th in best industrial engineering schools  and 3rd in best social work schools.

The university is involved in a number of academic exchange programmes, work practice schemes and international projects with over 200 institutions of higher education in Europe, Latin America, North America and Asia.

Pope Leo XIII founded the Seminary of St. Anthony of Padua in 1890 in the town of Comillas, Cantabria, in response to efforts made by the Marquis of Comillas to build an institution for educating local candidates to the priesthood. At the time of its foundation, the seminary was entrusted to the Society of Jesus. In 1904, the seminary was raised to the status of a Pontifical university when Pope Pius X granted the school the power to confer academic degrees in theology, philosophy and canon law.

In 1969 the university was moved to Madrid, where its doors were opened to a wider range of students. (read further)

Germany - University Town of Tübingen

University Town of Tübingen.

Sent by Anne, a postcrosser from Germany.

Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen (German: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen) is one of Germany's 11 federally designated Elite Universities. The university is located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg. It is one of Germany's most famous and oldest universities, internationally noted in medicine, theology, natural sciences and the humanities. Currently, around 28,000 students are enrolled.

Tübingen is one of five classical "university towns" in Germany; the other four being Marburg, Göttingen, Freiburg and Heidelberg. The 17 hospitals in Tübingen affiliated with the university's faculty of medicine have 1,500 patient beds, and cater to 66,000 in-patients and 200,000 out-patients on an annual basis.

Transnistria - Pridniestrovian State University of T.G. Shevchenko

The main building of Pridniestrovian State University of T.G. Shevchenko.

Sent by Martin of Slovakia, a TravBuddy member who visited Tiraspol, Transnistria. Thank you very much.

Taras Shevchenko Transnistria State University (Russian: Приднестровский государственный университет имени Т. Г. Шевченко) is the main university located in Tiraspol, the capital of Transnistria. It was founded in 1930 as the Institute of public education in the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, then being a constituent part of the Ukrainian SSR. Honouring the outstanding Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko it was renamed during his 125th anniversary celebration in 1939. The TSTSU consists of 12 buildings. Students can study both internally and in absentia. Not only citizens of Transnistria can study there but also people from abroad. Education can be both free and paid.(Source)

USA - California - University of California

The University of California at Berkeley
This beautiful campus, nestled in the Berkeley Hills, is famous throughout the world.

Sent by BlueBat, a postcrosser from California, USA.

This is from Wikipedia : The University of California, Berkeley (also referred to as UC Berkeley, Berkeley, California, or simply Cal) is a public research university located in Berkeley, California, United States. The university occupies 1,232 acres (499 ha) on the eastern side of the San Francisco Bay with the central campus resting on 178 acres (72 ha). Berkeley offers approximately 350 undergraduate andgraduate degree programs in a wide range of disciplines. Established in 1868 as the result of merger of the private College of California and the public Agricultural, Mining, and Mechanical Arts College in Oakland, Berkeley is the oldest of the ten major campuses affiliated with the University of California (UC). Berkeley has been charged with providing both "classical" and "practical" education for the state's people and is generally considered to be the flagship institution in the University of California system. Berkeley co-manages three United States Department of Energy National Laboratories, including the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy.

Berkeley faculty, alumni, and researchers have won 70 Nobel Prizes, 9 Wolf Prizes, 7 Fields Medals, 15 Turing Awards, 45MacArthur Fellowships, 20 Academy Awards, and 11 Pulitzer Prizes. To date, UC Berkeley and its researchers are associated with 6 chemical elements of the periodic table (Californium, Seaborgium, Berkelium, Einsteinium, Fermium, Lawrencium) andBerkeley Lab has discovered 16 chemical elements in total – more than any other university in the world. Berkeley is a founding member of the Association of American Universities and continues to have very high research activity with $652.4 million in research and development expenditures in 2009. Berkeley physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer was the scientific director of the Manhattan Project that developed the first atomic bomb in the world, which he personally headquartered at Los Alamos, New Mexico, duringWorld War II.

Berkeley student-athletes have won over 100 Olympic medals. Known as the California Golden Bears (often abbreviated as "Cal Bears" or just "Cal"), the athletic teams are members of both the Pacific-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federationin the NCAA. Cal athletes have won national titles in many sports, including football, men's and women's swimming, men's basketball, baseball, men's gymnastics, softball, water polo, rugby, and crew. The official colors of the university and its athletic teams are Yale Blue and California Gold.

Brazil - University of São Paulo - Campus de Pirassununga

An aerial view of Pirassununga Campus of University of São Paulo.

Sent by Constança, a postcrosser from São Paulo, Brazil.

This is from Wikipedia : Universidade de São Paulo (University of São Paulo, short USP) is a public university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is the largest Brazilian university and one of the country's most prestigious. According to reports by the Ministry of Science and Technology, more than 25% of the articles published by Brazilian researchers in high quality conferences and journals are produced at the University of São Paulo.

USP is one of the largest institutions of higher education in Latin America, with approximately 90,000 enrolled students. It has eleven campuses, four of them in São Paulo (the main campus is called Campus Armando de Salles Oliveira, with an area of 7,443,770 m²). The other campi are in the cities of Bauru, Lorena, Piracicaba, Pirassununga, Ribeirão Preto and two in São Carlos. USP is involved in teaching, research and university extension in all areas of knowledge.

In 1934, during a period known for the "search for alternatives", along with political centralisation, efforts were carried out to provide Brazil with modern administrative, educational and military institutions. One of the main initiatives included the creation, that same year, of the University of São Paulo. Its nucleus was the Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Languages, with professors coming from France, Italy, Spain, Germany and other European countries.

USP also brought together several research and higher-education institutions that already existed in Brazil such as the Faculty of Medicine (Faculdade de Medicina), the Polytechnic School (Escola Politécnica), "Luiz de Queiroz" College of Agriculture (Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz),and the College of Law (Faculdade de Direito).

According to the 2010 Academic Ranking of World Universities, USP is placed in the group of the 101-151 top world universities. In the 2011 QS World University Rankings University of Sao Paulo ranked 169th and is the best classified in the specific ranking of South America's universities. In 2011, the University of Sao Paulo is the first Ibero-American institution in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings's top-200 (Position 178 in the World).

Russia - Tomsk - Tomsk State University

Tomsk State University.

Sent by Suyazova from Tomsk, Russia.

This is from Wikipedia : Tomsk State University (TSU), formerly Imperial Tomsk University, is the first university in Siberia—it was founded in 1878 in Tomsk, Russia. TSU opened in 1888 with only one department, the medical school. Today, there are 22 departments in TSU with 23,000 students.

The idea to open the first university in Siberia occurred to progressive minds in Russia back in 1803, but it was not until the late nineteenth century that it became realistic. The government delayed the decision either due to a lack of money or the inadequate development of secondary education in the region. Moreover, some thought that a university in Siberia was a luxury and it was dangerous to give Siberian people higher education. These reasons only resulted in a delay, and could not entirely remove this question from the agenda.

Tomsk was one of the seven cities in Siberia that aspired to the high honour of hosting a university. Eventually, it won. On May 28, 1878 Emperor Alexander II passed the Decree of the State Council of the Russian Empire permitting the establishment of the Imperial Siberian University in Tomsk. This put an end to the 75-year-old struggle for a university in Tomsk and marked the beginning of its history: the construction, opening and development of the ninth higher educational establishment in Russia and the first in Siberia. The construction of the main building of Tomsk Imperial University and the first dormitory was made possible thanks to private donations, which amounted to half of the budget. Simultaneous with the construction, a library was being assembled as were the materials for some laboratories, museums, the botanical garden with its greenhouse and the herbarium.

The university was meant to be an exclusive educational establishment that combined the academic process with research and aimed at developing a creative personality capable of self-improvement. As a classic university, TSU is based on research and educational schools. It means that the most research is based in the sciences and academic process must involve a sound combination of the natural sciences and the humanities accompanied with a flexibility in education. Professor V. M. Florinsky said in his speech at the opening ceremony: “We would like our professors and scientists, inspired by their love for the Motherland, to serve both students and science with equal eagerness. We would like them to be more independent in their scientific research and to set up their own scientific schools. Only a combination of the academic process with scientific research will enable our university to fulfill its high mission and, independently of its direct utilitarian objectives, to bear fruit in higher education.” These are the principles that Tomsk State University has been following ever since.

USA - Hawaii - University of Hawaii

ABOVE HAWAII - Oahu
The University of Hawaii was founded in 1907 with 5 students and 12 faculty. Today the University has an enrollment of over 20,000 and over 1500 faculty members. Shown here is the 300 acre main campus in Manoa Valley.

Sent by Marie, a postcrosser from Hawaii, USA.

This is from Wikipedia : The University of Hawaiʻi System, formally the University of Hawaiʻi and popularly known as UH, is a public, co-educational college and university system that confers associate, bachelor, master, and doctoral degrees through three university campuses, seven community college campuses, an employment training center, three university centers, four education centers and various other research facilities distributed across six islands throughout the state of Hawaii in the United States. All schools of the University of Hawaiʻi system are accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, founded as a land grant college under the terms of the Morrill Act of 1862 for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts in the United States, is the flagship institution of the University of Hawaiʻi system. It is well respected for its programs in Hawaiian/Pacific Studies, Astronomy, East Asian Languages and Literature, Asian Studies, Comparative Philosophy, Marine Science, Second Language Studies, along with Botany, Engineering, Ethnomusicology, Geophysics, Law, Linguistics, Mathematics, and Medicine. The second-largest institution is the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi. It teaches over 3,000 students. The smaller University of Hawaiʻi-West Oʻahu in Pearl City primarily serves students who reside on Honolulu's western and central suburban communities. The University of Hawaiʻi Community College system comprises four campuses on Oʻahu and one each on Maui, Kauaʻi, and Hawaiʻi. The schools were created to improve accessibility of courses to more Hawaiʻi residents and provide an affordable means of easing the transition from high school to college for many students. University of Hawaiʻi education centers are located in more remote areas of the state, supporting rural communities via distance education.