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.

Germany - Mannheim

MANNHEIM

Sent by Beverley, a postcrosser from Germany.

This is from Wikipedia : Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 311,350 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart.

Mannheim is located at the confluence of the Rhine River and the Neckar River in the northwestern corner of Baden-Württemberg. The Rhine separates Mannheim from the city of Ludwigshafen, just to the west of it in Rhineland-Palatinate. The border of Baden-Württemberg with the Bundesland of Hesse is just north of Mannheim, and Mannheim is just downstream along the Neckar from the city of Heidelberg. Mannheim is the largest city of the Rhine Neckar Area, a metropolitan area with about 2.4 million inhabitants.

Mannheim is rather unusual among German cities in that the streets and avenues of Mannheim's central area are laid out in a grid pattern, just like most North American and Australian cities and towns are. Because of this, the city's nickname is "die Quadratestadt" (the German word for "city of the squares"). One main route through the streets and avenues runs by a large 18th century palace, the Mannheim Palace. This former home of the rulers of the Palatinate now houses part of the University of Mannheim.

The civic symbol of Mannheim is der Wasserturm (the water tower), an old tower that is located just east of the city's center.

Mannheim is also the location of both the start and the finish of Bertha Benz Memorial Route.

India - Pune Vidyapith

PUNE
Pune Vidhyapith or University of Pune.

Sent by Mukund from Pune, India.

This is from Wikipedia : The University of Pune (Marathi: पुणे विद्यापीठ) (formerly the University of Poona), located in North Western Pune, is one of India's premier universities. It was founded in 1949. Spread over a 400 acre (1.6 km²) campus, the university is home to 46 academic departments. University of Pune has been given the highest "A" rating by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) for its overall performance.

The University of Pune was established under the Poona University Act, passed by the Bombay legislature on February 10, 1948. In the same year, Dr. M.R. Jayakar assumed office as the first vice chancellor of the university. Shri B.G. Kher, Chief Minister and Education Minister of the government of Bombay, helped ensure the university received a large allocation of land for their campus. In early 1950, the university was allocated over 411 acres (1.7 km²).

The location of the University has historical significance. Some incidents of the Battle of Khadki took place where the present day University of Pune is located. The present day Main Building was built in 1864 and was known as the Governor's House. The University is also home to IUCAA, the nation's premier institute for astronomy.

Russia - Orenburg State University's Library

Former water-tower. Building of the library of the Orenburg State University.

Sent by Eugene from Russia.

New Zealand - University of Otago at Dunedin

University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
New Zealand's oldest university offers a pleasant blend of traditional and modern architecture. It is world famous for its excellence in academic achievement and quality of scientific research.

Sent by Sally from Mosgiel in New Zealand.

This is from Wikipedia : The University of Otago (Māori: Te Whare Wānanga o Otāgo) in Dunedin is New Zealand's oldest university with over 20,000 students enrolled during 2006.

The university has New Zealand's highest average research quality and in New Zealand is second only to the University of Auckland in the number of A rated academic researchers it employs. It topped the New Zealand Performance Based Research Fund evaluation in 2006.

Founded in 1869 by a committee including Thomas Burns, the university opened in July 1871. Its motto is "Sapere aude" ("Dare to be wise"). (The University of New Zealand subsequently adopted the same motto.) The Otago University Students' Association answers this with its own motto, "Audeamus" ("let us dare"). The university's graduation song Gaudeamus igitur, iuvenes dum sumus... ("Let us rejoice, while we are young") acknowledges students will continue to live up to the challenge if not always in the way intended. Between 1874 and 1961 the University of Otago was a part of the University of New Zealand, and issued degrees in its name.

Otago graduates are among the most dispersed university alumni in the world, due in part to New Zealand being considered a relatively good destination by many Asian students and with the greater variety of jobs, opportunities and salaries on offer overseas for New Zealand students graduating from an established university. Many graduates ultimately settle in Australia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, the United States, China, Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Japan, Singapore or parts of New Zealand beyond Otago. Otago is known for its student life, particularly its flatting. The nickname Scarfie comes from the habit of wearing a scarf during cold southern winters.

USA - South Dakota - Dakota Wesleyan University

Sent by Joshua from South Dakota. This one shows Matthew D. & Loretta Smith Hall at The Dakota Wesleyan University.

This is from Wikipedia : Dakota Wesleyan University (DWU) is a four-year university located in Mitchell, South Dakota, and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. The student body averages slightly less than 800 students. It was founded in 1885. The campus of the university is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

United Kingdom - England - Oxford Colleges

This one sent from England by a friend who doesn't like to reveal her name :)