University of Groningen

The University of Groningen is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands, founded in 1614 the university ranks amongst the top 100 universities in the world. We are a research intensive institution offering a wide range of highly regarded bachelor, master and PhD programmes in all fields, completely in English. Currently we have a student body of 30,000 - almost 5,000 of which are international. We are proud to have won the prestigious International Student Satisfaction Excellent Award for the last two years running.

Many international students are attracted to Groningen predominantly for the world class education offered at the university however, our location is second to none. Groningen is the Netherland’s best kept secret, based in Northeast of the country, approximately 2 hours by train from Schiphol Airport, the city is home to almost 200,000 people with one in four being a student and 50% of the population being under the age of 35! Groningen is a buzzing student city and a very safe place to live, as soon as you arrive at you’ll notice the youthful, safe, fun vibe of the city.

Our bachelor graduates  continue their studies by studying a master degree with us in Groningen or at another university around the world. Some individuals will decide to go further still and earn a PhD in their field of expertise. Notable alumni include the first-ever female graduate in the Netherlands and the first Dutch space traveller Wubbo Ockels.

Whatever your journey, by studying at the University of Groningen you’ll be in a strong position to take any path you wish.

National University of Singapore

A leading global university centred in Asia, the National University of Singapore (NUS) is Singapore's flagship university, which offers a global approach to education and research with a focus on Asian perspectives and expertise.

Its 16 faculties and schools across three campus locations in Singapore – Kent Ridge, Bukit Timah and Outram – provide a broad-based curriculum underscored by multi-disciplinary courses and cross-faculty enrichment. NUS’ transformative education includes programmes such as student exchange, entrepreneurial internships at NUS Overseas Colleges, and double degree and joint degree programmes with some of the world’s top universities, offering students opportunities and challenges to realise their potential. The learning experience is complemented by a vibrant residential life with avenues for artistic, cultural and sporting pursuits. Over 37,000 students from 100 countries further enrich the community with their diverse social and cultural perspectives.

NUS has three Research Centres of Excellence (RCE) and 23 university-level research institutes and centres. It is also a partner for Singapore’s fifth RCE. The University shares a close affiliation with 16 national-level research institutes and centres. Research activities are strategic and robust, and NUS is well-known for its research strengths in engineering, life sciences and biomedicine, social sciences and natural sciences. Major research thrusts have been made recently in several fields such as quantum technology; cancer and translational medicine; interactive and digital media; and the environment and water. The University also strives to create a supportive and innovative environment to promote creative enterprise within its community.

NUS is actively involved in international academic and research networks such as the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) and International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU).

University of Washington

The University of Washington is one of the largest and most prestigious higher education institutions on the west coast of the US.

Founded in 1861 as the Territorial University of Washington, the institution expanded with the city of Seattle during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, moving to its current site in 1895.

The 700-acre park-like campus, which borders two lakes in Seattle, is now home to 16 schools and colleges offering courses ranging from undergraduate to doctoral level. The university also has campuses in Bothell and Tacoma which offer bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

It has a highly respected medical school, offering training in dentistry, medicine and public health, serving medical centres across the Pacific North West and Alaska.

It has traditionally educated students for public service in the region, offering courses in topics such as education, engineering, public affairs and social work.

With an emphasis on outreach and widening opportunities, the university also offers courses through distance learning, and evening classes.

The university is known informally as U-Dub, and its students, sports teams and alumni are often called “Huskies”.

Washington has produced several Nobel laureates, counting four among its alumni and another seven among its faculty. The most recent recipient is alumna Linda Buck, also an affiliate professor at Washington, who won the 2004 medicine prize.

There are eight Pulitzer Prize winners among its alumni, most notably the novelist Marilynne Robinson.

Other notable Washington alumni include MySpace founder Chris DeWolfe, actor Jim Caviezel and martial artist Bruce Lee.

Seattle itself is a city of more than 650,000 people about 100 miles south of the Canadian border, located between Puget Sound and Lake Washington. It is a major centre for technology companies, with headquarters of firms such as Amazon and Microsoft located in the region.

Heidelberg University

Heidelberg University, founded in 1386, is Germany’s oldest university and one of the strongest research universities in Europe. Its successes in both rounds of the Excellence Initiative, a competition to promote top-level research, and in international rankings prove Heidelberg’s excellent reputation and leading role in the scientific community. In terms of educating students and promoting promising young academics, Heidelberg relies on research-based teaching and an outstanding, well-structured training for doctoral candidates. Heidelberg University is a comprehensive university, offering the full spectrum of disciplines in the humanities, law and the social sciences alongside the natural and life sciences, including medicine. It aims to strengthen the individual disciplines and to further interdisciplinary cooperation as well as to carry research results over into society and industry. Research at the university is focused on four major interdisciplinary fields, the molecular and cellular basis of life, structure and pattern formation in the material world, cultural dynamics in globalised worlds and self-regulation and regulation: individuals and organisations. Heidelberg also draws its strength from its cooperation with numerous local non-university research institutions. Heidelberg University is tied into a worldwide network of research and teaching collaborations. Exchange programmes have been established with more than 400 universities worldwide. Heidelberg’s marked global interconnectedness is also evidenced by its 19 university partnerships and several international research training groups.

The ancient university was founded by Rupert I, one of the Holy Roman Empire's Prince-Electors, and it is associated with 11 German and foreign heads of state. In 1890, a natural sciences faculty was added. Today, it has 12 faculties, with more than 13,300 employees, and offers degree programmes in 100 disciplines to around 31,000 students.

McGill University

McGill is the oldest university in Montreal and one of just three English-language universities in Quebec. It is a public research institution that takes its name from Glaswegian merchant, James McGill, whose bequest in 1813 led to the formation of McGill College. In 1829 it was established as the nation’s first faculty of medicine.

The university is made up of 11 faculties, with 11 schools, all housed in 300 buildings. It caters for roughly 40,000 students, 24% of whom come from over 150 countries.  This makes it the most internationally diverse medical-doctoral university in Canada. It offers degrees and diplomas in over 300 areas of study.

McGill has an alumni network of roughly 250,000 living in over 180 countries. These include singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, actor William Shatner and astronaut Dave Williams. It also boasts 12 Nobel Prize winners and 140 Rhodes Scholars, more than any other university in the country.

Eureka moments associated with McGill include the discovery that atoms can be divided, the first map of the brain’s motor cortex, and the invention of Plexiglas.

McGill also lays claim to the invention of modern American football, hockey and basketball.

The main campus of the university is in downtown Montreal at the foot of Mount Royal. Next to the main campus is Milton Parc, an urban area that is home to many of the university’s students. The second campus is 18 miles west of the university in a more rural environment.

McGill has been a member of the Association of American Universities since 1926, an organisation comprising the top North American research universities. It is also a founding member of Universitas 21, which is an international network of leading research-intensive institutions that work collaboratively to enhance global reach and encourage international scope.

The university library is made up of 13 smaller branches and holds over six million items in total.

Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie Mellon University is a top-tier global research university and has been a birthplace of innovation since its founding in 1900. Our award-winning faculty is renowned for working closely with students to solve major scientific, technological and societal challenges. Our students are recruited by some of the world’s most successful and innovative companies, from Broadway to Bangalore. Carnegie Mellon puts a strong emphasis on making things, from art to robots. Carnegie Mellon alumni, students, faculty and staff are also encouraged to advance their novel ideas from the laboratory to the marketplace. The university ranked first among US institutions in the number of start-up companies created per research dollar spent between 2008 and 2012, according to the Association of University Technology Managers. In addition to US locations in Pittsburgh and Silicon Valley, Carnegie Mellon has a campus in Doha, Qatar, and offers degree programmes in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and Latin America. Carnegie Mellon is one of only 25 universities that were invited to be a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global University Leaders Forum. More than 98,000 Carnegie Mellon alumni around the world embody founder Andrew Carnegie’s famous words, “My heart is in the work.”

University of Michigan

A public university founded in 1817, the University of Michigan had a rustic beginning. At its campus in Ann Arbor, west of Detroit, cows owned by the faculty once grazed, and as late as 1845, wheat was grown on site as part of a janitor’s remuneration.

By 1866, the university had become the largest in the country. Now, the University of Michigan is one of the biggest research universities in the United States. It boasts alumni including Gerald Ford, former US president; Larry Page, co-founder of Google; and actor James Earl Jones, the voice of Darth Vader. 

The university’s sporting tradition began in 1865, and its sports teams, collectively known as the Michigan Wolverines, have won more than 50 national championships in 12 sports. Why the wolverine became the university’s mascot is a mystery, as although the nickname caught on in the middle of the 19th century, the first verified sighting of the animal in Michigan state did not occur until 2004.

Michigan’s mission is to serve the people of Michigan and the world through “preeminence in creating, communicating, preserving and applying knowledge, art, and academic values, and in developing leaders and citizens who will challenge the present and enrich the future”. It offers 250 undergraduate majors, 100 doctoral and 200 master’s programmes, as well as more than 1,400 student clubs.

The university has no shortage of bizarre traditions. On campus sits “The Cube”, a huge black object so finely balanced on one corner that students can spin it around despite its great weight. One myth is that the president gives it a push each morning in order to keep the campus running smoothly.

When students first arrive at Michigan they walk through a campus fountain to make them an “official wolverine”. After graduation, they walk the other way through the water, signifying their departure to join the professional world. And don’t step on the brass “M” at the centre of the campus, or exam failure awaits.

Duke University

Duke University, located in the US state of North Carolina, is one of the wealthiest private universities in America and a top producer of international scholars.

It was founded in 1838 as Trinity College but became known as Duke University only in 1924 after the Duke Endowment was established. The university describes itself as younger than most other prestigious research universities in the country.

The original campus was rebuilt in Georgian architecture as is now known as East Campus, after the 1930 addition of West Campus, Gothic in style and home to the impressive Duke Chapel tower.

There are 10 schools and colleges; the oldest is Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, founded in 1859, and the youngest is the Nicholas School of the Environment, established just 25 years ago.

About 95 per cent of all students graduate within four years of enrolling. In the 2015 entry class, the most popular majors were public policy, economics, biology, biomedical engineering and psychology.

Sports and performance art both thrive at Duke University, which competes in athletics and basketball, and hosts more than 60 art events a year.

In 2014, Duke Kunshan University opened in China, with the aim of integrating liberal arts education with Chinese tradition. Duke also has a partnership with the National University of Singapore to collaborate on a joint medical programme, which took its first students in 2007.

Overall, the university is one of the most competitive to get into. For the “Class of 2019” cohort, only 11.4 per cent of the applicants received a place.

Unusually, the university requires undergraduates to live on campus for the first three years. More than 75 per cent of the students also pursue volunteering opportunities, supporting the university’s mission, “knowledge in service to society”.

The most notable alumnus is Richard Nixon, the 37th president of the United States. He graduated from Duke University with a law degree in 1937. Duke alumni also head many Fortune 500 companies including Apple, Cisco Systems, JPMorgan Chase and PepsiCo.

Melinda Gates, who co-founded the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with her husband, also attended the university.

The alumni community also includes prominent novelists such as William Styron, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel The Confessions of Nat Turner and also wrote Sophie’s Choice, and Anne Tyler, who received the Pulitzer Prize for Breathing Lessons.

The university has an extensive private research library network, with three libraries on its West Campus, two on its East Campus, a library at the marine laboratory and separate libraries for business, divinity, law and medicine.

University of Toronto

Established in 1827, the University of Toronto is a world-renowned community of 85,000 students and 13,000 faculty members, located in one of the world’s most vibrant and multicultural cities.

The University of Toronto attracts students of the highest calibre from around the world. Small-group seminars and tutorials, combined with large lectures and online support, give students the opportunity to develop a spectrum of skills and knowledge. Students are attracted to U of T by the opportunity to work closely with renowned professors and to engage in research right from the beginning of their academic careers.

The University of Toronto also offers a vibrant extra-curricular student experience, with more than 800 clubs and student-run organizations. And just outside the lecture halls lies a world-class city renowned for its extraordinary variety of activities and its multicultural diversity.

The University of Toronto has a long history of innovation and research. It’s where Banting and Best first used insulin to treat diabetes, where Marshall McLuhan proclaimed that the medium is the message, where Frederick Teasdale and his colleagues developed Pablum and where Ernest McCulloch and James Till discovered stem cells. And the spirit of discovery lives on in a new generation of researchers making breakthroughs in such fields as computer speech recognition, solar energy, quantum cryptography, transportation and medicine. Today, our research community spans three campuses and nine partner hospitals, with annual research income totaling $1.2 billion. U of T researchers publish more articles than peers at any university except Harvard. U of T consistently ranks alongside the top five U.S. universities in the world in articles cited and is one of the top three single North American institutions in number of start-up companies created. 

U of T’s 500,000 alumni occupy leadership roles in more than 150 countries and in every sphere of human activity. Their ranks have included Lester Pearson, Norman Bethune, Margaret Atwood, Roberta Bondar, Julie Payette, David Cronenberg, Malcolm Gladwell and Craig Kielburger – prime ministers and poets, comedians and cinematographers, Nobel Prize laureates, humanitarians, astronauts and entrepreneurs.

California Institute of Technology

The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) is a world-renowned science and engineering research and education institution, where extraordinary faculty and students seek answers to complex questions, discover new knowledge, lead innovation, and transform our future.

Caltech's 124-acre campus is located in Pasadena, California.

The mission of the California Institute of Technology is to expand human knowledge and benefit society through research integrated with education. We investigate the most challenging, fundamental problems in science and technology in a singularly collegial, interdisciplinary atmosphere, while educating outstanding students to become creative members of society.

Founded as Throop University in 1891 in Pasadena, California, and renamed the California Institute of Technology in 1920.

Stanford University

Stanford University has one of the largest campuses in the US and is one of the most prestigious universities in the world.

It was established in 1885 and opened six years later as a co-educational and non-denominational private institution.

Its location, less than an hour’s drive south of San Francisco next to Palo Alto, is in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley, and the university is known for its entrepreneurial spirit.

This entrepreneurialism has its roots in the aftermath of the Second World War, when the provost encouraged innovation, resulting in a self-sufficient industry that would become Silicon Valley.

By 1970, the university had a linear accelerator and hosted part of the early network that would become the technical foundation of the internet.

The main campus spans 8,180 acres and is home to almost all the undergraduates who study at the university.

There are 700 major university buildings housing 40 departments within the three academic schools and four professional schools, alongside 18 independent laboratories, centres and institutes.

Stanford counts 21 Nobel laureates within its community, and numerous famous alumni associated with the university from the worlds of business, politics, media, sport and technology.

The 31st president of the US, Herbert Hoover, was part of the very first class at Stanford, and received a degree in geology in 1895. Currently, Stanford is also one of the leading producers of US Congress members.

The alumni include 30 living billionaires, 17 astronauts, 18 Turing Award recipients and two Fields Medallists.

Google’s co-founders met at Stanford while pursuing doctorate degrees, although neither ultimately completed their theses.

In total, companies founded by Stanford affiliates and alumni generate more than $2.7 trillion annual revenue, which would be the 10th largest economy in the world. These companies include Nike, Netflix, Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, Instagram, Snapchat, PayPal and Yahoo.

The first American woman to go into space, Sally Ride, received an undergraduate degree in physics from Stanford in 1973. Just 10 years later, she made her ascent into space, and is now a physics professor at Stanford.

In the five years leading up to 2012, the university embarked on a challenge to raise more than $4 billion. The fundraising exceeded this target and concluded the campaign having raised $6.2 billion, which will be used for more faculty appointments, graduate research fellowships and scholarships, and construction on 38 new or existing campus buildings.

Some of the funds have already been used for large projects, including the world’s largest dedicated stem cell research facility, a new business school campus, a law school expansion, a new Engineering Quad, a campus concert hall and an art museum.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The essence of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is our appetite for problems – especially those big, intractable, complicated problems whose solutions make a permanent difference. While MIT is a research university committed to world-class inquiry in math, science, and engineering, MIT has equally distinguished programmes in architecture, the humanities, management and the social sciences. A diverse, supportive campus environment – with an incredible range of student groups and athletic and fitness opportunities – ensures that it’s not all about the work. And in MIT’s intensely creative atmosphere, the arts flourish in all their forms.

Princeton University

Princeton is one of the oldest universities in the US and is regarded as one of the world’s most illustrious higher education institutions.

Founded in 1746 as the College of New Jersey, it was officially renamed Princeton University in 1896 in honour of the area where it is based, opening its famous graduate school in 1900.

Acclaimed for its commitment to teaching, the Ivy League institution offers residential accommodation to all of its undergraduates across all four years of study, with 98 per cent of undergraduates living on campus.

Its student body is relatively small, with fewer than 10,000 in total, and international students make up 12 per cent of undergraduates.

Princeton is also one of the world’s foremost research universities with connections to more than 40 Nobel laureates, 17 winners of the National Medal of Science and five recipients of the National Humanities Medal.

Faculty members who have been awarded a Nobel prize in recent years include chemists Tomas Lindahl and Osamu Shimomura, economists Paul Krugman and Angus Deaton and physicists Arthur McDonald and David Gross.

Notable alumni who have won a Nobel prize include the physicists Richard Feynman and Robert Hofstadter and chemists Richard Smalley and Edwin McMillan.

Princeton has also educated two US presidents, James Madison and Woodrow Wilson, who was also the university’s president prior to entering the White House. Other distinguished graduates include Michelle Obama, actors Jimmy Stewart and Brooke Shields, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Apollo astronaut Pete Conrad.

Princeton, which is consistently ranked among the world’s top 10 universities, is renowned for its campus’ park-like beauty as well as some of its landmark buildings, designed by some of America’s most well-known architects. For instance, its Lewis Library was designed by Frank Gehry and contains many of the university’s science collections. Its McCarter Theatre Center has won a Tony Award for the best regional theatre in the country.

Spread across 500 acres, the Princeton campus has about 180 buildings, including 10 libraries containing about 14 million holdings. It is popular with visitors, with about 800,000 people visiting its open campus each year, generating about $2 billion in revenue.

The Princeton area, which has a population of about 30,000 residents, is also something of a destination itself, with many attracted by its tree-lined streets and wide variety of shops, restaurants and parks.

The university is within easy reach of both New York City and Philadelphia, with the “Dinky” shuttle train providing a regular service lasting about one hour to both cities. Princeton regularly subsidises many student trips to concerts, plays and athletic events in the two cities.

Imperial College London

Imperial College London, a science-based institution based in the centre of the capital, is regarded as one of the UK’s leading institutions.

The college has around 15,000 students and 8,000 staff, with a focus on four main areas: science, engineering, medicine and business.

The institution has its roots in the vision of Prince Albert to make London’s South Kensington a centre for education, with colleges going alongside the nearby Natural History Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum and Science Museum.

Imperial was granted its charter in 1907, merging the Royal College of Science, the Royal School of Mines and the City & Guilds College.

The institution boasts 14 Nobel Prize winners, including Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin.

Famous alumni include science fiction author H.G. Wells, Queen guitarist Brian May, former prime minister of India Rajiv Gandhi, former UK chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson, and former chief executive of Singapore Airlines Chew Choon Seng.

The college’s motto is Scientia imperii decus et tutamen, which translates as “Scientific knowledge, the crowning glory and the safeguard of the empire”.

Imperial’s most notable landmark is the Queen's Tower, a remainder of the Imperial Institute, built to mark Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887.

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich

The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich) is one of the leading international universities for technology and the natural sciences. It is well known for its excellent education, groundbreaking fundamental research and for implementing its results directly into practice. To researchers, it offers an inspiring working environment, to students, a comprehensive education. Founded in 1855, ETH Zurich today has more than 18,000 students from more than 110 countries, including 3,900 doctoral students. About 500 professors currently teach and conduct research in engineering, architecture, mathematics, natural sciences, system-oriented sciences, and management and social sciences. Twenty-one Nobel laureates have studied, taught or conducted research at ETH Zurich, underlining the excellent reputation of the university. Transferring its knowledge to the private sector and society at large is one of ETH Zurich’s primary concerns. The 80 new patent applications filed each year and the more than 300 spin-off companies that have emerged from the institution since 1996 are evidence of ETH Zurich’s success in this area.

You don't have to be Albert Einstein to study here - every Swiss citizen who has sat the Matura (matriculation) is eligible - but it doesn't hurt. ETH Zurich (heir to the Federal Polytechnic Institute, set up in 1855) now teaches around 15,000 students in 16 faculties. Einstein received his diploma here in 1901.