Harvard University (4)

In world list of 50 best universities American institutions occupied seven of the top ten places, with Oxbridge the highest-ranked outside the United States. Harvard was first in the list.

Harvard University, which celebrated its 370th anniversary in 2006, is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Founded 16 years after the arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, the University has grown from nine students with a single master to an enrollment of more than 30,000 degree candidates. Seven presidents of the United States, among them John Adams, Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy and George Bush – were graduates of Harvard. It produced more than 40 Nobel prize winners (of more than 300 Amtrican winners).

Harvard College was established in 1636 by vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and was named for its first benefactor, John Harvard of Charlestown, a young minister who, upon his death in 1638, left his library and half his estate to the new institution. During its early years, the College offered a classic academic course based on the English university model but consistent with the prevailing Puritan philosophy of the first colonists. Most of Harvard University's campuses are located in Cambridge and Boston, Massachusetts, on the eastern coast of the United States of America.

Visitors often ask: Who is the typical Harvard student? The answer is that there is no such person. Each student is a unique individual, and the student body is incredibly diverse. They come from every region of the United States and more than 100 other countries. They include undergraduates and graduate, continuing education, and Summer School students. They range from pre-teens to octogenarians; in 1997, Mary Fasano became the oldest person ever to earn a Harvard degree when she graduated from the Extension School at the age of 89. Two-thirds come from public schools, and about two-thirds receive some form of financial aid.

Studing in Harvard is rather expensive. Cost of it for 2007-2008 was about $45,000. In a real sense, all students at Harvard are on financial aid because the actual cost of a Harvard education exceeds the cost of tuition by approximately $10,000 per student. This subsidy is made possible through gifts and endowment funds.

The freshmen are accepted on the basis of their scholastic achievements and other talents, not their ability to pay tuition. Financial needs are met through a combination of scholarships, loans, and term-time jobs. The financial aid package may cover up to 100 percent of tuition and expenses, depending on the degree of need. Harvard's need-blind admissions policy evolved from a conviction that students learn as much from each other as they do from academic study. Thus, the more diverse the student body, the more opportunity students have to learn from their peers (равный).

The push for greater diversity began in 1934, making Harvard accessible to well-qualified students of limited means throughout the country. In the 1950s alumni were organised into a far-flung (разветвлённый) network to convince talented students who might not have considered Harvard to give it a try. Under President Derek Bok, need-blind admissions combined with the aggressive recruitment of talented students from around the world - of all ethnic groups and economic levels - resulted in increasing diversity among the student body. Between 1976 and the present, minority enrollment has more than tripled, reaching approximately 35 percent.

The Universitу proclaimed some principles. It encourages students to respect ideas and their free expression, and to rejoice (радоваться) in discovery and in critical thought; to pursue excellence in a spirit of productive cooperation; and to assume responsibility for the consequences of personal actions. Harvard seeks to identify and to remove restraints on students' full participation, so that individuals may explore their capabilities and interests and may develop their full intellectual and human potential. Education at Harvard should liberate students to explore, to create, to challenge, and to lead. It provides to students a foundation upon which self-reliance and habits of lifelong learning are built: Harvard expects that the scholarship and collegiality it fosters in its students will lead them in their later lives to advance knowledge, to promote understanding, and to serve society.

Seven Presidents of the United States Studied at Harvard. First of them was the second president of States John Adams.

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