Harvard University of Australia

University is devoted to Harvard excellence in teaching,  Harvard University is devoted to excellence in teaching, learning, and research, and to developing leaders in many disciplines who make a difference globally. Harvard faculty are engaged with teaching and research to push the boundaries of human knowledge. For students who are excited to investigate the biggest issues of the 21st century, Harvard offers an unparalleled student experience and a generous financial aid program, with over $160 million awarded to more than 60% of our undergraduate students. The University has twelve degree-granting Schools in addition to the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, offering a truly global education.

Established in 1636, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher education in the United States. The University, which is based in Cambridge and Boston, Massachusetts, has an enrollment of over 20,000 degree candidates, including undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. Harvard has more than 360,000 alumni around the world.

You may have heard about Oxford's history as the first university in the English-speaking world. You may be familiar with our strengths in the humanities, or our outstanding museums and libraries. You may know that Oxford has been producing leaders for 800 years, through a distinctive and personal method of teaching.

You may not know, however, about some of Oxford's other important features in the twenty-first century. Today, Oxford is a modern, research-driven university. Our prowess in the sciences is particularly noteworthy: we have been ranked number one in the world for medicine for two years running by the Times Higher Education Supplement (2011-12 and 2012-13). Oxford is also ranked in the top ten globally in life sciences, physical sciences, social sciences and the arts and humanities. These pages share some of the highlights of that story.

Globalization is nothing new at Oxford: we welcomed our first international student - Em of Fries land - in 1190. The pace of globalization has accelerated in recent decades, and Oxford now has a strong international character and a presence around the world unlike that of any other university. As the oldest university in the English-speaking world, Oxford is a unique and historic institution. There is no clear date of foundation, but teaching existed at Oxford in some form in 1096 and developed rapidly from 1167, when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris.

In 1188, the historian, Gerald of Wales, gave a public reading to the assembled Oxford dons and in around 1190 the arrival of Em of Fries land, the first known overseas student, set in motion the University's tradition of international scholarly links. By 1201, the University was headed by a magisterial solarium Oxonian, on whom the title of Chancellor was conferred in 1214, and in 1231 the masters were recognized as a university or corporation.

In the 13th century, rioting between town and gown (townspeople and students) hastened the establishment of primitive halls of residence. These were succeeded by the first of Oxford's colleges, which began as medieval 'halls of residence' or endowed houses