\”I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study,” is the motto of Cornell University, words first uttered by its co-founder Ezra Cornell. Cornell was founded in 1865 with the then radical intention of teaching and making contributions in all fields of knowledge. 

Since its founding, Cornell has been a co-educational, non-sectarian institution where admission has not been restricted by religion or race. These are liberal traditions that Cornell holds dear: a recent article in the Cornell Chronicle heralded the first all-female class admitted to its famous Farrier program in veterinary science. Cornell was also the first university to offer degrees in journalism and the first to teach modern Far Eastern languages. 

The main campus of Cornell is on East Hill in Ithaca, New York, overlooking the city and Cayuga Lake. It spreads over 2,300 acres and comprises laboratories, administrative buildings, and almost all the campus\’ academic buildings, athletic facilities, auditoriums, and museums. 

The architecture is an eclectic mix of Collegiate Gothic, Victorian, and Neoclassical buildings, international and modernist structures. There are other campuses and facilities in New York City itself such as the medical campus Weill Cornell in Manhattan, and the engineering campus Cornell Tech. Outside New York, Cornell has an outpost in the gulf state of Qatar, which is the first American medical college to open outside of the United States. 

Ithaca campus sits at the heart of the Finger Lakes region, surrounded by green space and natural beauty. Students here are as likely to be found sitting under a tree with their nose in a book as they are taking advantage of the many clubs, societies and activities Cornell has to offer. 

First-year undergraduates live on North Campus, while upper-level students often hone in on the communities that they have found, opting for a fraternity or sorority, a co-op, a themed residence hall, or an apartment off campus. 

There are more than 1,000 organizations on campus, ranging from skateboarding to volunteer programs. Sporty or outdoorsy students can take part in courses as diverse as caving and rope climbing, and there are four sports centers for the fitness inclined. 

Food lovers are also well catered for, with Cornell voted in the top ten universities for food, with more than 30 dining facilities across campus. 

Established in 1754, Columbia University is a private Ivy League research university in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It was established as King\’s College by royal charter of George II of Great Britain and renamed Columbia College in 1784 following the American Revolutionary War. 

With an undergraduate acceptance rate of 5.8 percent, Columbia is currently the third most selective college in the United States and the second most selective in the Ivy League after Harvard. Its first president was none other than the literary great Samuel Johnson, and over the years Columbia has produced numerous distinguished alumni, from Oscar winners and Nobel laureates to Supreme Court judges. Three US Presidents and the authors of the Declaration of Independence and American Constitution were also schooled at Columbia. It also runs the highly distinguished Pulitzer Prize, an annual award for achievements in journalism, literature and musical composition. 

The university is organized into 20 schools, including undergraduate schools such as Columbia College, the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, and the School of General Studies, as well as graduate schools such as Columbia Law School, Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia Journalism School and Columbia Business School. It also had global research outposts across the world. Its total student body numbers around 28,000 and is comprised mainly of postgraduates, with roughly 8,500 undergraduate students. 

Columbia’s main campus is Morningside Heights, occupying around six city blocks in the Morningside Heights district of New York. It’s home to the neo-classical Butler library, one of the largest buildings on campus, and almost two dozen undergraduate dormitories. The university also owns 7,800 apartments in the local area, which house faculty members, students, and staff. 

The campus was designed along Beaux-Arts principles and was a late 19th century vision of a campus where all disciplines could be taught. Some of its standout features include the Low Memorial Library, a National Historic Landmark, the site of the invention of FM radio, and the location where the nuclear fission of uranium first took place. 

More significant for students are The Steps, a long series of granite steps which are a popular hangout and meeting place, and the bronze figure of Alma Mater, a female figure draped in an academic gown who serves as a daily reminder to students of their scholarly duties. 

Young and research-intensive, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) is placed 12th globally, and 1st among the world’s best young universities for five consecutive years (QS university rankings).
 
Home to 33,000 students, NTU offers engineering, science, business, humanities, arts, social sciences, and education, and has a joint medical school with Imperial College London.
 
Ranked the top university in the world for citations in artificial intelligence (Nikkei and Elsevier 2017) for the period 2012-2016, NTU is embracing digital technologies for better learning and living as part of its Smart Campus vision. It has partnerships with the world’s leading technology companies such as Alibaba, Rolls-Royce, BMW, Volvo, Delta Electronics, and Singtel in many areas of societal importance and impact that include artificial intelligence, data science, robotics, smart transportation, computing, personalised medicine, healthcare and clean energy.
 
The NTU Smart Campus is not only a living testbed of tomorrow’s technologies, but it is also frequently listed among the world’s Top 15 most beautiful university campuses. It has 57 Green Mark-certified (equivalent to LEED-certified) building projects comprising more than 230 buildings, of which 95% are certified Green Mark Platinum.
 
Apart from its main campus, NTU also has a medical campus in Novena, Singapore’s healthcare district.

The oldest higher education institution in China, Peking University was founded in 1898 as a replacement for the ancient Guozijian school (Imperial College). By the early 1920s, it had become a center for Chinese progressive thought, playing an important role in China\’s New Culture Movement, the May Fourth Movement, and the Tiananmen Square protest of 1989, among other significant historical events. 

Peking University has been consistently ranked as the top academic institution in China. As well as being renowned academically, it’s well-known for its stunning campus grounds and for the beauty of its traditional Chinese architecture. Peking University has educated some of the most prominent figures in Chinese history, including Mao Zedong. 

The main university campus is in the former site of the Qing Dynasty imperial gardens and as such features traditional Chinese-style landscaping, including traditional houses, gardens, pagodas, as well as many notable historical buildings and structures. Weiming Lake is to the north of the campus and is surrounded by walking paths and small gardens. 

The university grounds are also home to museums, such as the Museum of University History and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology, in which students can view objects dating back thousands of years. It’s an environment to feed the enquiring minds of young students – not that the academic curriculum doesn’t already do that. 

Peking University is a leading university for science research and teaching and has successfully developed applied sciences research and teaching as well. There are 30 colleges and 12 departments, with 93 undergraduate programs, 199 master\’s degree programs, and 173 options for doctoral candidates. 

Peking is eager for students to receive not only comprehensive education, but to take part in student life to the full.  Life on campus is rich with sport and extracurricular fare, with more than 200 student organizations and a range of activities running year-round. 

Sport is important, with Beida Cup Athletic Championships taking place each year, while festivals and events such as the International Cultural Festival, or Singing Competition for Foreign Students, allow students to meet up, make friends and enjoy a balanced life outside of their studies. 

The École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) is a research institute and university in Lausanne, Switzerland, specializing in the natural sciences and engineering. 

Its roots can be traced back to the foundation of a private school in 1853, which to start with only had 11 students. Those days are long gone though, with the modern day EPFL one of two Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology and student numbers in Lausanne now totaling over 10,000. 

Located in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, EPFL is twinned with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich). As part of its research and teaching activities, EPFL is one of the only universities to run a nuclear reactor, a fusion reactor, a Gene/Q Supercomputer, and have P3 bio-hazard facilities.

EPFL has a very singular admissions process, which, for would-be undergraduates who are Swiss nationals, is not selective at all. At the end of freshman year, however, a block exam determines whether students can continue or have to repeat the year, with many home students dropping out entirely at this point. 

The EPFL campus lies on the shores of Lake Geneva and consists of 65 buildings across 136 acres. Facilities include banks, bars, two museums – the Musee Bolo and Archizoom – as well as bars, restaurants and cafeterias. 

There are students of 112 different nationalities here, though as of 2014 women made up only 27 percent of the student body. Life on campus is vibrant, with many student-formed clubs and associations providing social and recreational opportunities. 

A wide range of sports and leisure facilities keep students physically active while studying. EPFL also has an active student media, publishing the monthly newspaper Flash and there are daily broadcasts on the student radio station. 

Another priority on campus is the arts, with the university holding several annual music festivals each year. The largest is Balélec Festival, where 15,000 visitors descend upon the university to watch 30 concerts on two outdoor and four indoor stages.