Columbia University

Columbia University was founded in 1754 as King's College by royal charter of King George II of England. It is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York and the fifth oldest in the United States.

• For more than 250 years, Columbia has been a leader in higher education in the nation and around the world. 
• At the core of our wide range of academic inquiry is the commitment to attract and engage the best minds in pursuit of greater human understanding, pioneering new discoveries and service to society.
• Controversy preceded the founding of the College, with various groups competing to determine its location and religious affiliation. 
• Advocates of New York City met with success on the first point, while the Anglicans prevailed on the latter. 
• However, all constituencies agreed to commit themselves to principles of religious liberty in establishing the policies of the College.
• Columbia became, in the words of College alumnus Herman Wouk, a place of "doubled magic," where "the best things of the moment were outside the rectangle of Columbia; the best things of all human history and thought were inside the rectangle."
• The study of the sciences flourished along with the liberal arts. Franz Boas founded the modern science of anthropology here in the early decades of the twentieth century, even as Thomas Hunt Morgan set the course for modern genetics.
• In 1928, Columbia–Presbyterian Medical Center, the first such center to combine teaching, research, and patient care, was officially opened as a joint project between the medical school and The Presbyterian Hospital.
• The University also continued to develop the Audubon Biotechnology and Research Park, securing Columbia's place at the forefront of medical research.
• As New York City's only university-related research park, it also is contributing to economic growth through the creation of private-sector research collaborations and the generation of new biomedically related business.
• Columbia’s natural science departments, among the strongest in the world, have launched the Science Initiative to guide their development over the next 10 years.
• It identifies key scientific priorities, sets forth opportunities for collaboration, and ensures an outstanding faculty with the resources needed to make the next generation of scientific breakthroughs.