Higher Education
There are about 594,000 university students in New York City attending around 110 universities and colleges. New York State is the nation’s largest importer of college students, according to statistics which show that among freshmen who leave their home states to attend college, more come to New York than any other state, including California. Enrollment in New York State is led by New York City, which is home to more university students than any other city in the United States.
The higher education sector is also a vital contributor to NYC's economy, employing 110,000 people in 2007 and accounting for nearly 2.5 percent of overall employment in NYC.
Public higher education is provided by the many campuses of the City University of New York (CUNY), which has over 450,000 students, second in number only to the separate State University of New York (SUNY) and California State University. CUNY is built around the City College of New York, whose own history dates back to the formation of the Free Academy in 1847. Much of CUNY's student body, which represent 145 countries, consists of new immigrants to New York City. CUNY has campuses in all of the five boroughs, with 11 four-year colleges, 6 two-year colleges, a law school, a graduate school, a medical school, an honors college, and a journalism school. A third of college graduates in New York City are CUNY graduates, with the institution enrolling about half of all college students in New York City. The City University's alumni include Jonas Salk, Colin Powell, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel.
New York also has many nationally-important independent universities and colleges, such as (in alphabetical order) Barnard College, Columbia University, Cooper Union, Fordham University, Long Island University, Manhattan College, New York University, Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology, Pace University, Pratt Institute, St. John's University, The New School, and Yeshiva University. The city has dozens of other private colleges and universities, including many religious and special-purpose institutions, such as St. Francis College, The Juilliard School and The School of Visual Arts.
Columbia University, an Ivy League university in northwestern Manhattan founded in 1754, is the fifth oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Barnard College is an independent women's college, one of the original Seven Sisters, affiliated with Columbia. Through a reciprocal agreement, Barnard and Columbia students share classes, housing, and extracurricular activities, and Barnard graduates receive the degree of the University.
New York University (NYU) is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan. Founded in 1831, NYU is one of the largest private, nonprofit institutions of higher education in the United States.
The New School, located mostly in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, is a private multidisciplinary university housing eight specialized colleges, including the internationally recognized art school, Parsons The New School for Design. Founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research, the university established itself as a modern free school where adult students could "seek an unbiased understanding of the existing order, its genesis, growth and present working."
Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, was founded in 1859 by Peter Cooper to provide tuition-free education in engineering, architecture and the fine arts. For 150 years, the College has admitted students based on merit alone and provided each with a full-tuition scholarship.
Two of the United States' leading Roman Catholic universities are in New York City. The Jesuit-associated Fordham University, with campuses in Manhattan and the Bronx, was the first Catholic university in the Northeast, founded in 1841. St. John's University was founded by the Vincentian Fathers in 1870 and now has campuses in Queens, Manhattan, and Staten Island; it is the country's largest Catholic university (over 20,000 graduate and undergraduate students).
Yeshiva University, in Washington Heights, is a Jewish university rooted in America's oldest Yeshiva, founded in 1886.
One of the nation's most prestigious conservatories, The Juilliard School, is located on the Upper West Side.
New York Law School is a private law school in lower Manhattan and is one of the oldest independent law schools in the United States.
The New York Academy of Sciences is a society of some 20,000 scientists of all disciplines from 150 countries.
See also: List of colleges and universities in New York CityRead more about this topic: Education In New York City
Famous quotes containing the words higher education, higher and/or education:
“The lesson learned here is a costly one: If you stand up for your principles, follow the law, and win massively, you lose totally.”
—Linda J. Carpenter, U.S. educator. As quoted in the Chronicle of Higher Education, p. A38 (July 15, 1992)
“The fancy that extraterrestrial life is by definition of a higher order than our own is one that soothes all children, and many writers.”
—Joan Didion (b. 1934)
“The fetish of the great university, of expensive colleges for young women, is too often simply a fetish. It is not based on a genuine desire for learning. Education today need not be sought at any great distance. It is largely compounded of two things, of a certain snobbishness on the part of parents, and of escape from home on the part of youth. And to those who must earn quickly it is often sheer waste of time. Very few colleges prepare their students for any special work.”
—Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876–1958)