Stanford University was founded in 1885 and is located in California’s Bay Area, around 30 miles south of San Francisco. More than half of the student body studies at the graduate level. Seven schools comprise the university, many of which are highly ranked for graduate-level studies. Three of the schools offer both undergraduate and graduate degrees: humanities and sciences; earth sciences; and engineering. The business, law, education and medical schools offer only graduate-level degrees. Stanford’s academic calendar is based on a quarter system and the language of instruction is English.

Around 8 percent of the undergraduate student body is international, as is around 30 percent of the graduate student population. Housing is guaranteed for four years for undergraduates who enter as freshmen, and more than 90 percent of undergrads live on campus. Stanford also guarantees first-year housing for new graduate students. More than 60 percent of graduate students live on campus, as well as around 30 percent of faculty members. Stanford’s library system, which supports 20 libraries, comprises more than 9.3 million physical volumes. Research funding at Stanford has topped $1 billion, including funds from the federal government for projects at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy lab operated by Stanford. Scientists from all over the world – around 3,400 of them annually – take advantage of SLAC’s facilities. Upward of 1,000 scientific papers based on research conducted at the lab are published each year.

Stanford University is ranked #3 in Best Global Universities. Schools are ranked according to their performance across a set of widely accepted indicators of excellence.