Founded in 1636 by vote of the Massachusetts Bay Colony's General Court and named in 1639 for its first major benefactor, the clergyman John Harvard, Harvard College is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. It grew from a small colonial school for training clergy into a major research university and remains a reference point for the history of American higher education.
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Founded Year CityCambridge, Massachusetts 1 Ownership Type Ranking Band Classification
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B.F. Skinner, Thinkers Skinner spent virtually his entire academic career at Harvard.
Source Wikipedia
Additional Source B. F. Skinner (Wikipedia)en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._F._Skinner, lead section
Fellow member of the nine colonial colleges chartered in British North America before the American Revolution.
Source Brown University (Wikipedia)
Fellow member of the nine colonial colleges chartered in British North America before the American Revolution.
Source Dartmouth College (Wikipedia)
Howard Gardner, Thinkers Gardner developed the theory of multiple intelligences while on the Harvard faculty.
Source Wikipedia
Additional Source Howard Gardner (Wikipedia)Lead section
Source Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Wikipedia)
Source Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Wikipedia)
The MBA originated at Harvard's Graduate School of Business Administration in 1908, per the MBA's own live entity-description.
Source Master of Business Administration (MBA) (Wikipedia)
Source National University of Singapore (Wikipedia)
Source National University of Singapore (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia
Additional Source Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (Wikipedia)Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, Introduction section
W.E.B. Du Bois, Thinkers Du Bois's doctoral work at Harvard preceded his career as an educator and sociologist.
Source Wikipedia
Additional Source W. E. B. Du Bois (Wikipedia)en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._E._B._Du_Bois, biography section
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1. Wikipedia
Wikimedia Foundation- Institution Type: University
- Founded Year: 1636
- Country: United States
- City: Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Ownership Type: Private non-profit
2. Wikidata: Harvard University
- Wikidata Q13371, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)
- Wikidata Q13371, class allow-list match (w-bbfill-education6-0927)
- Wikidata Q13371 P2196 (number of students), preferred+latest (w-bbfill-education6-0927)
View the Source3. Center for World University Rankings: CWUR World University Rankings 2025
Center for World University RankingsCWUR Global 2000 list 2025, world rank 1Quote, CWUR Global 2000 list 2025, world rank 1
Top 0.1% Harvard University USA 1 1 1 1 1 100
Harvard University - About: History
Harvard Universityharvard.edu, About: HistoryQuote, harvard.edu, About: History
On October 28, 1636, Harvard, the first college in the American colonies, was founded.
Wikipedia: Harvard University
Wikimedia Foundationen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_University, lead section
Founded in 1636, and named Harvard College in 1639 in honor of its first benefactor, Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States.
Article text
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States.
Lead section
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States.
View the Source Dartmouth College (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Dartmouth College, Lead sectionQuote, Associated With: Dartmouth College, Lead section
Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock and Samson Occom to train Native American Christian missionaries, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution.
Brown University (Wikipedia)
Master of Business Administration (MBA) (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Master of Business Administration (MBA), Entity description, Master of Business AdministrationQuote, Associated With: Master of Business Administration (MBA), Entity description, Master of Business Administration
It originated at Harvard's Graduate School of Business Administration in 1908 and has since become one of the most widely recognised postgraduate qualifications worldwide.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, History section, Harvard merger attempts
There would be at least six attempts to absorb MIT into Harvard.
Associated With: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, History section, Eliot merger attempts
MIT faculty and alumni rebuffed Harvard University president (and former MIT faculty) Charles W. Eliot's repeated attempts to merge MIT with Harvard College's Lawrence Scientific School.
View the Source National University of Singapore (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: National University of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy sectionQuote, Associated With: National University of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy section
The Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy inherited NUS's Public Policy Programme, which was established in 1992 in partnership with Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.
Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, Introduction sectionQuote, Associated With: Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, Introduction section
Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, 600 U.S. 181 (2023), is a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court ruling that race-based affirmative action programs in most college admissions violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
B. F. Skinner (Wikipedia)
Associated With: B.F. Skinner, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._F._Skinner, lead sectionQuote, Associated With: B.F. Skinner, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._F._Skinner, lead section
He was the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University from 1948 until his retirement in 1974.
Howard Gardner (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Howard Gardner, Lead sectionQuote, Associated With: Howard Gardner, Lead section
Hobbs Research Professor of Cognition and Education at Harvard University.
W. E. B. Du Bois (Wikipedia)
Associated With: W.E.B. Du Bois, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._E._B._Du_Bois, biography sectionQuote, Associated With: W.E.B. Du Bois, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._E._B._Du_Bois, biography section
in 1895, he was the first African American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard University.
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