Spread over 8,000 acres in North Carolina, Duke University, USA is ranked among America’s top 10 universities by US News & World Report and among the top 20 in the QS World University rankings A top-ranked private teaching and research varsity in the US, Duke University (estb. 1924) offers a comprehensive range of undergraduate and postgraduate study programmes across ten academic schools. Spread over 8,000 acres in Durham in North Carolina state, Duke University, USA is ranked among the country’s Top 10 universities by the US News & World Report (2012) and the Top 20 worldwide in the QS World University Rankings 2011. According to The Huffington Post, Duke is one of the ten toughest universities in the US to get into, based on admissions data. For instance, for the undergraduate programmes of 2015, it received 29,724 applications of which 3,864 were accepted. Currently 6,526 undergrads are enroled in its Trinity College of Arts & Sciences and Pratt School of Engineering, while its postgraduate and professional schools — business, divinity, engineering, the environment, law, medicine, nursing and public policy — have 8,220 students on their muster rolls. “The spirit of Duke manifests itself in collaborations across academic disciplines, research that changes lives, and a lively student body whose innovation in cheering on sports teams is matched only by its innovation in class and community work,” says Richard H. Brodhead, president of the university. Duke University, USA (formerly Trinity College) was established in 1924 by James Buchanan Duke, a tobacco millionaire, in memory of his father, Washington. The provisions of James B. Duke’s $40 million (Rs.220 crore) indenture in 1924 was Duke’s initial endowment. Since then the endowment corpus of this 88-year-old varsity has ballooned to $5.7 billion, (Rs.31,350 crore) in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2011. Consequently Duke follows a needs-blind admission policy, which means it admits students on merit and offers means tested part and full scholarships. Currently almost 50 percent of all Duke students receive financial aid. Durham. Located midway between the Great Smoky Mountains and beaches of the Atlantic in the state of North Carolina, Durham (pop. 262,715) offers students and visitors 300 restaurants, more than 40 annual festivals, the Duke and North Carolina Central universities, Durham Bulls Triple-A baseball, art and science museums, and world-class medical facilities. In the late 19 th century, Durham was nicknamed ‘Bull City’ when the Blackwell Tobacco Company named its product ‘Bull’ Durham Tobacco. For many decades ‘Bull City’ prospered as a manufacturing and processing centre for the tobacco and textiles industries, but has since transformed into a hub of high-tech industry and medicine. The weather in Durham is marked by warm and humid summers, cool winters, mild spring and autumn. The latter part of July and August can get quite hot and humid, while January is cold (snowfall once or twice per year). Campus facilities. Duke’s 8,000-acre campus includes 6,000 acres of the splendid Duke Forest, with the remaining 2,000 hosting quads, open lawns, woodlands, hollows, gardens, athletic fields, a golf course,…
