Duke University is a private comprehensive research university located in Durham, North Carolina, USA. It enjoys extremely high academic reputation and is hailed as one of the world’s top higher education institutions.
Historical Background
Duke University’s history can be traced back to 1838, starting as Brown’s Schoolhouse. It went through stages as the Union Institute and Normal College before being renamed Trinity College in 1859 with the support of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1892, funded by tobacco magnates Washington Duke and Julian Carr, it relocated to Durham. In 1924, James Buchanan Duke established the Duke Endowment, and the university was renamed in memory of his father.
Campus & Scale
The campus spans over 8,600 acres, comprising four campuses: East, West, Central, and the Medical Center. As of July 2023, the university has 10 colleges, 38,521 faculty and staff, and 10,400 students. It offers over 60 undergraduate majors and extensive graduate programs, boasting 3 Turing Award laureates and 15 Nobel Prize winners.
Academic Strengths
Numerous disciplines rank among the top in the U.S., with outstanding performances in biological sciences, statistics, humanities, public policy, psychology, and computer science. Its business, law, and medical schools are within the national top 10. Specifically, the Fuqua School of Business ranked first in the U.S. in Bloomberg Businessweek’s 2014 Best Full-Time MBA Programs.
International Collaboration
Committed to global partnerships, Duke co-founded the Duke-NUS Medical School with the National University of Singapore in 2005. In 2013, Duke Kunshan University was approved by China’s Ministry of Education, welcoming its first students in 2014.
Rankings
- QS World University Rankings 2025: #61
- US News Global University Rankings: #26
- Times Higher Education World University Rankings: #27
- Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU): #39
