Columbia University

Columbia University, located in upper Manhattan in New York City, is a private research university and Ivy League member founded in 1754 by royal charter from King George II哥伦比亚大学（Columbia University），坐落于美国纽约市曼哈顿上城，是一所私立研究型大学与常春藤联盟成员，1754 年由英王乔治二世颁发皇家特许状创办。

Columbia is renowned for its Core Curriculum and its system of professional schools, and has educated several US presidents and a long line of Nobel laureates. According to OpenAlex, its scholars have published more than 430000 works drawing over 56 million citations哥大以通识核心课程与专业学院体系著称，培养出多位美国总统与诺奖得主；据 OpenAlex 统计，累计发表学术成果逾 43 万篇、总被引超 5600 万次。

History

• Classes first met in the vestry of Trinity Church in July 1754 with eight students under Samuel Johnson, and on 31 October of that year a royal charter established King's College1754 年 7 月首批 8 名学生与首任校长塞缪尔·约翰逊在圣三一教堂的阁楼开课，同年 10 月 31 日学校获皇家特许状，定名国王学院。

• After the War of Independence the college broke with Britain, was renamed Columbia College by state act in 1784 and received a new charter in 1787 revised by a committee led by John Jay and Alexander Hamilton独立战争后学校脱离英国，1784 年纽约州立法将其改名哥伦比亚学院，1787 年颁发新特许状，由约翰·杰伊与亚历山大·汉密尔顿主持修订。

• The medical school was incorporated in 1813, making Columbia one of the earliest American universities to found a medical faculty1813 年医学院成立，是美国最早设立医学院的大学之一。

• The college moved in 1857 to a Gothic Revival campus at Fifth Avenue and Madison Avenue, and Barnard College was founded in 18891857 年学校迁入第五大道与麦迪逊大道交口的哥特复兴式校园，1889 年创办巴纳德学院。

• On 2 May 1896 the trustees resolved to rename the institution Columbia University and it moved to its Morningside Heights campus of some 32 acres1896 年 5 月董事会决议改名哥伦比亚大学，同年迁入晨曦高地约 32 英亩的新校园。

• Through the early twentieth century the university expanded rapidly under its so-called building plan, adding professional faculties and growing into a comprehensive research university20 世纪初学校在建设计划的推动下快速扩张，增设医学、工程与法学院，逐步成长为综合性研究型大学。

• Teachers College was for decades among the largest graduate schools of education in the country and shaped American education research in the 1950s哥伦比亚教育学院长期是全美最大的教育学研究生院之一，1950 年代带动美国教育学科的发展。

• Columbia joined the Association of American Universities in 2016, marking an important step in its research funding and academic network2016 年哥大进入美国大学联盟，成为该校在科研经费与学术网络上的重要节点。

• On 1 July 2026 Jennifer Mnookin became the twenty-first president of Columbia, having previously served as chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison2026 年 7 月 1 日珍妮弗·姆努金出任第 21 任校长，此前她曾任威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校校长。

Academics

• The university comprises seventeen schools, alongside the affiliated colleges of Barnard and Teachers College and two affiliated seminaries学校下设十七所学院，另有巴纳德学院与教师学院两所关联学院，以及两所联合神学院。

• Its Core Curriculum requires every undergraduate to take Introduction to Contemporary Civilization in the West, a course running in an unbroken line since 1919核心课程制度要求所有本科生修读「当代西方文明概论」，该课自 1919 年设立以来长期沿用。

• The schools of engineering, law, medicine, business and journalism are the university's most influential professional schools, each ranked among the leading ones in the country工程学院、法学院、医学院、商学院与新闻学院是哥大最具影响力的专业学院，在美国均有顶尖声誉。

• The medical school is based at the Irving Medical Center on the Washington Heights campus of some 20 acres, working closely with NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital医学院位于华盛顿高地的欧文医学中心园区，占地约 20 英亩，与纽约 Presbyterian 医院紧密合作。

• The university maintains teaching affiliations with nineteen American hospitals and four abroad, extending its clinical training across several cities学校与全美 19 家医院及海外 4 家医院建立教学合作关系，临床训练网络覆盖多个城市。

• The library system holds vast collections of rare books, with Barnard College and Teachers College maintaining their own collections alongside it图书馆系统收藏巨量珍本，巴纳德学院与教师学院亦各有独立馆藏。

• Its endowment of about 15.9 billion dollars is mid-sized among American universities but the school is distinguished by its holdings of New York property and institutions捐赠基金约 159 亿美元，在美国高校中规模中等，但以纽约市的地产与机构资源见长。

• Several Nobel laureates are affiliated with the university, which is well regarded in economics, architecture and the earth sciences校友与教职中有多位诺贝尔奖得主，学校在经济学、建筑学与地球科学等学科享有声誉。

• The university runs programmes with partners in Paris, London and Israel, and undergraduates may apply for study abroad哥伦比亚大学与巴黎、伦敦、以色列等地设有合作办学项目，本科生可申请海外交换。

• A standing committee oversees the Core Curriculum, preserving the continuity of the university's commitment to liberal education学校设专门的核心课程委员会监督通识教育质量，强调博雅教育理念的延续。

• Barnard College, founded in 1889, has from the outset been centred on women's undergraduate education and remains a separate college within the university巴纳德学院自创办起即以女子本科教育为核心，是哥大体系内的独立学院。

Campus

• The Morningside Heights campus lies at the northern tip of Manhattan, some 299 acres of low-slung Gothic Revival buildings主校区晨曦高地位于曼哈顿北端，校园面积约 299 英亩，以低矮的哥特复兴式建筑群著称。

• Butler Library, named in memory of Butler, anchors the campus, joined by Low Library and the Lewisohn Hall巴特勒图书馆是校园的中心建筑，另有劳图书馆、勒费伯楼与汉密尔顿楼。

• The Irving Medical Center on Washington Heights forms the university's second principal campus on the northern end of Manhattan欧文医学中心位于华盛顿高地，是哥大在曼哈顿北端的第二个主要园区。

• The campus also holds the seminary buildings, those of Barnard College and the Albert Schweitzer Memorial Chapel校园内另有联合神学院与巴纳德学院各自的楼群，以及阿尔伯特·施韦因茨纪念教堂。

• The broad steps before the domed library and the university lion are campus landmarks where students and local residents meet校园以穹顶图书馆前的大台阶与哥大獅子雕像为地标，学生与本地居民在此往来。

• The university also occupies buildings in Manhattanville, while Barnard College sits in the complex that includes the Apollo Theater学校在纽约市另有曼哈顿维尔分校，巴纳德学院占据阿波罗剧院所在的楼群。

Reputation

• It ranks 43rd in the 2027 QS World University Rankings, 19th in the 2027 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, 8th in the 2026 ARWU ranking and 10th in the 2026-27 U.S. News Best Global Universities2027 年 QS 世界大学排名中位列全球第 43，2027 年泰晤士高等教育世界大学排名第 19，2026 年软科世界大学学术排名第 8，2026—2027 年度 US News 全球最佳大学排名第 10。^[1]

• On the ARWU ranking Columbia sits steadily among the world's top ten, its most consistent showing in international comparisons哥大在软科世界大学学术排名中稳居全球前十，是该校在国际比较中表现最稳健的榜单。

• As the fifth oldest university in the United States, Columbia's influence is especially deep in American politics, law and journalism作为美国第五古老的大学，哥大在美国政治、法律与新闻领域的影响尤为深远。

• Seven of the Founding Fathers attended, among them Hamilton and Jay, who shaped both the Constitution and the Federalist Papers校友中有七位开国元勋，其中汉密尔顿与杰伊同时起草了美国宪法与《联邦党人文集》。

• A roll of Nobel and Pulitzer laureates alongside leaders in many fields reflects the school's long accumulation in the humanities and social sciences诺贝尔奖得主、普利策奖得主与各领域领军人物的校友名单，显示哥大在人文社科方向的长期积累。

Student life

• The motto, drawn from the Psalms and meaning in thy light shall we see light, is inscribed on the shield校训出自《诗篇》，意为「在你的光中，我们将看见光」，镌于校徽之上。

• The university is organised into residential colleges where undergraduates and graduates live together, forming the social core of campus学校由若干住宿学院组成，本科生与研究生混住，是校园生活的重要单元。

• The Spectator, the student newspaper, is among the oldest continuously published college papers in the United States学生报纸为《哥伦比亚每日观察家报》，创刊于 1752 年前后，是全美历史最悠久的学生报刊之一。

• The Columbia lion is the emblem of the university and the athletic teams, the Lions, compete in blue and white哥伦比亚獅子是全校象征，体育代表队名为雄狮，校队以蓝白两色出战。

Notable people

• Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and other Founding Fathers studied at Columbia in its early decades创校时期与早期历史中，亚历山大·汉密尔顿与约翰·杰伊等开国元勋曾在此求学。

• Columbia produced scholars such as Edward Sapir and made pioneering contributions in economics and statistics哥伦比亚培养了爱德华·萨皮尔等重要学者，并在经济学与统计学领域贡献了开创性成果。

• Its graduates include several US presidents and vice presidents, cabinet secretaries, and noted journalists and publishers毕业生中有多位美国总统、副总统与内阁部长，以及知名的记者与出版人。

• Its Nobel laureates span physics and physiology or medicine, and several laureates in economics have taught or studied at Columbia诺贝尔奖得主包括物理学奖与生理学或医学奖得主，经济学奖得主亦有数位在哥大任教或就读。