The University of Cambridge is one of the oldest universities in the world and one of the largest in the United Kingdom. Its reputation for outstanding academic achievement is known world-wide and reflects the intellectual achievement of its students, as well as the world-class original research carried out by the staff of the University and the Colleges.

Many of the University's customs and unusual terminology can be traced to roots in the early years of the University's long history, and this booklet looks to the past to find the origins of much that is distinctive in the University of today.

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Prof. Dr. J¨¹rgen Mlynek

Prof. Takeshi Sasaki
The 27 President of the University of Tokyo

Peking University is a comprehensive and National key university. The campus, known as "Yan Yuan"-- the gardens of Yan, is situated at the  northeast of the Haidian District at the western suburbs of Beijing. It stands near the Yuan Ming Gardens and the Summer Palace.

The University consists of 6 colleges and 29 departments, with 85 specialties for undergraduates,3 specialties for the second Bachelor's degree, 146 specialties for Master candidates and 97 specialties for Doctoral candidates. While still laying stress on basic sciences, the university has paid special attention to the development of applied  sciences.

At present,  Peking  university has 45 research institutes and 52 research centres, and there are 2 national engineering research centres, 42 key national disciplines, 5 national key laboratories,  and 6 national key laboratories and 4  state special laboratories  are  still under  construction.

The university has made an effective combination of the research on important scientific  issues with the training of personnel with high level specialized knowledge and professional skill as demanded by the country's socialist modernization. It strives not only for the  simultaneous improvements in teaching and research work, but also for the promotion of  interaction and mutual promotion among various subjects.

Thus Peking University has become a center for teaching and research and a university of the new type,  consisting  of diverse branches of learning such as pure and applied sciences, social sciences and the  humanities, and sciences of management and education. Its aim is to rank among the world's  best universities at the beginning of the next century.