Williams College, USA

Established in 1793 Williams College was recently ranked America’s #1 undergrad liberal arts college by US News & World Report  Within the elite club of America’s globally renowned undergrad liberal arts colleges Amherst, Wellesley, Bryn Mawr and Swarthmore Williams College enjoys a formidable, even if relatively low profile reputation. Recently US News & World Report ranked Williams College as the # 1 liberal arts college in America (followed by Amherst). This 213-year-old institution sited in Williamstown, Massachusetts has the largest endowment of any humanities college in the US with over $1.5 billion (Rs.6,750 crore) in assets, and has produced 37 Rhodes scholars, the highest of any liberal arts college in the country. Established in 1793 with a modest endowment from Colonel Ephraim Williams, the college is a private, residential, co-education institution providing liberal arts (humanities, social sciences, maths and science) education to 2,000 undergrad students. Its three academic divisions (humanities, sciences, social sciences), offer 33 major degree and elective programmes. It does not offer any professional programmes (engineering, business or medicine). Says Morton Owen Schapiro, who took charge as president of Williams College in the year 2000: “With a spectacularly talented and devoted faculty and staff, great physical and financial wealth, and the absolute finest students in all of American higher education, we are obligated to realise a vision of educational excellence worthy of our extraordinary resources. We have never wavered in understanding that our mission is to provide the highest quality undergraduate education possible, centred on an appreciation, indeed a love of the liberal arts.” Williamstown. A small New England town of some 10,000 inhabitants in the Berkshire Hills of northwestern Massachusetts, Williamstown is three hours by road from New York and Boston. Surrounded by hills and dales, this idyllic town, better known as the home of Williams College boasts many natural attractions such as the Hopkins Memorial Forest, the Mount Greylock Reservation, Sand Springs, the Hoosic and Green rivers, and the Taconic Range of hills. Theatre enthusiasts have the chance to catch over 200 performances of classical and new plays during the Williamstown Theatre Festival, an annual event that runs from mid June to late August. The city’s Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute showcases an extensive collection of French impressionist art. Cultural landmarks and scenic landscapes apart, Williamstown buzzes with pubs, restaurants, bars and shops where students can chill. Campus facilities. Williams College sprawls across 450 acres comprising over 100 academic, athletic, and residential buildings including the new 62 Center for Theatre and Dance; the Hopkins Observatory, the oldest extant astronomical observatory in America; a student health centre; a chapel, and a Jewish synagogue. The Williams College Museum of Art houses 12,000 works spanning the history of art. In addition Williams owns the neighbouring Hopkins Memorial Forest (2,500 acres). There are an aggregate 862,940 volumes in the Sawyer, Schow Science, and Matt Cole libraries and 54,068 in the Chapin Rare Books Library, which also houses several founding documents of the United States including original printings of the Declaration of Independence,…