Columbia University was founded in 1754 as King’s College by royal charter of King George II of England. It is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York and the fifth oldest in the United States.

The Royal Charter formally establishing King’s College in 1754 defined the institution’s goal as “the Instruction and Education of Youth in the Learned Languages and Liberal Arts and Sciences.” This mandate has not essentially changed, even with the transformation of King’s College into Columbia, one of the world’s foremost research universities.

Columbia’s undergraduate curriculum combines the breadth of learning provided by general education courses with the solid mastery of a discipline achieved through a major. And, because Columbia is a great research university as well as a small liberal arts college, students with the will and ability to pursue their majors to the highest levels of scholarly sophistication are free to do so.