University of Maryland - Exchange Programme

Founded in 1856, the University of Maryland is a public research university and the largest university in the Washington Metropolitan Area. The university has close funding and institutional links to the capital – receiving research funding from the National Institutes of Health, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa), the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Department of Homeland Security.

The 1,250 acre campus, which started out as the 428 acres of an old sugar plantation, has redbrick Georgian buildings, a large central lawn called McKeldin Mall, and enough plants and trees to be designated a botanical garden. Morrill Hall, built in the 1890s, is the oldest structure still in use today. Almost 40,000 students on one of either 100 undergraduate majors and 120 graduate programmes join a number of notable alumni, including House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, The Muppets creator Jim Henson, The Wire creator David Simon and Seinfeld co-creator Larry David.

The University of Maryland also hosts one of the largest communities of language scientists in North America, including more than 200 faculty, researchers and graduate students, who collectively comprise the Maryland Language Science Center.