To the northwest of Detroit in the US state of Michigan is Oakland University. It was established in 1957 following a donation of 1,433 acres, several buildings and $2 million to the then ‘Michigan State University’. In 1963 it was renamed as Oakland University.

Oakland is a public university with over 20,000 students enrolled from around 745 countries.

Its picturesque Meadow Brook Hills campus spans the two cities of Auburn Hills and Rochester Hills and is home to more than 50 major buildings, including an art gallery, a theatre and a music festival.

An estimated half a million people visit its campus each year to explore the many cultural treasures to be found there, such as the home of the university’s benefactor, Matilda Dodge Wilson, widow of John Francis Dodge, who co-founded the Dodge motor car company, and on whose estate the university now stands and which is listed as a National Historic Landmark.

Symbolic of its strong focus on graduate education, over 90 per cent of Oakland’s faculty has doctoral degrees.

Classified by the Carnegie Foundation as a doctoral research university, it offers around 140 doctoral and masters degrees, and certificate programmes, plus approximately 136 undergraduate courses.

In addition to an annual budget of around $254 million, the university’s total research spending amounts to nearly $40 million. On top of that it has an endowment of around $84 million.

The university library system, open around the clock throughout the year, comprises over 92,00 e-books, 54,000 journals, 796,000 print volumes, as well archives and special collections.

Sport-wise, the university has 18 NCAA Division 1 varsity sports teams for both men and women. These teams are known as the Golden Grizzlies.

Oakland has an alumni network of over 100,000, 72 per cent of whom live in the state of Michigan.