Longwood University – USA

The university occupies a unique geographic place in history: in early April 1865 both Gens. Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant marched past the north end of campus on Lee's retreat to Appomattox just days before the end of the American Civil War; at the south end of campus lies the former Robert Russa Moton High School, site of the historic 1951 student strike that became one of the five court cases culminating in the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision; and Israel Hill, a community of free black people formed around the turn of the 19th century, stands two miles from campus.

Longwood University is a small, highly residential public liberal arts university that offers more than 100 majors and minors across three main academic colleges. Longwood is ranked in the top regional universities in the South by U.S. News & World Report and has the largest percentage of classes taught by full-time faculty of all public universities in Virginia. Longwood is listed in the "Best in the Southeast" section of The Princeton Review's 2015 Best Colleges: Region by Region survey. Longwood also is listed in The Princeton Review's Best Value Colleges: 2014 Edition, the third consecutive year that Longwood was named to this list. The university is also ranked 354 among "over 700" colleges and universities ranked by Money Magazine. Forbes ranks Longwood in the top 600 colleges in the U.S. and in the top 175 in the South. In 2005 it was recognized by USA Today as among 20 schools in the country that promote and foster student success.

Longwood is known for active students and emphasis on collaborative learning. In the annual National Survey of Student Engagement review, Longwood routinely outscores other public universities in the Southeast in baseline measures of student engagement and quality learning environment. These scores include academic challenge, learning with peers, experiences with faculty, and campus environment.

Longwood requires every student who graduates to complete an internship, directed research or guided field experience in their field of study.

One of the centerpiece hands-on learning opportunities available to students is LU@YNP, an annual interdisciplinary program held at Yellowstone National Park that exposes participants to public issues in and around the park. In addition, students have the opportunity to study abroad at one of many faculty-led intensive study trips to places like Costa Rica, Thailand, and Greece.

Longwood has exchange programs with several foreign universities, including Anhui University of Technology in China, which began in 2004.

Building on programs like PRISM, a paid summer research program that pairs students with faculty members for eight weeks of intensive research, Longwood in 2014 launched an initiative to boost undergraduate research efforts.

With its historic roots in teacher preparation, liberal studies still remains the largest major on campus.

Longwood is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.