University of Polaris

The University of Polaris is a public research university situated in Polaris City, New Westshield, Polaris. The University of Polaris is considered the premier academic institution in the Federal Republic of Polaris, having risen to prominence within continental academia since its founding as College of the Polar Islands in 1946. The university maintains its principal campus at Rockford Hill, three miles east of downtown Polaris City, and two secondary campuses in Kirk Falls and Hardt Island.

The University of Polaris is renowned academically, having contributed significantly to research in the fields of sociology, psychology, and medicine. Some notable schools within the university is the Conley School of Management, the largest graduate business school in Polaris, the Devitt School of Law, considered the top law school in Polaris, as well as the National Institute for Public Policy & Administration (NIPPA).

The school offers full-time and part-time Bachelor's degrees, in addition to Master's degrees and doctorates at the graduate level. In 2005, the school opened its first distance education program offered online, known as Unipolar.

History
Higher education in Polaris was virtually non-existent and inaccessible to the general public until 1942, during the liberalization of Polaris. Until then, college education was largely reserved for the wealthy and privileged, who often travelled to South Pole City to obtain an education. A circle of technocrats and intellectuals, led by Dr. Charles Wermell Sarten, a mechanical engineer by profession, approached the municipal government of the Polar Islands to create the first comprehensive college within the region. By 1943, the government responded, creating the Polaris Municipal Higher Education Committee, which pooled government and private donations to create the College of the Polar Islands, which began accepting students in the fall of 1946. Initially opening with a Faculty of Arts & Humanities, and a Faculty of Science & Mathematics, the college would amass an array of colleges, institutes, and schools.

In 1957, the Water Kingdom government invested $45 million to sponsor the creation of the Merritt School of Medicine and Devitt School of Law, seeking to train more doctors, medical professionals, and lawyers for the rapidly advancing Polarian economy. From 1958 through to 1973, the college embarked on a slew of projects to expand the Rockford Hill campus of the university, costing the Water Kingdom government nearly $245 million. The new buildings provided much needed lecture halls, office space, laboratories, and dormitory space of the college.

By 1978, then President and Vice Chancellor Dr. Garrett Nichols-Opperton, appealed to the Water Kingdom government to upgrade the status of the college, resulting not only in a change to the name of the institution to the University of Polaris, but a reorganization of academic activities within the university, culminating in the formation of new colleges and institutes, including the National Institute for Public Policy & Administration.

In 2005, the university began to offer its first distance education courses through an innovative online program known as Unipolar. This program helped more people, particularly those with lower incomes, to acquire post-secondary degrees.

Conley School of Management
The Conley School of Management opened in 1978, and is considered one of the largest constituent schools within the university, with over 12,300 students and 950 staff. The CSM presently offers undergraduate, graduate and continuing education programs at both the Rockford and Hardt campuses. The CSM is known for its intensive academic programming, and its competitive rigor within extracurricular business competitions throughout the continent.

The following degree areas are offered to students at the school presently:


 * Finance & Accounting
 * General Management
 * Business Management
 * Office Administration & Management
 * Entrepreneurial Management
 * Manufacturing & Production Management
 * Information Technology Management
 * Hospitality and Tourism Management
 * Marketing & Advertising

Camarasa College for Continental Affairs
The Camarasa College for Continental Affairs is a renowned international relations research and learning centre located in a collection of four buildings at the Rockford Hill campus of the university. The CCCA and its journals are among the most highly regarded and cited within Antarctic academia. The school offers a variety of undergraduate and graduate programs across a variety of disciplines:


 * International Politics
 * International Economics
 * Internationa History
 * International Relations
 * Continental Studies
 * Migration & Diaspora Studies
 * International Development
 * International Environment & Climate Change Studies
 * Transcultural & Continental Literary Studies

Campuses
The University of Polaris maintains three campuses within the Greater Polaris City Area. The principal campus, which is host to 87% of students who attend the university, is situated in Polaris City's Rockford Hill district. The Rockford campus possesses approximately 106 buildings spread over 6.6 square miles. The largest building on campus is Schwartz-Halbach Tower, which stands at 42 stories, and is home to the Conley School of Management and the university's administration. In addition, the campus contains residences & dormitories totaling to 8,250 bedspaces. The Rockford campus is interconnected through a wide network of tunnels and on-campus shuttle buses to ferry students to and from buildings. The campus is widely transit accessible to students, with two dedicated Metro stations, a Metrex commuter station, and seventeen bus lines from PCTA which run into the Central Bus Terminal on campus. Most of the university's athletics and sports facilities are situated at the Rockford hill campus.

The Kirk Falls campus opened in 1979, situated adjacent to the Lower West River, with 44 buildings. The campus is home to the National Physics Institute and the National Aeronautics Research Institute, which work in collaboration with the Granford and Wilcox Colleges in the fields of physics, astronomy, and aeronautics. The campus is accessible by a Metrex station and five bus lines from PCTA and Mallett Regional Transit.

By contrast, the Hardt Island campus, opened in 1992, is the smallest with only 32 buildings. The campus is situated on a peninusla on Hardt Island, a major island within the Polaris Barrier Islands, and is the only one with a dedicated dock, which complement to two of the schools located at Hardt Island, the National School for Marine Biology and the Pellner Aquaculture Institute. The campus is accessible by a single Metro station, and three bus lines from PCTA.