Harvard University is a private, co-educational, non-denominational liberal arts college located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States, as well as the first corporation in the Americas. The College strives to open the minds of students to knowledge and to enable them to take advantage of their educational opportunities, and the support it provides is a foundation upon which self-reliance and life-long learning habits are built. Through the scholarship it fosters, Harvard seeks to promote understanding and a desire to serve society.