The largest city in the state of Illinois, Chicago, boasts one of the best education systems in the world. With a population of nearly 3 million people which is the third largest in the United States, Chicago is a city of educated people that offers a great scope for academics.

Chicago offers brilliant avenues for higher education. Since 1890s, Chicago has been a world center in higher education and research. Chicago takes pride in hosting two top American research universities- the University of Chicago in Hyde Park on the south side of the city and Northwestern University in the northern suburb of Evanston. The University of Chicago is known for its Graduate School of Business, also called GSB which is one of the world’s leading business schools and the second oldest in the United States. Similarly, the Northwestern University is famous across the world for the Feinberg School of Medicine and the School of Law which are situated in Streeterville. Chicago also has some catholic universities such as the DePaul University which is the largest Catholic University in U.S and the Loyola University, known as the largest Jesuit Catholic universities in the country. The Loyola University has a campus in the North Side and in the downtown area as well. It also possesses a medical center in the western suburb of Maywood.

Chicago University provides a big assistance to the students with a superb collection of books at the Chicago Public Library, two regional libraries and the central Harold Washington Library Center which opened in 1991 and is one of the leading educational and cultural resources in the Chicago city. The Harold Washington Library is famous for its 756,000 square feet building which makes it the largest municipal building in the world. The library has a collection of around 6.5 million books, 145000 periodicals and serials, 90,000 audiovisual titles and 3 million microfiche. There is also a special collection of books and materials in 90 foreign languages in the library.

The other wonderful features of the Harold Washington are the 18000 square foot children’s library, a business, science and technology division and a Teacher Resource Center that offers print and online resources to assist the educators. Also, all the Chicago public libraries provide free access to Internet and some useful research databases.

Chicago has been working a lot on libraries. Since 1989 the city has built or renovated more than 40 branch libraries and some new constructions are still going on. The objective is to provide best education to the students and make learning a joyful experience for them.