Vienna University of Economics and Business

492 million Euros poured into this campus when it opened in September 2013, transforming a former Vienna World Exhibition site into the largest business university campus in all of Europe. Six building complexes designed by architects from Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, and Austria surround you... legendary names in their fields. That soaring, sculptural Library and Learning Center is Zaha Hadid's final masterwork, her signature curves still seeming to defy gravity. Here's what makes this place truly extraordinary. Founded in 1898 to train merchants when Vienna was one of the world's largest cities, this institution invented something revolutionary—mandatory foreign languages mixed with economics and public law. Most universities weren't thinking that way yet. In 2015, after 117 years, this university elected a woman as rector for the first time. Edeltraud Hanappi-Egger shattered that masculine monopoly. Walk these grounds and you're treading where Red Bull's founder Dietrich Mateschitz studied, where an Austrian President was educated, where Western Union's CEO trained. Over 22,000 students from 100 countries study here now. Here's the beautiful part—more than half this 90,000 square-meter campus is intentionally public. These gardens, cafes, and courtyards belong to Vienna's residents too. When a university opens its grounds to the city like this, it says something profound about believing knowledge shouldn't be locked behind walls.