Nagoya University (名古屋大学, Nagoya daigaku), abbreviated to Meidai (名大), is a Japanese national university headquartered in Chikusa-ku, Nagoya. It is one of the former 7 imperial universities. Nagoya University traces its roots back to 1871 when it was a temporary medical school. In 1939 it became Nagoya Imperial University. In 1947 it was renamed Nagoya University. In 2004 it became a National University Corporation. The ideal written in the Nagoya University Academic Charter is to encourage the intelligentsia with courage by providing an education which respects independent thought. While the majority of its students come from Tōkai region, Nagoya University has a good portion of students from all over Japan. It also receives many students from abroad. Currently there are over 1300 foreign students (150 undergraduate) from 78 countries studying in the various faculties of Nagoya University. The majority of them are from China (47%, as of May 1, 2009) and Korea (9.5%). Among other countries, Taiwan, Indonesia, Viet Nam, Malaysia, Cambodia and Uzbekistan are represented by more than 30 students.