I really wonder why the Academy is so far away from me but so close for my opponents? Or is that for the challange?

And what does mean: upvoted

At the "Ideas" forum when you upload an idea?

I was under the impression the placement of the academy on the map is pseudo-randomly generated? I've had it spawn relatively close by in games.

Could be random generated when you say it... cause maybe I got 2 out of 10 times my acadamey close to me and the  other time and really often far away from me... So I do wonder if this happens to others...

Always far far away...

In my experience, the academy always spawns close to the centre of the galaxy.  So that's where I look for it.  Works every time.

I usully use the button: Explore, so maybe I should explore manually without the explore button.. They move to every star first and then move to the center.