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Friday, April 17, 2009

Stockholm University

Stockholms universitet

Established: 1878
Type: Public
Staff: 5,200
Students: 22,400 (FTE, 2008)[1]
Doctoral students: 1,800
Location: Flag of Sweden Stockholm, Sweden
Campus: Urban
Affiliations: EUA
Website: www.su.se/english

Stockholm University (Swedish: Stockholms universitet) is a state university in Stockholm, Sweden. It has over 27,500 students at four faculties, being one of the largest universities in Scandinavia. The institution is also frequently regarded as one of the top 100 universities in the world

History

In 1878, the university college Stockholms högskola started its operations with a series of lectures on natural sciences, open to curious citizens (a tradition still upheld by yearly publicly open lectures). Notable in the university's early history is the appointment of Sofia Kovalevskaya to hold a chair in mathematics in 1889, making her the third female professor in Europe. In 1904 the college became an official degree granting institution.

In 1960, it was granted university status, becoming Sweden's fourth state university. The university premises was situated in central Stockholm at Observatorielunden but as enrollment increased, lack of space made it necessary to move. Since 1970 most of the university operations are pursued at the main campus at Frescati north of the city center.


The Arrhenius Laboratory at the main campus of Stockholm University at Frescati.

Field stations

Askö Laboratory (Marine research)

Tarfala (Glaciology and Mountain)

Tjärnö (Marine Biology)

Tovetorp (Ethology)

Tullbotorp (Botany)

Centers, institutes etc.

Bergius Botanic Garden

Manne Siegbahn Laboratory

Stockholm Center for Marine Research (SMF)

Centre for Transdisciplinary Environmental Research (CTM)

Campuses

Stockholm University has multiple campuses. The main campus is called Frescati and is located just north of Stockholm city. Frescati houses most institutions and departments and is often referred to simply as "Stockholm University". Stockholm University also has two campuses for its computer science students one located at the Royal Institute of Technology (Campus Valhallavägen) named NADA (Numeric analyse and computer science). Which is part of the department for Computer science and Communication at the Royal Institute of Technology. Campus Kista houses the Institution for Computer and Systems Science, which is part of the "IT University", a joint venture between Stockholm University and the Royal Institute of Technology.


As of January 1, 2008 the Stockholm Teacher's College has merged into Stockholm University adding it's campus to the list of campuses belonging to Stockholm University. This campus has kept it's old institution's name and is called "The Teacher's College" (Lärarhögskolan) and is located near Thorildsplan in central Stockholm. Stockholm University has however declared that it intends to shut down the campus and move the students to Frescati.

Student Unions

Prior to 2008, Stockholm University had only one student union[citation needed] called "Stockholm University's Student Union" (Stockholm universitets studentkår). However as of 2008 the computer and system science students and the teacher students have their own, independent, student uions called DISK and "The Teacher's College's Student Union" (Lärarhögskolans studentkår).

The future of the Teacher's College's Student Union is however not entirely safe, as Stockholm University's Student Union has declared it will begin talks with the Teacher's College's Student Union on transferring its members to it, as it already has a teacher's division In contrast to common belief DISK does not stand for anything.

People

  • See also Category:Stockholm University alumni
  • Svante Arrhenius (1859-1927), awarded Nobel Prize in chemistry 1903; professor and rector of the University.
  • Ingmar Bergman, film director.
  • Carl Bildt, Prime Minister of Sweden 1991-1994, and Foreign Minister since 2006.
  • Hans Blix (LLD), diplomat.
  • Horace Engdahl, former permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy.
  • Hans von Euler-Chelpin, awarded Nobel Prize in chemistry 1929.
  • Harry Flam, Swedish economist, Dean of the School of Business.
  • Dag Hammarskjöld (Doctorate in Economics 1933), U.N. Secretary General.
  • Signe Hammarsten-Jansson (1882-1970), Class of 1905 - Swedish illustrator.
  • Princess Madeleine of Sweden, studied Art History and Ethnology.
  • Barbro Osher, diplomat and philanthropist.
  • Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden.
  • Andreas Papandreou, Greek prime minister. Taught at the university 1968-1969.
  • George Papandreou, Greek politician and ex-minister. Studied sociology 1972-1973.
  • Fredrik Reinfeldt, Prime Minister of Sweden.
  • Tomas Tranströmer (Psychology degree 1956), poet.
  • Johan Stael von Holstein (Swedish Entrepreneur).
  • Peter Lindgren (musician), former guitarist of Opeth

Public Transport to Stockholm University

There are many ways to get to Stocholm University, the main campus Frescati is located near the subway station Universitetet, on the red line of the Stockholm Metro. But SL busses can also be used to get to the campus. The Computer Science campus, Kista, also has a subway station called Kista. It is also located close to the pendeltåg station Helenelund, only 1-2 stops (depending on buss line) from the buss station Torsnäsgatan located next to the campus area. The Teacher's campus is located next to the subway station Thorildsplan.

Freiburg University

University of Freiburg
Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
Seal of the University of Freiburg

Latin: Alma Mater Alberto-Ludoviciana
Motto: Die Wahrheit wird euch frei machen ("The truth will make you free")
Established: 1457
Type: Public university
Rector: Prof. Dr. Hans-Jochen Schiewer
Students: 21,022
Location: Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Colors: Blue and White
Affiliations: German Excellence Universities, EUA, LERU, IFPU
Website: www.uni-freiburg.de

Location of Freiburg in Germany.

University of Freiburg (German Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, colloquially Uni Freiburg ), sometimes referred to in English as the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The university was founded in 1457 by the Habsburgs as the second university in Austrian-Habsburg territory after the University of Vienna. Today, Freiburg is the fifth-oldest university in Germany, with a long tradition of teaching the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. It is considered one of the most prestigious universities and a leading research and teaching institution in Europe. The university is made up of 11 faculties and attracts students from across Germany as well as from over one hundred and twenty countries.

The University of Freiburg was designated a German "University of Excellence" in 2007.


Kollegiengebäude I, erected in 1913 as main building of the university.

History

Originally Albrechts University, the university started with four faculties (theology, philosophy, medicine and law). Its establishment belongs to the second wave of German university foundings in the late Middle Ages, like the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen and the University of Basel. Established by papal privilege (papal bull) the University in Freiburg actually was - like all or most universities in the Middle Ages - a corporation of the church body and therefore belonged to the Roman Catholic Church and its hierarchy. The bishop of Basel consequently was its provost or chancellor (Kanzler), the bishop of Konstanz was its patron while the real founder of the university was the sovereign, Archduke Albert VI of Austria, being the brother of Frederick III, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. At its founding, the university was named after Albert VI of Austria. He provided the university with land and a huge amount of endowments as well as its own jurisdiction. Also he declared Albrechts University as the "county university" (German Landesuniversität) for his territory - in the past including an area from Alsace to Tyrol - until it was handed over to the Austrian House of Habsburg in 1490.

Shortly after that the university had a time of prosperity when numerous later famous humanists were educated there like Geiler von Kaysersberg, Johann Reuchlin or Jakob Wimpfeling. When Ulric Zasius was teaching law (until 1536), Freiburg became a centre of humanist jurisprudence. From 1529 to 1535 Erasmus of Rotterdam lived and taught in Freiburg. Since around 1559 the university was housed at the Altes Collegium ("Old College"), today called the "new town-hall". The importance of the university decreased during the time of the Counter-Reformation. To counter those tendencies, the administration of two faculties was handed over to the Roman Catholic order of the Jesuits in 1620. (The two faculties were, of course, Theology (or Divinity) and Philosophy.) Since 1682 the Jesuits built up their college as well as the Jesuit church (nowadays the "University Church" or Universitätskirche).

At times, especially during the disorders of the Thirty Years' War, the university had to move out of Freiburg temporarily, e.g. from 1686 to 1698, when French troops devastated Freiburg and the southern parts of the upper Rhine region.

After Freiburg as the capital of Further Austria was re-conquered, a new time began for the university by the reforms of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. The requirements for admission were changed for all faculties in 1767 (before that time only Roman Catholics were allowed to study) and Natural Sciences were added as well as Public Administration. Also in 1767, the university became a governmental institution despite the Church's protests. The Church finally lost its predominant influence on the university when the Jesuits were suppressed following a decree signed by Pope Clement XIII in 1773. It also might have been the Zeitgeist and the official line of the new Emperor Joseph II (successor and son of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria) that his Patent of Tolerance which ensured Protestants the same rights as Catholics (published 1781) finally began an era of Enlightenment within the domains of the Habsburg, nowadays known as an era called "Josephinismus". Consequently Johann Georg Jacobi (brother of the more famous philosopher Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi) in 1784 was the first Protestant professor teaching at the university in Freiburg. It is said that Joseph II instructed in his will to offer the professorship in Freiburg to Johann Heinrich Jacobi, probably already guessing the shocked reaction which the citizens of Freiburg would show given the fact that the area around Freiburg was deeply devoted to Catholicism.


Postage stamp by Deutsche Bundespost to commemorate the university's 500th anniversary 1957

When Freiburg became a part of the newly established Grand Duchy of Baden (in German "Großherzogtum Baden") in 1805 (after Napoleon occupied the area of the formerly Further Austria), a crisis began for the university in Freiburg. Indeed there were considerations by Karl Friedrich, Grand Duke of Baden and Karl, Grand Duke of Baden to close down the university in Freiburg while both of them thought that the Grand Duchy could not afford to run two universities at the same time (the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg also already existed since 1386). The university had enough endowments and earnings to survive until the beginning of the regency of Ludwig I, Grand Duke of Baden in 1818. Finally in 1820 he saved the university with an annual contribution. Since then the university has been named Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg) as an acknowledgement of gratitude by the university and the citizens of Freiburg.

In the 1880s the population of the student body and faculty started to grow quickly. The excellent scientific reputation of Albert Ludwigs University attracted several researchers like economist Adolph Wagner, historians Georg von Below and Friedrich Meinecke, or jurists Karl von Amira and Paul Lenel.

The University of Freiburg, among others, served as a role model for the establishment of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA, in 1875. Johns Hopkins was the first US university committed to research following Alexander von Humboldt's ideas of research as practiced at German universities at the time. Daniel Coit Gilman, founding president of Johns Hopkins, who had studied in Germany, visited Freiburg and other German universities in preparation for the founding of Johns Hopkins.[2]

In 1900 Freiburg became the first German university to accept a female student. Just before World War I the university counted 3,000 students. After World War I the highly distinguished philosophers Edmund Husserl and (since 1928) Martin Heidegger taught at Albert Ludwigs University, as well as Edith Stein (she was the assistant of Edmund Husserl, the predecessor of Martin Heidegger). On the field of social sciences, Walter Eucken developed the idea of ordoliberalism, which consequently is also known as the "Freiburg School".


The University of Freiburg in 1961

In the beginning of the 20th century several new university buildings were built in the centre of Freiburg, such as in 1911 the new main building. During the "Third Reich" the university went through the process of Gleichschaltung like the rest of the German universities. This means that most of the non-governmental or non-state-controlled institutions, unions, clubs and associations of students were illegal (e.g. Catholic student fraternities were declared illegal). Under the rector Martin Heidegger all Jewish faculty members, among them many excellent and renowned Jewish scientists and professors, were forced to leave the university in accordance with the "‘Law for the Reintroduction of Professional Civil Service". After World War II the university was re-opened. New buildings for natural sciences were erected in the Institutsviertel ("institute quarter").

In the late 20th century, the university was part of a mass education campaign and expanded rapidly. The student body grew to 10,000 by the 1960s, and doubled to 20,000 students by 1980. In the 1970s, the faculty structure was changed to 14 departments, with the Faculty of Applied Sciences becoming the 15th faculty in 1994. In 2002, the number of faculties was reduced to eleven. The university opened a memorial dedicated to the victims of National Socialism among the students, staff, and faculty in 2003.

Recently, the University of Freiburg has further been able to establish itself in the top group of German and European universities. The reform of the German higher education landscape leading to heightened competition and university rankings, has signaled a willingness to increase the competitiveness of German universities, nationally and internationally. In 2006, the University of Freiburg joined the League of European Research Universities (LERU). One year later, in 2007, the University of Freiburg was chosen as one of nine German Universities of Excellence. Additionally, the leading position of the University of Freiburg has been documented in the various university rankings that have lately sprung up in Germany.


The university seal is set into the floor at the entrance of the largest lecture hall auditorium maximum

University seal

The seal of the University of Freiburg depicts the educator Christ seated on a gothic throne holding the gospel in his right hand with the temple curtain in the background. Christ offers the teachings of the gospel to the Jewish scholars who are crouched at his feet. To the left and right of Christ are structures resembling towers, most likely symbolic of the Temple of Jerusalem. Located to the right of Christ is the coat of arms of the Austrian duchies, a banner with five eagles. The shield on the opposite side symbolizes the coat of arms used by the Habsburgs in conjunction with their territories. The coat of arms of the city of Freiburg is located at the bottom of the seal, displaying St George's Cross. The Latin inscription on the seal reads Sigillum universitatis studii friburgensis brisgaudie. The seal was slightly modified in 1913, but has otherwise been in continuous use since it was adopted in 1462.

Campus

The city of Freiburg is widely considered one of the most beautiful in Germany. Nestled between hills of the Black Forest and vineyards, this city with its beautiful medieval city center and hallmark bächle helps give the University of Freiburg campus its flair and allure.

Having grown with the city since the 15th century, the university's buildings are deeply intertwined with the city. There are three large campuses (the university center next to the historical city center, the institutes quarter and the applied sciences campus), but other buildings can be found scattered throughout Freiburg.

The university complex in the historical center of Freiburg contains such picturesque buildings as the Jugendstil Kollegiengebäude I, built in 1911 by Hermann Billing, and the gothic revival old university library. The current University Library is also located in the historical center; it is a monumental building erected in the 1970s, and is to be renovated and redesigned beginning in September, 2008.It is one of the largest in Germany and placed 4th in an October, 2007 German national ranking of university libraries.


Kollegiengebäude I as viewed from the library.

The University Church, located across from Kollegiengebäude II, was built in 1683 by the Jesuit order. The church and the Jesuit college were handed over to the university after the Jesuit order was suppressed in 1773. The church was destroyed in the November 27, 1944 bombing raid on Freiburg, and reconstructed in 1956.

The “institutes quarter” (Institutsviertel) is home to the science faculties. This campus was destroyed almost completely in the Freiburg bombing raid in 1944. After World War II, the reconstruction of the institutes began. Today, the quarter houses the physics buildings, the tall main chemistry building, visible from afar, the famous Institute for Macromolecular Chemistry at the Hermann-Staudinger-Haus, various other science buildings, as well as the renowned pre-clinical institutes of the Faculty of Medicine.

The applied sciences campus is located next to the small Freiburg airfield to the northwest of the city center, close to the University Medical Center. The camus is home to the IMTEK (Institut für Mikrosystemtechnik, Department of Microsystems Engineering) and the Department of Computer Science. With the addition of the Faculty for Applied Sciences, the University of Freiburg became the first classical university to combine traditional disciplines with microsystems technologies.

The University Medical Center Freiburg (Universitätsklinikum Freiburg) is one of Germany's largest medical centers. It boasts 1,600 beds and handles 55,000 in-patients a year, with another 357,000 being treated ambulatorily. It consists of 13 specialized clinics, 5 clinical institutes, and 5 centers (e.g. Center for Transplantation Medicine). Many of the University Medical Center's achievements are ground-breaking, such as the first implantation of an artificial heart Jarvik 2000 (2002) and so help to make the university clinic one of Germany's most distinguished.

Most recently, the University of Freiburg purchased a large historic villa in the picturesque Freiburg district of Herdern, which will house part of the literature and linguistics as well as history departments of the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS).

McMaster University

McMaster University
McMaster University

Motto: ΤΑ ΠΑΝΤΑ ΕΝ ΧΡΙΣΤΩΙ ΣΥΝΕΣΤΗΚΕΝ (Greek)
Motto in English: All things cohere in Christ
Established: 1887
Type: Public university
Endowment: $498.5 million
Chancellor: Lynton Wilson
President: Peter J. George
Faculty: 1,434
Undergraduates: 20,600 full-time
3,836 part-time
Postgraduates: 2,901
Location: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
43°15′48″N 79°55′8″W / 43.26333°N 79.91889°W / 43.26333; -79.91889Coordinates: 43°15′48″N 79°55′8″W / 43.26333°N 79.91889°W / 43.26333; -79.91889
Campus: Urban, 1.2 km² (300 acres)
Library: 2,000,000 + volumes
Colours: Maroon and Grey
Mascot: Mac the Marauder
Athletics: McMaster Marauders
Affiliations: ACU, AUCC, IAU, G13, COU, ATS, CIS, CUSID, Fields Institute, CUP.
Website: mcmaster.ca
McMaster University

McMaster University (Mac) is a public research university located Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It bears the name of William McMaster, a prominent Canadian Senator and banker whose substantial bequeathed funds helped form the beginning of the university. The institution being incorporated under the terms of an act of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 1887. The university was originally located in Toronto and moved to its present home in Hamilton in 1930. Originally controlled by the Baptist Convention of Ontario it became a non-denominational private institution in 1957.

The university operates six academic faculties; Science, Health Sciences, Engineering, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Business with an enrollment of 20,600 full-time undergraduate students and 2,901 postgraduate students. The main campus is located on 300 acres (1.2 km2) of land in the residential neighbourhood of Westdale adjacent to Hamilton's Royal Botanical Gardens.

McMaster is the major knowledge generator in the Hamilton region, providing both the human capital and the research output for the regional economy. The university is particularly renown for its strengths in the fields of Health Sciences and Engineering and has been named Canada's most innovative medical-doctoral university 8 times in the past 11 years. The university is ranked highly in national, regional, and worldwide rankings.

History

McMaster University was the result of the outgrowth of educational work initiated by Baptists in central Canada as early as the 1830's. Canadian Senator William McMaster, the first president of the Canadian Bank of Commerce, bequeathed funds to endow a university which was incorporated through a merger of Toronto Baptist College and Woodstock College, under the terms of an act of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 1887.). The new University, housed in McMaster Hall in Toronto, was sponsored by the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec as a sectarian undergraduate institution for its clergy and adherents. The first courses, initially limited to arts and theology, leading to the BA degree were taught in 1890, and the first degrees were conferred in 1894.


McMaster University in Toronto circa 1906

The university nearly became federated with the University of Toronto, as had been the case with Trinity College and Victoria College. However, the University was instead transfer from Toronto to Hamilton in 1930. The lands for the university and new buildings were secured through gifts from graduates, members of the churches of the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec, and citizens of Hamilton. McMaster Hall, the original home of the university, now houses the Royal Conservatory of Music.

Professional programs during the interwar period had been limited to theology and nursing.By the 1940s the McMaster administration was under pressure to to modernize and expand the university's programs.During the Second World War and post war periods the demand for technological expertise, particularly in the sciences.This placed a strain on the finances of what was still a denominational Baptist institution. In particular, the institution could no longer secure sufficient funds from denominational sources alone to sustain science research. Since denominational institution could not receive public funds the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec decided to reorganize the University, creating two federated colleges. The arts and divinity programs were reconstituted as University College and science was reorganized under the newly created Hamilton College as a separate division capable of receiving provincial grants.

Through the 1950’s increased funding advanced the place of sciences within the institution.Public funding was eventually necessary to ensure the humanities and social sciences were given an equal place. Thus, in 1957 the University reorganized once again, merging the two colleges and becoming a private nondenominational institution eligible for public funding. The historic Baptist connection was continued through the separate incorporation and affiliation of a theological school, McMaster Divinity College. The University had traditionally focused on undergraduate studies, having not offered a PhD program until 1949.However, this also changed in 1957 with the creation of a Faculty of Graduate Studies, which was gradually expanded over the coming decades. Construction of the McMaster Nuclear Reactor also began in 1957 and was the first university-based research reactor in the Commonwealth when it began operating in 1959.

In 1965, with the support of the Ontario government, the University established a medical school and teaching hospital, graduating its first class of physicians in 1972.[14] In 1968, the University was organized into the Divisions of Arts, Science, and Health Sciences each with its own Vice-President, while Divinity College continued under its existing arrangement. In 1974 the divisional structure of the University was dissolved and the vice-presidents were replaced by a single Vice-President (Academic). The Faculties of Business, Engineering, Health Sciences, Humanities, Science, and Social Sciences were retained, each under the leadership of a dean.

Fight Song

Notable among a number of songs commonly played and sung at various events such as commencement and convocation, and athletic games are: 'The Alma Mater Song' (1935) with words by Mrs A.A. Burridge and music by Hugh Brearly; 'The McMaster March,' with words by Claire Senior Burke et al and music by Arthur Burridge; 'My Mac' (1982) with words and music by Fred Moyes.

Campus

Main campus

Panoramic view of McMaster University from the Southwest

Panoramic view of McMaster University from the Southwest

McMaster's main campus is bordered to the north by Cootes Paradise, an extensive natural marshland, to the east and west by residential neighbourhoods and to its south by Main Street West, a major transportation artery of Hamilton. Its northern boundaries are a popular destination for hikers and joggers who make use of the many trails that connect the campus to the Royal Botanical Gardens, Ontario's lands.


Archway of University Hall, displays the unique Gothic Architecture Style

The buildings and facilities represent the ongoing development that has been happening on McMaster grounds since it purchased the property from the city of Hamilton in 1928. Its six original gothic-style buildings are now flanked by over 50 structures built predominantly during booms in the early 1970s and the late 1990s to present. Perhaps the most distinctive component of the campus skyline is that of the McMaster University Medical Centre, a multi-use research hospital that ranks among the largest public buildings in Canada. It is connected to the Life Sciences building and the recently completed (2004) Michael DeGroote Centre for Learning & Discovery which houses many well-funded research groups in areas of genetics, infectious diseases and several specific conditions.

The McMaster Nuclear Reactor is a university-based research reactor that is today the only Canadian medium flux reactor in a university environment. It is a "pool-type" reactor with a core of enriched uranium fuel moderated and cooled by light water. The MNR, provides wide range of irradiation, laboratory and holding facilities which include: A cyclotron, an accelerator, a small-angle neutron-scattering detector and wide-angle neutron scattering facilities.

Residences

Currently McMaster has 12 smoke-free residence buildings totalling approximately 3,756 bedspaces. The newest residence to be built is Les Prince Hall, just north of Hedden Hall. It is a large co-ed building completed in 2006. Prince was a long-serving hall master in the residence system, living with his family on campus until after his retirement in 1980.

Building choices include the traditional room and board style, furnished apartment style and suite-style. The McMaster Residence System is composed of Community Advisors who provide guidance and help the transition to university life for many first year students. Advisors trained Housing and Conference service employees and enforce policies which the university has put in place. They also provide programs for students that touch on one or more of its four pillars approach: Academic, Awareness, Social, and Wellness. Residence Students are represented by the Inter Residence Council (IRC). Each building has 2 representatives which program entertaining activities for students, facilitate social interaction, and represent student opinion to the upper administration.

Burlington

Recently, McMaster has begun spreading physically beyond its West Hamilton borders into other areas in the region.

In 2004 McMaster University announced that in partnership with the neighbouring city of Burlington, it would be constructing a new arts & technology intensive campus in that city. Plans call for a small initial cohort to be admitted in 2007 in leased space and the University hopes to have an enrolment at the Burlington campus of nearly 5000 students by 2020. The Burlington campus concept is contingent on provincial government approval, not yet sought, of the academic programmes and the necessary funding.

The proposed campus has proven controversial and the plan has been opposed by many deans and other faculty members.[citation needed] The McMaster Students Union has serious reservations with the project and may openly oppose the project dependent upon either a fall vote in the student representative assembly or a general referendum.

Other facilities

The McMaster's Centre for Continuing Education was relocated to the former Hamilton-Wentworth courthouse building on Main Street East in 2002. The centre offers a variety of certificate and diploma programs as well as personal and professional development programs.

The Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine is expected to expand through a shared health science campus with the with the University of Waterloo in Kitchener, Ontario. Additional expansion is in the Niagara region of the Golden Horseshoe.

McMaster has purchased a large industrial park three kilometres east of its main Hamilton campus in 2005 with the intention of redeveloping the site to contain an array of research facilities for the development of advanced manufacturing and materials, biotechnology, automotive and nanotechnology. In July 2005 the federal government announced it was announced that it would be relocated CANMET, a federal government materials research laboratory, from its Ottawa centre to Hamilton, helping spear-head the development of the McMaster Innovation Park.

Arizona University

The University of Arizona

Motto: Sursum (Latin)
Motto in English: (official) "Upward"
Established: Chartered 1885
Type: Public research university
Endowment: US $532 million
President: Robert N. Shelton
Faculty: 2,805
Undergraduates: 29,070
Postgraduates: 6,870
Location: Tucson, Arizona, USA
Campus: Urban, 380 acres (1.5 km2) (1,253,500 m²)
Yearbook: Desert Yearbook
Colors: Cardinal Red and Navy Blue
Nickname: Wildcats
Athletics: 18 varsity teams
Affiliations: AAU
Pac-10
MPSF
Website: www.arizona.edu

The University of Arizona (also referred to as UA, U of A, or Arizona) is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885 (twenty-seven years before the Arizona Territory achieved statehood), and is considered a Public Ivy. UA includes the only medical school in Arizona that grants M.D. degrees. In 2006, total enrollment was 36,805 students. UA is governed by the Arizona Board of Regents.

History

Founding


Old Main, the oldest building on the University of Arizona campus

The University of Arizona was approved by the Arizona Territory's Thieving Thirteenth Legislature in 1885. The city of Tucson had hoped to receive the appropriation for the territory's mental hospital, which carried a $100,000 allocation instead of the $25,000 allotted to the territory's only university (Arizona State University was also chartered in 1885, but at the time it was created as Arizona's normal school, and not a university). Tucson's contingent of legislators was delayed in reaching Prescott due to flooding on the Salt River and by the time they arrived back-room deals allocating the most desirable territorial institutions had already been made. Tucson was largely disappointed at receiving what was viewed as an inferior prize. With no parties willing to step forth and provide land for the new institution, the citizens of Tucson prepared to return the money to the Territorial Legislature until two gamblers and a saloon keeper decided to donate the land necessary to build the school. Classes met for the first time in 1891 with 32 students in Old Main, the first building constructed on campus, and still in use to this day.

Because there were no high schools in Arizona Territory, the University maintained separate preparatory classes for the first 23 years of operation.

Campus architecture and museums

The main campus sits on 380 acres (1.5 km2) in central Tucson, about one mile (1.6 km) northeast of downtown. There are 179 buildings on the main campus. Many of the early buildings, including the Arizona State Museum buildings (one of them the 1927 main library) and Centennial Hall, were designed by Roy Place, a prominent Tucson architect. It was Place's use of red brick that set the tone for the red brick facades that are a basic and ubiquitous part of nearly all UA buildings, even those built in recent decades. Indeed, almost every UA building has red brick as a major component of the design, or at the very least, a stylistic accent to harmonize it with the other buildings on campus.

The campus is roughly divided into quadrants. The north and south sides of campus are delineated by a grassy expanse called the Mall, which stretches from Old Main eastward to the campus' eastern border at Campbell Avenue (a major north-south arterial street). The west and east sides of campus are separated roughly by Highland Avenue and the Student Union Memorial Center (see below).

The science and mathematics buildings tend to be clustered in the southwest quadrant; the intercollegiate athletics facilities to the southeast; the arts and humanities buildings to the northwest (with the dance department being a major exception as its main facilities are far to the east end of campus), with the engineering buildings in the north central area. The optical and space sciences buildings are clustered on the east side of campus near the sports stadiums and the (1976) main library.

Speedway Boulevard, one of Tucson's primary east-west arterial streets, traditionally defined the northern boundary of campus but since the 1980s, several university buildings have been constructed north of this street, expanding into a neighborhood traditionally filled with apartment complexes and single-family homes. The University has purchased a handful of these apartment complexes for student housing in recent years. Sixth Street typically defines the southern boundary, with single-family homes (many of which are rented out to students) south of this street.

Park Avenue has traditionally defined the western boundary of campus, and there is a stone wall which runs along a large portion of the east side of the street, leading to the old Main Gate, and into the driveway leading to Old Main.

Along or adjacent to all of these major streets are a wide variety of retail facilities serving the student, faculty and staff population: shops, bookstores, bars, banks, credit unions, coffeehouses and major chain fast-food restaurants such as Burger King and Chick-fil-A. The area near University Boulevard and Park Avenue, near the Main Gate, has long been a major center of such retail activity; many of the shops have been renovated since the late 1990s and a nine-story Marriott hotel was built in this immediate district in 1996.

The oldest campus buildings are located west of Old Main. Most of the buildings east of Old Main date from the 1940s to the 1980s, with a few recent buildings constructed in the years since 1990.


Student Union Memorial Center

The Student Union Memorial Center, located on the north side of the Mall east of Old Main, was completely reconstructed between 2000 and 2003, replacing a 270,000-square-foot (25,000 m2) structure originally opened in 1951 (with additions in the 1960s). The new $60 million student union has 405,000 square feet (37,600 m2) of space on four levels, including 14 restaurants (including a food court with such national chains as Burger King, Panda Express, Papa John's Pizza and Chick-fil-A), a new two-level bookstore (that includes a counter for Clinique merchandise as well as an office supplies section sponsored by Staples with many of the same Staples-branded items found in their regular stores), 23 meeting rooms, eight lounge areas (including one dedicated to the USS Arizona), a computer lab, a U.S. Post Office, a copy center named Fast Copy, and a video arcade.

A list of residence halls goes as follows:

  • Apache-Santa Cruz Hall
  • Arizona-Sonora Hall
  • Babcock Inn
  • Cochise Hall
  • Coconino Hall
  • Colonia de la Paz Hall
  • Coronado Hall
  • Gila Hall
  • Graham-Greenlee Hall
  • Hopi Lodge
  • Kaibab-Huachuca Hall
  • Manzanita-Mohave Hall
  • Maricopa Hall
  • Navajo-Pinal Stadium Hall
  • Pima Lodge & Pima House
  • Posada San Pedro Hall
  • Pueblo de la Cienega Hall
  • Sky View Apartments
  • Villa del Puente Hall
  • Yavapai Hall
  • Yuma Hall

For current museum hours, fees, and directions see "campus visitor's guide" in the external links.

  • Much of the main campus has been designated an arboretum. Plants from around the world are labeled along a self-guided plant walk. The Krutch Cactus Garden includes the tallest Boojum tree in the state of Arizona. (The university also manages Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park, located c. 85 miles (137 km) north of the main campus.)
  • Two herbaria are located on the University campus and both are referred to as "ARIZ" in the Index Herbariorum
    • The University of Arizona Herbarium - contains roughly 400,000 specimens of plants.
    • The Robert L. Gilbertson Mycological Herbarium - contains more than 40,000 specimens of fungi.
  • The Arizona State Museum is the oldest anthropology museum in the American Southwest.
  • The Center for Creative Photography features rotating exhibits. The permanent collection includes over 70,000 photos, including many Ansel Adams originals.
  • University of Arizona Museum of Art.
  • The Arizona Historical Society is located one block west of campus.
  • Flandrau Science Center has exhibits, a planetarium, and a public-access telescope.
  • The University of Arizona Mineral Museum is located inside Flandrau Science Center. The collection dates back to 1892 and contains over 20,000 minerals from around the world, including many examples from Arizona and Mexico.
  • The University of Arizona Poetry Center
  • The Stevie Eller Dance Theatre, opened in 2003 (across the Mall from McKale Center) as a 28,600-square-foot (2,660 m2) dedicated performance venue for the UA's dance program, one of the most highly regarded university dance departments in the United States. Designed by Gould Evans, a Phoenix-based architectural firm, the theatre was awarded the 2003 Citation Award from the American Institute of Architects, Arizona Chapter.
  • The football stadium has the Navajo-Pinal-Sierra dormitory in it. The dorm rooms are underneath the seats along the South and East sides of the stadium.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Basel University

University of Basel
Universität Basel
Old University Basel
Old University Basel

Latin: Universitas Basiliensis
Established: 1460
Type: public
Students: 10287
Location: Basel, Basel-City, Switzerland
47°33′31″N 7°35′01″E / 47.55858°N 7.58360°E / 47.55858; 7.58360Coordinates: 47°33′31″N 7°35′01″E / 47.55858°N 7.58360°E / 47.55858; 7.58360
Website: www.unibas.ch

The University of Basel (German: Universität Basel) is located at Basel, Switzerland.

History

Founded in 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university.

Erasmus, Paracelsus, Daniel Bernoulli, Jacob Burckhardt, Leonhard Euler, Friedrich Nietzsche, Eugen Huber, Carl Jung, Karl Barth, and Hans Urs von Balthasar are among those associated with the university, which is nowadays noted for research into tropical medicine.

The University of Basel was founded in connection with the Council of Basel. The deed of foundation given in the form of a Papal bull by Pope Pius II on November 12, 1459, and the official opening ceremony was held on April 4, 1460. Originally the University of Basel was decreed to have four faculties, namely those of arts, medicine, theology and jurisprudence. The faculty of arts served until 1818 as foundation for the other three academic subjects.

Over the course of centuries as many scholars came to the city, Basel became an early center of book printing and humanism. Around the same time as the university itself, the University Library of Basel was founded. Today it has over three million books and writings and is the largest library in Switzerland.

This University is also renowned for its former research into Earth Sciences, Slavistics and Astronomy.

Organization

Faculties

  • Theology
  • Law
  • Medicine
  • Faculty of Humanities (Phil I)
  • Faculty of Science (Phil II)
  • Business and Economy
  • Psychology
  • Interdisciplinary institutions
    • Europainstitut
    • Jewish Studies
    • Mensch-Gesellschaft-Umwelt (MGU)
    • Centre for African Studies Basel (ZASB)
    • Kulturmanagement
    • Gender Studies
  • Associated institutes
    • Swiss Tropical Institute
    • Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research (FMI)

Student associations

  • Fachgruppen
    • Business and Economy (BESS)
    • Computer Science (FGI)
    • Chemistry (VBC)
    • Pharmacy
    • Geography
    • Geology (VBG)
    • History
    • Biology
    • Medicine (FAME)
    • French Philosophy
    • Mathematics and Physics (FG 14 )
    • Meteorology
    • Psychology
    • Sociology
  • Dings-Shop Dings Shop
    • Shop for office materials for students
  • Universitätssport Universitätssport Basel
    • Organizing sport events and trainings for students
  • SKUBA: Studentische Körperschaft der Universität Basel Skuba Home
  • Calcutta Project Basel Calcutta Project Basel
    • International co-operation by students from Basel in India, Kolkata
  • GeZetera GeZetera
    • Newspaper made by students for students

The Biozentrum

The Biozentrum is a Department of the University of Basel. It is a basic research institute, covering the research areas of biochemistry, biophysical chemistry, microbiology, structural biology, and cell biology of the Faculty of natural sciences, as well as the areas of pharmacology and neurobiology of the medical Faculty. In 2001, the new fields of bioinformatics, genomics & proteomics, and a nanosciences branch have been introduced. A second building has been constructed next to the Biozentrum which was inaugurated in fall 2000, the so called “Pharmazentrum”. It hosts some Biozentrum research groups, including the bioinformatics unit and Applied Microbiology as well as the Zoological Institute of the Basel University. Additionally, various research units of the Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences (DKBW) and the Pharmaceutical Department are located here. Last but not least, the Center of Pharmaceutical Sciences Basel-Zurich and the Microscopy Unit of the University share its space.

The Biozentrum was founded in 1971, giving room to an – at that time – quite innovative idea: the unification of various domains of the biological and natural sciences under the same roof. Its goal was to facilitate collaboration with other research areas – a successful concept, as it turned out that nowadays the different research areas cannot be considered separately. They depend on a tight collaboration and profit from each other.

So what is basic research? One could summarize it as „the search for the understanding of the mechanisms of life“. The approximately 30 research groups with members from more than 30 nations investigate biological processes on a molecular basis. The spectrum of their work ranges from basic questions (what does a cell consist of, and how does it work?) to the development of whole organisms – how does a cell know whether to become a leg or an eye? - and further to the determination of a molecule’s structure and its functions. Is Alzheimer’s Disease hereditary, and if so, why is that? How does the HIV-virus or a plague bacterium manage to infect a cell, and what can we do against it? Also, the links to medicine and pharmacology are getting tighter. Why do different people react differently to the same medication? About 200 papers, written by the institute’s scientists, are published every year, and the number and importance of these publications are situated in the top quarter internationally – not a bad result for a relatively small institute.

The staff

About 430 people are employed at the Biozentrum. More than half of them stay between 1 and 5 years only, for different reasons: about 120 are postdocs, independent scientists, grant holders and assistant professors (1 – 5 years), about 80 are PhD-students (3 – 4 years) and 50 are diploma students (undergraduate students in their 4th year of studies). More than 80 persons occupy technical positions or work in the administration, about 70 are laboratory technicians, and about 30 tenured professors work in groups with up to 20 members. Furthermore, there is a regular turnover of guest professors and sabbatical visitors who, after a short stay (2 weeks – 1 year), return to their working places in foreign countries or other institutes. Finally, the institute welcomes about 40 new students every year. Altogether, about 44 % of the staff are women, out of which only 32 % are scientists, whereas two thirds are working in the administration and technical jobs.

Teaching and education – studying at the Biozentrum

The special aspect of the Biozentrum is the fact that the studies in biology at the University of Basel are passed ‘live’ in a research institute. The advantage is that from the beginning on, the students are personally involved in an active, authentic research environment. From their first day on, they experience the every day life of a research scientist. They gain theoretical knowledge, but at the same time learn how to set up experimental methods, and gather practical experience through active research work. The biological research studies are split up into three steps:

Basic studies: With the establishment of the new Bachelor/Master-concept (‚Bologna-model‘), the University of Basel joins an internationally accepted model. Studies leading to the diploma last about 4 years. The last year consists of practical diploma work in a research group.

PhD studies: Require original research that normally takes 3 – 4 years. Each year, about 25 students graduate with a doctorate. Roughly the same number carry out their PhD-work at other Basel institutions, mentored by Biozentrum scientists. These institutions can be the Friedrich Miescher Institute, the Research Department of the Kantonsspital (cantonal hospital) or a research laboratory in the industry.

Postdoctoral studies: After graduation, young scientists usually spend some years in research groups in foreign countries to enlarge their knowledge and expand their horizons. In turn, many postdocs from all over the world spend time at the Biozentrum.

Vienna University

University of Vienna
Universität Wien

Latin: Universitas Vindobonensis, also Alma Mater Rudolphina
Established: 1365-03-12
Type: Public
Rector: Dr. Georg Winckler
Students: 72,000[1]
Location: Vienna, Austria
48°12′47″N 16°21′35″E / 48.21306°N 16.35972°E / 48.21306; 16.35972Coordinates: 48°12′47″N 16°21′35″E / 48.21306°N 16.35972°E / 48.21306; 16.35972
Website: http://www.univie.ac.at

The University of Vienna (German: Universität Wien) is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. Having opened in 1365, it is one of the oldest universities in Europe. It offers more than 130 courses of study and has an attendance of more than 72,000 students.[1] Its unofficial name among many students in Vienna is Hauptuni (English: "Main Uni").


History


University of Vienna, main building, seen from the Ringstraße

The University was founded on March 12, 1365 by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria and his two brothers, Albert III, Duke of Austria and Leopold III, Duke of Austria, hence the additional name "Alma Mater Rudolphina". After the Charles University in Prague and Jagiellonian University in Krakow, the University of Vienna is the third oldest university in Central Europe and the oldest university in the German-speaking world.

In 1365, Rudolph IV sanctioned a deed of foundation for a doctoral-level university in Vienna, modelled on the University of Paris. However, Pope Urban V did not ratify the deed, specifically in relation to the department of theology, presumably due to pressure exerted by Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, who wished to avoid competition for the Charles University in Prague. Approval was finally received from the Pope in 1384 and the University of Vienna was granted the status of a full university, including the theology department. The first university building opened in 1385.

The current main building on the Ringstraße was built between 1877 and 1884 by Heinrich von Ferstel. The previous main building was located close to the Stuben Gate (Stubentor) on Iganz Seipel Square, current home of the old University Church (Universitätskirche) and the Austrian Academy of Sciences (Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften). Women were admitted as full students from 1897, although their studies were limited to philosophy. The remaining departments gradually followed suit, although with considerable delay: medicine in 1900, law in 1919, Protestant theology in 1923 and finally Roman Catholic theology in 1946. Eight years after the admission of the first female students, Elise Richter became the first woman to receive habilitation, becoming professor of Romance Languages in 1905; she was also the first female distinguished professor. The first female chair of the university was not awarded until after World War II, to physicist Berta Karlik.

Location


Ceremonial Hall (Festsaal) in the main building

The academic facilities of the University of Vienna occupy more than sixty locations throughout the city of Vienna. The historical Main Building on the Ringstraße constitutes the University's center, as the seat of the university’s executive and most of its administrative offices. The nearby University Campus forms an additional, more spacious, focus of the University. A large number of academic facilities, including the new lecture hall complex, are situated there.

National and international rankings

The University of Vienna was placed 85th in the Times Higher Education's World University Rankings in 2007, rising from 87th place in 2006. The University was also ranked 46th in the world in the field of social sciences in 2007.

Organization

The University of Vienna, like all universities and academies in Austria, once featured a novel system of democratic representation. Power in the university was divided equally among three groups: students (the largest group), junior faculty and full professors. All groups had the right to send representatives to boards, who then voted on almost every issue. While this system guaranteed that all groups had equal opportunity to introduce change, some people have argued[who?] that it led to corruption, especially in the nomination of persons into prestigious positions.

The former government, headed by then-chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel, reformed the university system so that power is now concentrated with the full professors. The reform also introduced a board of governors and tuition fees (about €367 per semester in 2007). The reforms also separated the medical departments into separate medical schools, such as the Medical University of Vienna.

Research and teaching

The research and teaching activity of the university is undertaken by some 6,200 scholars. Of these, approximately 980 are active in projects financed by third parties.

Faculties and Centres

The faculties and centres of the University include: Catholic Theology, Protestant Theology, Law, Economics, Computer Science, History-Culture, Philology-Culture, Philosophy, Pedagogy, Psychology, Social Sciences, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Geology, Geography, Astronomy, Biology, Translatology, Sport Science, University Sports and Molecular biology.

Famous members

The grand staircase (Feststiege) in the main building

Faculty and scholars

Nobel Prize Laureates who taught at the University of Vienna include Robert Bárány, Julius Wagner-Jauregg, Hans Fischer, Karl Landsteiner, Erwin Schrödinger, Victor Franz Hess, Otto Loewi, Konrad Lorenz and Friedrich Hayek.

The University of Vienna was the cradle of the Austrian School of economics. The founders of this école who studied and later instructed at the University of Vienna included Carl Menger, Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk, Friedrich von Wieser, Joseph Schumpeter, Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek.

Other famous scholars who have taught at the University of Vienna are: Theodor W. Adorno, Manfred Bietak, Theodor Billroth, Ludwig Boltzmann, Franz Brentano, Anton Bruckner, Rudolf Carnap, Conrad Celtes, Viktor Frankl, Sigmund Freud, Eduard Hanslick, Hans Kelsen, Adam František Kollár, Johann Josef Loschmidt, Fran Miklošič, Oskar Morgenstern, Otto Neurath, Johann Palisa, Pope Pius II, Baron Carl von Rokitansky, August Schleicher, Moritz Schlick, Ludwig Karl Schmarda, Joseph von Sonnenfels, Josef Stefan, Leopold Vietoris and Carl Auer von Welsbach

Alumni

Some of the University's better-known students include: Franz Alt, Bruno Bettelheim, Rudolf Bing, Lucian Blaga, Josef Breuer, Elias Canetti, Ivan Cankar, Otto Maria Carpeaux, Mihai Eminescu, Felix Ehrenhaft, Janko Ferk, Paul Feyerabend, Heinz Fischer, O. W. Fischer, F. F. Bruce, Ivan Franko, Sigmund Freud, Alcide De Gasperi, Evren Geniş, Kurt Gödel, Franz Grillparzer, Jörg Haider, Ernst Gombrich, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, John J. Shea, Jr., Elfriede Jelinek, Percy Lavon Julian, Karl Kautsky, Rudolf Kirchschläger, Elisabeth Kehrer, Arthur Koestler, Hans Kelsen, Jernej Kopitar, Karl Kraus, Bruno Kreisky, Richard Kuhn, Paul Lazarsfeld, Gustav Mahler, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, Lise Meitner, Gregor Mendel, Franc Miklošič, Matija Murko, Mordkhe Schaechter, Franz Mesmer, Alois Mock, Pope Pius III, Karl Popper, Wilhelm Reich, Peter Safar, Wolfgang Schüssel, Arthur Schnitzler, Adalbert Stifter, Kurt Waldheim, Otto Weininger, Huldrych Zwingli and Albin Schram.

The University Library


Vienna University Library, main

Largest research library in Austria

The University Library of the University of Vienna comprises of the Main Library and the 50 departmental libraries at the various university locations throughout Vienna. The library's primary responsibility is to the members of the university; however, the library's 350 staff members also provide access to the public. Use of the books in the reading halls is open to all persons without the need for identification, which is only required for checking out books. The library's website provides direct access to information such as electronic journals, online indices and databases.

Library statistics (2007)

  • Book inventory: 6.657,447 (of which 2.604,823 belong to the Main Library)
  • Journals: 11,545 (of which 3,027 belong to the Main Library)
  • Active borrowers: 82,554
  • Search queries on OPAC: 13.381,986
  • Borrowings and renewals of books: 5,826.402
  • Oldest book: Pliny the Elder (1469). Historia naturalis.

Library history

Rudolph IV, in the Foundation Deed of 12 March 1365, had already provided for a publica libraria, where the valuable books bequeathed by deceased members of the University should be collected. Through many legacies, this collection was subsequently greatly increased and became the basis of the old Libreye that was accommodated in the same building as the student infirmary. In addition, there were libraries in the separate Faculties and in the Duke's College.

From the 17th Century, interest in the old library, with its manuscripts and incunabulae, went into decline and the modern library in the Jesuit College came to the fore. In 1756, the oldest university library was finally closed down and its books, 2787 volumes, were incorporated into the Court Library, of which Gerard van Swieten was then director. After the dissolution of the Jesuit order (1773), the new "Academic Library" was created out of the book collections of the five Lower Austrian Colleges and a large number of duplicates from the Court Library. This was opened on 13 May, 1777, the birthday of Maria Theresa of Austria, in the building of the Academic College. Initially, the stock consisted of some 45,000 books and during Emperor Joseph II's dissolution of the monasteries, this was soon considerably extended. In contrast to its antecedents, the new library was open to the general public. Between 1827 and 1829, it acquired the classicist extension (Postgasse 9) to the Academic College, in which it was to be accommodated until 1884. In this year, the main library, with some 300,000 books, moved to Heinrich von Ferstel's new Main Building on the Ring, where stacks for some 500,000 volumes had already been prepared. With an annual growth of up to 30,000 volumes, the surplus space was soon filled. Book storage space had to be extended continuously. One hundred years later, the complete library, including departmental and subject libraries, comprised more than 4.3 million volumes. Today, Vienna's University Library is the largest collection of books in Austria, with the greatest problems of space. In addition to the Main Library, which alone has to cope with an annual growth of 40,000 volumes, it includes today, three Faculty Libraries, 32 Subject Libraries and 26 Departmental Libraries.

Göttingen University

University of Göttingen
Georg-August-Universität Göttingen

Latin: Universitas Regiae Georgiae Augustae
Established: 1734
Type: Public Law foundation (Stiftung öffentlichen Rechts, since 2003)
President: Prof. Dr. Kurt von Figura
Students: 24,000
Location: Göttingen, Germany
Affiliations: German Excellence Universities
Coimbra Group
EUA
Website: www.uni-goettingen.de

The University of Göttingen (German: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen) is a university in the city of Göttingen, Germany.

It was founded in 1734 by George II, King of Great Britain and Elector of Hanover, and was then opened in 1737. The University of Göttingen soon grew in size and popularity. Göttingen is a historic university city, with a high student population and has been home to generations of notable academics and notable alumni alike.

The University of Göttingen is also one of the highest-ranked universities in Germany.

History

Inauguration


Göttingen in 1735

King George II, founder and president of the university

In 1734, George II, King of Great Britain and of Hanover, gave his prime minister Gerlach Adolph von Münchhausen, the order to establish a university in Göttingen to carry forward the idea of academic freedom at the times of European Enlightenment. Upon that, the University of Göttingen became the trailblazer of European universities to hail academic freedom with its four classic faculties of theology, law, philosophy and medicine.

18th – 19th centuries

Throughout the 18th century the University of Göttingen was at the top of German universities for its extremely free spirit and atmosphere of scientific exploration and research. By 1812, Göttingen had become an internationally acknowledged modern university with its library of more than 250,000 volumes. Napoleon had even studied law here and remarked that "Göttingen belongs to the whole Europe".


In the first years of the University of Göttingen it became famous for its faculty of law. In the 18th century Johann Stephan Pütter, the most prestigious scholar of public law at that time, taught jus publicum here for half a century, which had attracted a great number of students such as Klemens Wenzel Lothar von Metternich, later diplomat and prime minister of Austria, and Wilhelm von Humboldt, who later set up the University of Berlin. It is also worth mentioning for this period that Arthur Schopenhauer, the German philosopher best known for his work The World as Will and Representation, became a student at the University of Göttingen in 1809, where he studied metaphysics and psychology under Gottlob Ernst Schulze, who advised him to concentrate on Plato and Kant.


King George II in the Pauliner Church in 1748

By 1837, when the university was a hundred years old, the University of Göttingen had earned its fame as "university of law" because almost every year the students enrolled by the faculty of law made up more than half of all the students on the campus. Göttingen became a mecca for the study of public law in Germany. Heinrich Heine, the famous German poet, studied law and was awarded Dr.iur..

However, political disturbances, in which both professors and students were implicated, lowered the attendance to 860 in 1834. The expulsion in 1837 of the famous seven professors - Die Göttinger Sieben - viz, the Germanist, Wilhelm Eduard Albrecht (1800-1876); the historian, Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann (1785-1860); the orientalist, Georg Heinrich August Ewald (1803-1875); the historian, Georg Gottfried Gervinus (1805—1875); the physicist, Wilhelm Eduard Weber (1804-1891); and the philologists, the brothers Jakob Grimm (1785-1863), and Wilhelm Grimm (1786-1859), for protesting against the revocation by King Ernest Augustus I of Hanover of the liberal constitution of 1833, further reduced the prosperity of the university. Prior to this, the Brothers Grimm had taught here and compiled the first German Dictionary.


The old Building of the University and its library in 1815

The Pauliner Church, once the seat of the University Library where Heinrich Heine, Brothers Grimm and Goethe had worked

Thereafter, Gustav von Hugo, forerunner of the historical school of law, and Rudolf von Jhering, a most significant jurist who created the theory of "culpa in contraendo" and wrote Battle for Right, taught here in the 19th century and maintained the good reputation of the faculty of law. Otto von Bismarck, the main creator and first chancellor of the second German Empire, had also studied law in Göttingen in 1833 and lived in a tiny house on the "Wall" (according to oral tradition, he lived there because his rowdiness had caused him to be banned from living within the city walls), now known as "Bismarck Cottage".

Nevertheless, what made Göttingen a focus of the world scientific center was its glory in natural science, especially mathematics. Carl Friedrich Gauß, the "most important mathematician", taught in the 19th century here in Göttingen. Bernhard Riemann, Johann Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet and a number of significant mathematicians made their contribution to mathematics here. By the end of the 19th century David Hilbert and Felix Klein had attracted mathematicians from around the world to Göttingen, which made Göttingen the center and mecca of mathematics at the beginning of the 20th century in the world.

End of the 19th century – beginning of the 20th century

During this period, the University of Göttingen achieved its peak in the academic history of Europe and even of the world.


The old Auditorium Maximum (built in 1826-1865)

In 1903, its teaching staff numbered 121 and its students 1529. Ludwig Prandtl joined the university in 1904, and developed it into a world leader in fluid mechanics and in aerodynamics over the next two decades. By the 1920s, it was unparalleled, and in 1925, Prandtl was appointed director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Fluid Mechanics. Many of Prandtl's students went on to make some of the fundamental contributions to aerodynamics, and read like a "who's who" guide to the field.

To date, 45 Nobel Prize laureates have studied, taught or made contributions here. Most of these prizes were given in the first half of the 20th century, which was called the "Göttingen Nobel prize wonder".


Alte Aula (Great Hall), also Karzer, at Wilhelmsplatz (built in 1835-1837)

Social studies and study of humanities continued to flourish. Edmund Husserl, the great philosopher and known as the father of phenomenology, taught here. Max Weber, the great sociologist studied here for one term.

The "great purge" of 1933

In the 1930s, the university became a focal point for the Nazi crackdown on "Jewish physics", as represented by the work of Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr (both Jewish). In what was later called the "great purge" of 1933, academics including Max Born, Victor Goldschmidt, James Franck, Eugene Wigner, Leó Szilárd, Edward Teller, Emmy Noether, and Richard Courant were expelled or fled. The legacy of greatness in mathematics, a lineage which had included Carl Friedrich Gauss and Bernhard Riemann, was broken.


The Monument of King William IV who bequeathed Aula to the university in 1837

The interior of the university Aula

Though David Hilbert remained, by the time he died in 1943, the Nazis had essentially gutted the university, as many of the top faculty were either Jewish or had married Jews. About a year after the purge, he attended a banquet, and was seated next to the new Minister of Education, Bernhard Rust. Rust asked, "How is mathematics in Göttingen now that it has been freed of the Jewish influence?" Hilbert replied, "Mathematics in Göttingen? There is really none any more" (Reid, 205). Today, Göttingen is one of the most comprehensive universities in Germany, with a respectable, but no longer world-famous, mathematics department.

Renovation after War

After World War II, the University of Göttingen was the first university in the western Zones to be opened under British control in 1945. Jürgen Habermas, a leading German philosopher and sociologist, pursued his study here in Göttingen. Later, Richard von Weizsäcker, the former president of Germany, earned his Dr.iur. here. Gerhard Schröder, the former Chancellor of Germany, also graduated from the faculty of law here in Göttingen and became a lawyer thereafter.

Current status

Today the university consists of 13 faculties. About 24,000 students are currently enrolled. More than 2,500 professors and other academics presently work at the University, assisted by a technical and administrative staff of over 10,000. The post-war expansion of the University led to the establishment of a new, modern 'university quarter' in the north of the town. The architecture of the old university can still be seen in the Auditorium Maximum (1826/1865) and the Great Hall (1835/1837) on the Wilhelmsplatz.