Saarland University

Saarland University
Universität des Saarlandes
Latin: Universitas Saraviensis
Established	1948
Type	Public
Rector	Volker Linneweber
Faculty	290 professors
Staff	2,000
Students	15,500 (17% international)
Location	Saarbrücken, Germany
Campus	Saarbrücken and Homburg
Website	www.uni-saarland.de/

Saarland University (German Universität des Saarlandes) is a university located in Saarbrücken, the capital of the German state of Saarland. It was founded in 1948 in co-operation with France and is organized in 8 faculties that cover all major fields of science. The university is particularly well known for research and education in Computer Science and Computational Linguistics ^[1]. In 2007, as part of the "University of Excellence", the graduate school in Computer Science and the Cluster of Excellence Multimodal Computing and Interaction started to get funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

In addition, 9 academics have been honored with the highest German research prize, the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, while working at Saarland University.

History

Saarland University, the first to be established after the Second World War, was founded in November 1948 with the support of the French Government and under the auspices of the University of Nancy.

At the time the Saarland found itself in the special situation of being partly autonomous and linked to France by economic and monetary union. With its combination of the German and French educational traditions and the dual languages of instruction, the university had a European perspective right from the start. Prior to the foundation of the university, clinical training courses for medical students at the state hospital in Homburg, Saarland, had been introduced in January 1946 and the "Centre Universitaire d'Etudes Supérieures de Hombourg" established on 8 May 1947 under the patronage of the University of Nancy.

Organization

These are the 8 faculties into which the university is divided:

• Faculty 1 of Law and Economics
• Faculty 2 of Medicine, Theoretical Medicine and Biosciences - Homburg
• Faculty 3 of Humanities I
• Faculty 4 of Humanities II
• Faculty 5 of Humanities III
• Faculty 6 of Natural Sciences and Technology I
• Faculty 7 of Natural Sciences and Technology II
• Faculty 8 of Natural Sciences and Technology III

With its numerous degree programmes and the variety of final qualifications offered (Diplom, Magister, state examinations and, increasingly, bachelor and master qualifications), Saarland University provides the broad spectrum of disciplines typical of a classical universitas litterarum. The more traditional subjects such as business administration and economics, law and medicine are just as much a part of Saarland University as the new degree programmes that have developed from modern interdisciplinary collaborations and which reflect the increasing demand for such qualifications in today's job market. Examples of these new courses include 'Biology with Special Focus on Human Biology and Molecular Biology', 'Bioinformatics /Computational Biology', 'Mechatronics Engineering', 'Micro- and Nanostructured Materials', 'Computer and Communications Technology', 'Historically-oriented Cultural Studies' and 'French Cultural Science and Intercultural Communication'.

Integrated degree courses, which can lead to the award of a joint degree, are organized by Saarland University and foreign partner universities in the fields of business administration, physics, chemistry, materials science and in the interdisciplinary programme 'Cross-border Franco-German Studies'. In the area of teacher training, Saarland University offers an integrated bilingual (French-German) course for prospective teachers of geography and history. A further distinctive feature of Saarland University is the fact that the university is able to award French degrees in subjects such as Droit, Allemand and Lettres modernes. Additional qualifications may also be obtained in numerous postgraduate courses.

Governing bodies

The University is headed by a University Board which includes a President and three vice presidents, responsible for planning and strategy, research and technology transfer, education and administration and finance. There are two commities on research policy and education.

Further, the university has senate and a number of councils dealing with problems ranging from distance learning to women's issues.

Education

Saarland University now provides Bachelor and Master courses of study in addition to the older Diplom. Saarland University is entitled to confer Ph.D. degrees from all 8 faculties. The University also confers honorary titles.

The university is responsible for conducting Computer Science related courses for students enrolled in the graduate programmes of the MPI for Computer Science and MPI for Software Systems.

Saarland University is one of the few universities in Germany where the entire master's programme in computer science is taught in English.