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Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg
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HistoryFoundingThe university was founded in 1386 at the behest of Rupert I, Count Palatine of the Rhine, in order to provide faculties for the study of philosophy, theology, jurisprudence, and medicine. On October 19, 1386 the first lecture was held, making Heidelberg the oldest university in Germany.
The Great Schism in 1378, which split European Christendom into two hostile groups, was initiated by the election of two popes after the death of Pope Gregory XI in the same year. One successor resided in Avignon (elected by the French) and the other in Rome (elected by the Italian cardinals). The German secular and spiritual leaders voiced their support for the successor in Rome, which had far-reaching consequences for the German students and teachers in Paris: they lost their stipends and had to leave. Rupert I recognized the opportunity and initiated talks with the Curia, which ultimately lead to the creation of the Papal Bull Foundation.. On October 18, 1386, a ceremonial fair in the Heiliggeistkirche commemorated the opening of the doors of the university. As a motto for the seal, Marsilius von Inghen, the first rector of the university chose semper apertus—i.e., "the book of learning is always open." At this point in time, the city of Heidelberg had approximately 3,500 inhabitants, including 600 students enrolled at the university.
Early developmentThe newly created university acted from the outset as an intellectual center for theology and jurisprudence scholars from throughout the Holy Roman Empire.
Nominalism had been prevalent from the time of Marsilius until after 1406, when Jerome of Prague, the friend of John Hus, introduced realism at Heidelberg, on which account he was expelled by the faculty. Six years later, the teachings of John Wycliffe were also condemned. Between 1414 and 1418, several distinguished professors of the University of Heidelberg took part in the Council of Constance and acted as counselors for Louis III, who attended this council as representative of the emperor and chief magistrate of the realm, and had John Hus executed as a heretic. In 1432 the university, pursuant to papal and imperial requests, sent two delegates to the Council of Basle who faithfully supported the legitimate pope.
The transition from scholastic to humanistic culture was effected by the chancellor and bishop Johann von Dalberg in the late 15th century. Humanism was represented at the University of Heidelberg particularly by the founder of the older German Humanistic School Rudolph Agricola, Conrad Celtes, Jakob Wimpfeling, and Johann Reuchlin. Æneas Silvius Piccolomini was chancellor of the university in his capacity of provost of Worms, and later always favored it with his friendship and good-will as Pope Pius II. In 1482, Pope Sixtus IV permitted laymen and married men to be appointed professors in the ordinary of medicine through a papal dispensation. In 1553, Pope Julius III sanctioned the allotment of ecclesiastical benefice to secular professors.
Martin Luther's disputation at Heidelberg in April 1518 made a lasting impact, and his adherents among the masters and scholars soon became leading Reformationists in Southwest Germany. With the Palatinate's turn to the Reformed faith, Otto Henry, Elector Palatine, converted the university into a calvinsitic institution. In 1563, the Heidelberg Catechism was created under collaboration of members of the university's divinity school. As the 16th century was passing, the late humanism stepped beside Calvinism as a predominant school of thought; and figures like Paul Schede, Jan Gruter, Martin Opitz, and Matthäus Merian taught at the university. It attracted scholars from all over the continent and developed into a cultural and academic center. However, with the beginning of the Thirty Years' War in 1618, the intellectual and fiscal wealth of the university declined. In 1622, the then-world-famous Bibliotheca Palatina (the library of the university) was stolen from the University Cathedral and taken to Rome. The reconstruction efforts thereafter were defeated by the troops of King Louis XIV, who destroyed Heidelberg in 1693 almost completely.
As a consequence of the late Counter-Reformation, the university lost its Protestant character, and was channeled by Jesuits. In 1735, the Old University was constructed at University Square, then known as Domus Wilhelmina. Through the efforts of the Jesuits a preparatory seminary was established, the Seminarium ad Carolum Borromæum, whose pupils were also registered in the university. After the suppression of the Jesuit Order, most of the schools they had conducted passed into the hands of the French Congregation of Lazarists in 1773. They deteriorated from that time forward, and the university itself continued to lose in prestige until the reign of the last elector Charles Theodore, Elector Palatine, who established new chairs for all the faculties, founded scientific institutes such as the Electoral Academy of Science, and transferred the school of political economy from Kaiserslautern to Heidelberg, where it was combined with the university as the faculty of political economy. He also founded an observatory in the neighboring city of Mannheim, where Jesuit Christian Meyer labored as director. In connection with the commemoration of the four hundredth anniversary of the university, a revised statute book, which several of the professors had been commissioned to prepare, was approved by the elector. The financial affairs of the university, its receipts and expenditures, were put in order. At that period, the number of students varied from three to four hundred; in the jubilee year, 133 matriculated. As a consequence of the disturbances caused by the French Revolution and particularly because of the Peace of Lunéeville, the university lost all its property on the left bank of the Rhine, so that its complete dissolution was expected.
19th and early 20th centuryIt was not until 1803 that this decline stopped. In this year, the university was reestablished as a state-owned institution by Karl Friedrich, Grand Duke of Baden, to whom the part of the Palatinate situated on the right bank of the Rhine was allotted. Since then, the university bears his name together with the one of Ruprecht I. Karl Friedrich divided the university into five faculties and placed himself at its head as rector, as did also his successors. During this decade Romanticism found expression in Heidelberg through Clemens Brentano, Achim von Arnim, Ludwig Tieck, Joseph Görres, and Joseph von Eichendorff, and there went forth a revival of the German Middle Ages in speech, poetry, and art.
The German Students Association exerted great influence, which was at first patriotic and later political. After Romanticism had eventually died out, Heidelberg became a center of Liberalism and the movement in favor of German national unity. The historians Friedrich Christoph Schlosser and Georg Gottfried Gervinus were the guides of the nation in political history. The modern scientific schools of medicine and natural science, particularly astronomy, were models in point of construction and equipment, and the University of Heidelberg was especially noted for its influential law school. Heidelberg’s professors were important supporters of the Vormärz revolution and many of them were members of the revolutionary Frankfurt Parliament of 1848. During the late 19th century, the university housed a very liberal and open-minded spirit, which was deliberately fostered by Max Weber, Ernst Troeltsch and a circle of colleagues around them. In the Weimar Republic, the university was widely recognized as a center of democratic thinking, coined by professors like Karl Jaspers, Gustav Radbruch, Martin Dibelius and Alfred Weber. Unfortunately, there were also dark forces working within the university: Nazi physicist Philipp Lenard was head of the physical institute during that time. Following the assassination of Walther Rathenau, he refused to half mast the national flag on the institute, thereby provoking its storming by communist students.
Nazi era and Federal RepublicWith the advent of the Third Reich in 1933, the university supported the Nazis like all other German universities at the time. It dismissed a large number of lecturers and expelled many students for political and racist reasons. Many dissident fellows had to emigrate, some Jewish and Communist professors were deported, and two professors directly fell victim to Nazi terror. Particularly members of the university took part in a book burning at University Square, and Heidelberg was eventually ill-famed as a NSDAP cadre university. The inscription above the main entrance of the New University was changed from "The Living Spirit" to "The German Spirit", and many professors paid homage to the new motto. After the end of World War II, the university underwent an extensive denazification. Since Heidelberg was for the most part spared from destruction during the war, the reconstruction of the university was realized rather quickly. With the foundation of the Collegium Academicum, the University of Heidelberg became the home of Germany's first and, until today, only self-governed student hall. Newly laid statutes obliged the university to "The Living Spirit of Truth, Justice and Humanity".
During the Sixties and Seventies, the university grew dramatically in size. At this time, it developed into one of the main scenes of the left-wing student protests in Germany. In 1975, a massive police force arrested the entire student parliament AStA. Shortly thereafter, the building of the Collegium Academicum, a progressive college in immediate vicinity to the universities main grounds, was stormed by over 700 police officers and closed once and for all. On the outskirts of the city, in the Neuenheimer Feld area, a large campus for medicine and natural sciences was constructed.
Today, about 26,500 students are enrolled for studies at the University of Heidelberg. There are 2,897 full time faculty, including 476 university professors. In 2007, the university was appointed University of Excellence within the scope of an initiative started by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the German Research Foundation in order to enhance the German university system by establishing a small network of exceptionally well-funded universities, which are expected to generate a strong international appeal.
Campuses
"I saw Heidelberg on a perfectly clear morning, with a pleasant air both cool and invigorating. The city, just so, with the totality of its ambiance was, one might say, something ideal." | | — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe |
Heidelberg is a city with approximately 140,000 inhabitants. It is situated in the Rhine Neckar Triangle, a European metropolitan area with approximately 2.4 million people living there, comprising the neighboring cities of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Ludwigshafen, and a number of smaller towns in the perimeter. Heidelberg is known as the cradle of Romanticism, and its old town and castle are among the most frequented tourist destinations in Germany. Its pedestrian zone is a shopping and night life magnet for the surrounding area and beyond. Heidelberg is about 40 minutes by train away from Frankfurt International Airport.
The University of Heidelberg’s facilities are, generally speaking, separated in two parts. The faculties and institutes of humanities and social sciences are embedded in the Old Town Campus. The sciences faculties and the medical school, including three large university hospitals, are located on the New Campus in the Neuenheimer Feld on the outskirts of Heidelberg.
Old Town CampusThe so-called New University is regarded as the center of the Old Town Campus. It is situated in the pedestrian zone at University Square in direct neighborhood to the University Library and to the main administration buildings. The New University was officially opened in 1931. Its erection was largely financed by donations of American tycoon families, such as Goldman, Sachs, Morgan, Chrysler, Ford, and many others, in line with a fundraising campaign of Jacob Gould Schurman, an alumnus of the University of Heidelberg and former U.S. Ambassador to Germany. It houses the new assembly hall, the largest lecture halls, and a number of smaller seminar rooms, mostly used by faculties of humanities and social sciences. Education in humanities and social sciences takes place to a great extent in the respective faculty buildings which are spread all over the ancient part of town, though, they are mostly a maximum of ten minutes walk away from University Square. The faculties maintain own extensive libraries, and working places for their students. Seminars and tutorials are usually held in the faculty buildings.
New CampusThe New Campus is located in the newest district of the town called Neuenheimer Feld. It is the larger part of the university, and the largest campus for natural sciences and life science in Germany. Almost all science faculties and institutes, the medical school, the university hospitals, and the science branch of the University Library are situated at the New Campus. Most of the dormitories and the athletic facilities of the university can be found there as well. Several independent research institutes, such as the German Cancer Research Center, Max-Planck-Institutes, and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, have settled there. The New Campus is also seat of several biomedical spin-off companies. The ancient part of the town can be reached by streetcar in about ten minutes. The Faculty of Physics and Astronomy is not located at either campus, but on the Philosophers' Walk, separated from the Old Town by River Neckar, and some two kilometers away from the New Campus.
Libraries
The University Library is the main library of the university, and constitutes together with the decentralized libraries of the faculties and institutes, the integral university library system, headed by the director of the University Library. The University Library's stocks exceeded one million in 1934. Today it holds about 3.2 million books, about 500,000 other media such as microfilms and video tapes, as well as 10,732 scientific periodicals. Moreover, it holds 6,600 manuscripts, most notably the Codex Manesse, 1,800 incunabula, 110,500 autographs, and a collection of old maps, paintings, and photographs. The further 83 decentralized libraries of the faculties and institutes hold another 3.5 million printed books. In 2005, 34,500 active users of the University Library accessed 1.4 million books a year. The conventional book supply is complemented by numerous electronic services. Around 3,000 commercial scientific journals can be accessed via e-journal. The University Library of today traces its roots back to the purchase of a chest of documents by the first Rector Marsilius von Inghen in 1388, which was stored in the Heiliggeistkirche, then the University Cathedral. Since 1978, the science branch of the University Library serves the institutes of natural sciences and medicine on the New Campus.
Facilities abroadThe University of Heidelberg has founded a Center for Latin America in Santiago, Chile in 2001. It has the task of organizing, managing, and marketing the courses of study maintained either independently by the University of Heidelberg or in cooperation with the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and the University of Chile. The University of Heidelberg has arranged cooperation agreements with both of these universities. The center has responsibility for programs of postgraduate education. It also coordinates the activities of the University of Heidelberg in Latin America, and provides a platform for scientific cooperation. In addition, the university is currently about to set up a Heidelberg Center for North America, with similar tasks, in Amherst, Massachusetts.
OrganizationGovernanceThe Rectorate is the 'executive body' of the university, headed by rector Bernhard Eitel. The rectorate consists of the chancellor, Marina Frost, who is the head of the central administration and responsible for the university's budgeting, and three pro-rectors, who are responsible for international relations, teaching and communication, and research and structure respectively.
The Senate is the 'legislative branch' of the university. The rector and the members of the rectorate are senators ex officio, as are also the deans of the faculties, as well as the medical and managing directors of the University Hospital, and the university's equal opportunities officer. Another 20 senators are elected for four year terms, whithin the following quotas: eight university professors; four academic staff; four delegates of the student body; and four employees of the university administration.
The University Council is the advisory board to the aforementioned entities and encompasses, among others, the former Israeli Ambassador to Germany Avi Primor, as well as CEOs of German industries.
FacultiesAfter a structural reformation in 2003, the university consists of twelve faculties which in turn comprise several disciplines, departments, and institutes. As a consequence of the Bologna process, most faculties now offer Bachelor's, Master's, and Ph.D. degrees in order to comply with the new European degree standard. Notable exceptions are the undergraduate programs in law, medicine, dentistry and pharmacy, from which students still graduate with the State Examination, a central examination at Master's level held by the State of Baden-Württemberg.
Associated institutionsThe university is organizationally and personally interlinked with the following independent and semi-independent institutions. Besides joint research, they take also part in the educational tasks at undergraduate and graduate level.
Academic profileSchool statisticsThe university currently employs more than 15,000 academic staff, the most of which are engaged in the University Hospital. As of 2007, the faculty encompasses 2,897 full time staff, excluding visiting professors as well as graduate research and teaching assistants. 318 faculty members have been drawn from abroad. Heidelberg enrolls a total of 26,582 students; including 5,455 international students. In addition there are 1,467 international exchange students at Heidelberg. 23,130 students pursue taught degrees, 4,597 of whom are international students, and 1,453 are international exchange students. 2,473 students pursue a doctoral degree, including 881 international doctoral students and 14 international exchange students. In 2007, the university awarded 962 Ph.D. degrees.
RankingsThe THES - QS World University Rankings ranked the University of Heidelberg overall between 12th and 15th in Europe, between 45th and 60th in the world, and consistently as the foremost German university. Based on the overall academic peer review score of 2005, Heidelberg ranked 6th in Europe and 28th in the world. In the separate THES - QS rankings of broad subject areas, Heidelberg ranked globally between 17th and 43rd in life science and biomedicine, between 22nd and 45th in science, between 41st and 61st in arts and humanities, and between 54th and 78th in social sciences.
The Shanghai Jiao Tong University's Academic Ranking of World Universities ranked Heidelberg between 2nd and 3rd nationally, between 12th and 18th in Europe, and between 58th and 66th in the world.
The 2007 Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities, issued by the Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan, placed Heidelberg 2nd in Germany, 12th in Europe, and 61st globally.
The Scientometrics Journal Gatekeepers Indicator Ranking, created by Eötvös Loránd University of Budapest in 2007, ranks the University of Heidelberg at the top of German universities, 12th in Europe, and 73rd globally.
According to the Ranking of Scientific Impact of Leading European Research Universities compiled by the European Commission, Heidelberg ranks 4th nationally and 9th in Europe.
The German Center for Higher Education Development Excellence Ranking, which measures academic performance of European graduate programs in biology, chemistry, mathematics, and physics, placed Heidelberg in the excellence group for physics and chemistry, and in the top group for mathematics and biology, which is overall a 2nd place in Germany, and a joint 9th place in Europe.
Ranked by the number of Nobel Laureates affiliated with the university at the time of Nobel Prize announcement, Heidelberg is placed 1st in Germany, 4th in Europe and 13th in the world by 2007.
The Times of London referred to the University of Heidelberg as "the oldest and most eminent in the country of Luther and Einstein" and as "the jewel of German learning".
Organization and length of coursesThe academic year is divided into two semesters. The winter semester runs from 1st of October - 31st of March and the summer semester from 1st of April - 30th of September. Classes are held from mid-October to mid-February and mid-April to mid-July. Students can generally begin their studies either in the winter or the summer semester. However, there are several subjects students can begin only in the winter semester. The standard time required to finish a Bachelor's degree is principally 6 semesters, and a further 4 semesters for consecutive Master's degrees. The normal duration of Ph.D. programs for full-time students is 6 semesters. The overall period of study for an undergraduate degree is divided into two parts: a period of basic study, lasting at least 4 semesters, at the end of which students must sit a formal examination, and a period of advanced study, lasting at least 2 semesters, after which students take their final examinations.
AdmissionIn the winter-semester 2006/2007 the university offered 3,926 places in undergraduate programs restricted by numerus clausus, with an overall acceptance rate of 16.3 percent. Most selective are the undergraduate programs in clinical medicine, molecular cell biology, political science, and law, with acceptance rates of 3.6 percent, 3.8 percent, 7.6 percent and 9.1 percent respectively. The selection is exercised by allocating the best qualified applicants to a given number of places available in the respective discipline, thus depending primarily on the chosen subjects and the grade point average of the high school degree equivalent. For some majors and minors in humanities, particularly for those which are conceptually non-vocational like classics, philosophy, and ancient history, unrestricted admission is granted if certain criteria (e.g. relevant language proficiency) are fulfilled, as applications regularly do not exceed the number of places available. For prospective international undergraduate students a language test for German, such as the DSH, is required. Admission to consecutive Master's programs always requires at least an undergraduate degree equivalent to the German grade "good" (i.e., normally B+ in American, or 2:1 in British terms). Except for the Master's programs taught in English, a language test for German must be passed as well. Ph.D. admission prerequisite is normally a strong Master's-level degree, but specific admission procedures vary and cannot be generalized. International applicants usually make up considerably more than 20 percent of the applicant pool and are considered individually by the merits achieved in their respective country of origin.
FinancesStudying at German universities is heavily subsidized by the state in order to keep higher education affordable regardless of socio-economic background.
Since 2007, Heidelberg charges tuition fees of approximately € 1,200 p.a., including student union fees, for undergraduate, consecutive Master's, and doctoral programs, for both EU and non-EU citizens, and for any subject area. The usual housing costs for on-campus dormitories range from € 2,200 to € 3,000 p.a.
In the fiscal year 2005, the University of Heidelberg had an overall operating budget of approximately € 856 M (approximately € 218 M non-medical); consisting of approximately € 413 M government funds (approximately € 10 M non-medical);approximately € 311 M basic budget (approximately € 160 M non-medical); and approximately € 132 M from external grants (approximately € 48 M non-medical). The university spent approximately € 529 M in payroll costs (approximately € 162 M non-medical) and approximately € 326 M (approximately € 56 M non-medical) in other expenditures. Additionally, the university will receive another € 150 M in research grants, distributed over 5 years from 2007 onwards, due to the German Universities Excellence Initiative. In the fiscal year 2007, the university for the first time raised approximately € 19 M through tuition fees. Only approximately € 9.5 M of these were spent at the end of the year and the rectorate had to urge the faculties to make use of their monies.
ResearchThe university puts an emphasis on natural sciences and medicine, but it retains its traditions with highly ranked faculties of humanities and social sciences. The Marsilius Kolleg, named after Marsilius of Inghen, was established in 2007 as a Center for Advanced Study to promote interdisciplinary dialogue and research especially between the sciences and the humanities. Other institutes such as the Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing, the Interdisciplinary Center for Neurosciences, the Heidelberg Center for American Studies, and the South Asia Institute also build a bridge between faculties and thus emphasize the concept of a comprehensive university.
Noted regular publications of the Center for Astronomy include the Gliese catalog of nearby stars, the fundamental catalogues FK5 and FK6 and the annual published Apparent places, a high precision catalog with pre-calculated positions for over 3 thousand stars for each day. The Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research publishes the annual Conflict Barometer, which describes the recent trends in global conflict developments, escalations, de-escalations, and settlements. Regular publications by the Max Planck Institute for International Law include the "Heidelberg Journal for International Law", the "Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law"; the "Journal of the History of International Law"; the "Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law"; and the semi-annual bibliography "Public International Law".
The German Research Foundation (DFG) currently funds twelve long-term Collaborative Research Centers (SFB) with a duration of up to 12 years at Heidelberg, four Priority Programs (SPP) with a duration of 6 years, two Research Units (FOR) with a duration of up to 6 years, as well as numerous individual projects at the university's faculties and institutes. As a result of the German Universities Excellence Initiative, two Clusters of Excellence are funded with € 6.5 M each - "Cellular Networks: From Molecular Mechanisms to Quantitative Understanding of Complex Functions" , and "Asia and Europe in a Global Context: Shifting Asymmetries in Cultural Flows"
Among historical scientific achievements of Heidelberg researchers features prominently the invention of spectroscopy, and of the Bunsen burner; the discovery of chemical elements Caesium and Rubidium; the identification of the absolute point of ebullition; and the identification and isolation of nicotine as the main pharmacologically active component of tobacco. Modern scientific psychiatry; psychopharmacology; psychiatric genetics; environmental physics; and modern sociology were introduced as scientific disciplines by Heidelberg faculty. Almost 800 dwarf planets, the North America Nebula, and the return of Halley's Comet have been discovered and documented at institutes of the Heidelberg Center for Astronomy. Moreover, Heidelberg researchers invented the process of Plastination to preserve body tissue, conducted the first successful transplantation of hematopoietic stem cells, and recently developed a new strategy for a vaccination in order to prevent certain forms of cancer.
International cooperationsHeidelberg is a founding member of the League of European Research Universities, the Coimbra Group, and the European University Association, and it participates in 7 European exchange schemes for researchers and students, such as ERASMUS. Furthermore it is actively involved in the development of the German-speaking Andrássy University of Budapest, and co-runs the school of German law at the Jagiellonian University of Krakow. Beyond Europe, the university and its faculties maintain specific agreements with 58 partner universities in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australia and the Russian Federation. In total, the Higher Education Compass of the German Rector's Conference lists staff and student exchange agreements as well as research cooperations with 236 universities world-wide, including some of the world's most renowned and highly ranked.
Student lifeThe university offers a broad variety of athletics, such as teams in 16 different court sports from American football to volleyball, courses in 11 different martial arts, 26 courses in fitness and body building, 9 courses in health sports from aquapower to yoga, and groups in 12 different dance styles. Moreover equestrian sports, sailing, rowing, skiing in the French alps, track and field, swimming, fencing, cycling, acrobatics, gymnastics, and much more. Most of the sports are free of charge. Heidelberg’s competition teams are particularly successful in soccer, volleyball, equestrian sports, judo, karate, track and field, and basketball. The track and field team regularly achieves best placings at the German university championships. The University Sports Club men's basketball team, USC Heidelberg, is the championship record holder, won 13 national championships, and is the only university team playing at a professional level in the second division of Germany's national league.
Moreover, the university supports a number of student groups in various fields of interest. Among them are the student parliament AStA, the student councils of the twelve faculties, four drama clubs, the university orchestra Collegium Musicum, four choirs, six student media groups, six groups of international students, nine groups of political parties and NGO’s, several departments of European organizations of students in certain disciplines, four clubs dedicated to fostering international relations and cultural exchange, a chess club, a literature club, a debate society, two student management consulting groups, and four religious student groups.
Heidelberg’s student newspaper “ruprecht” is, with editions of more than 10,000 copies, one of Germany’s largest student-run newspapers. It was recently distinguished by the MLP Pro Campus Press Award as Germany’s best student newspaper. The jury, consisting of journalists of major newspapers, commended its “well balanced, though critical attitude”, and its “simply great” layout which “suffices highest professional demands”. The ruprecht is financed entirely by advertising revenues, thus retaining its independence from the university's management. Some very renowned journalists emerged from ruprecht’s editorial board.
However, the critical online student newspaper "UNiMUT", which is run by th | |
