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University of Fribourg
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The University of Fribourg (; ) is a university in the city of Fribourg, Switzerland.
It was founded in 1889 by local businessman Georges Python, although the origins of the university can be traced to 1580 with the foundation of the Jesuit Seminary of St. Michel. Courses in this University are given in the French language and German language. Except for certain departments (such as history and law) where curricula are available in both languages, students are normally expected to understand both languages.
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Encyclopedia
The University of Fribourg (; ) is a university in the city of Fribourg, Switzerland.
It was founded in 1889 by local businessman Georges Python, although the origins of the university can be traced to 1580 with the foundation of the Jesuit Seminary of St. Michel. Courses in this University are given in the French language and German language. Except for certain departments (such as history and law) where curricula are available in both languages, students are normally expected to understand both languages. Students number about 10,000. Traditionally, the university also attracts a strong contingent of students from Italian-speaking Ticino. The Misericorde Campus, constructed between 1939–42 was designed by the architects Honegger and Dumas, students of the famous Swiss architect Le Corbusier and as such is deemed to be of major architectural importance.
There are five faculties: Catholic theology, law, natural sciences, arts, and economics & social sciences.
History
The University owes its origin to the foundation of the Jesuit College St. Michel on Belze Hill by St. Pierre Canisius in 1580 at the invitation of the government of Fribourg. The question of Catholic higher education came to the fore with the development of the Protestant academies at Geneva, Lausanne and Basle. In 1763, an Academy of Law was founded, housed in the Albertinium(now a Dominican residence). In 1834, the cantonal library was formed from works brought to Fribourg (from Catholic monasteries) for safekeeping. The College St. Michel was closed following the expulsion of the Jesuits by the Bernese from Fribourg after the canton's defeat in the Sonderbund war.
In 1886, Georges Python, founder of the cantonal bank and State Counsellor for Fribourg (M.P. in the upper house of the Swiss parliament) became Director of Public Education. He raised funds through a lottery and was
granted some 2,500,000 CHF by the canton. One of the conditions was that he should delay the construction of the university buildings and lectures took place in the buildings of St. Michel. The cantonal library became integrated with that of the university and the Academy became the Faculty of Law. Benito Mussolini worked as a stone mason on the Bibliothèque Cantonale et universitaire (BCU) centrale, the central library of the university
The Dominicans managed the theological faculty, due to an agreement with the canton of Fribourg. The buildings of St. Michel eventually became too crowded and in 1939 the university moved to a new campus constructed on the former cemetery of Misericorde, ceding St. Michel to one of Fribourg's gymnasia, which took the name College St. Michel. During the Second World War, the University set up "university camps" along with the University of Zürich to educate Polish prisoners of war.
The Perolles campus was constructed on the site of a former wagon factory.
Although lectures were originally in Latin, Fribourg is now the only French/German bilingual university in the world (40% French and 60% German).The town itself is 70% French and 30% German. This fact, coupled with the traditional dominance of French as the language of the city aristocracy explains why French has remained so dominant in university administration and in the AGEF (Association Generale des Etudiants Fribourgois), the Student's Union. To commemorate the centerary of the University La Poste issued a stamp depicting the figures Science and Sagesse.
Recent developments
The University just completed construction of its Perolles 2 campus, to which the Faculty of Economics and Social Science relocated. Plans are underway to commence construction of a Museum for Biblical Antiquities which will be housed in the Tower of Henry IV once it is renovated. *The University has the third largest collection of Biblical antiquities in the world after the British Museum and the Cairo Museum. Fribourg has also developed FriMat, a centre of excellence in nanotechnology. As part of the BeNeFri association comprising the Universities of Berne, Neuchatel and Fribourg, students at any one of these universities may take courses at another in the association and still receive credit at their home institution. The academic degrees were the Demi-Licence, Licence, DEA / DESS, Doctorate. The University now follows the requirements of the Bologna process.
Campuses
Fribourg has no central campus and its buildings are located throughout the city.
The main sites are:
- Misericorde - Humanities and central administration (including the famous Senate room)
- Perolles - Science
- Perolles 2 - Economics
- Regina Mundi - Psychology
- BCU centrale - Main Library
- Pierre Aeby - Department of Classical Philology
- Bonnesfontaines - Pedagogy
- Stade St. Leonard - University Stadium
Traditions
- Dies Academicus - On this day in November every year, no lectures are held. Festivities begin with Mass in the Chapel of the Collège St. Michel. The members of the University then proceed to the Aula Magna (Great Hall) in solemn procession. After an address by the rector and a prominent guest speaker, honorary degrees are awarded. The student guilds attend in ceremonial dress including swords.
- Student Guilds - These are similar to the student guilds in Germany and Austria, but there is no de facto constraint to participate as it is in the student nations at the universities of Uppsala, Lund and Helsinki. They maintain Central European student traditions and meet at least once a week around a Stammtisch ("regular's table") in order to socialise, drink and sing together. They tend to be organised on linguistic lines. One of them is still engaged in dueling, while the other guilds in Fribourg already rejected this tradition at the time they were founded, amongst others for religious reasons. Membership has often been considered advantageous for those wishing to pursue a career in business, politics or law. Most of Fribourg's student guilds belong to the formerly catholic Schweizerischer Studentenverein ("Swiss Student Association").
- The Day of Welcomes (Jour D'Accueil) - Similar to Fresher's Week in Anglophonic Universities. New students are invited to the Aula Magna, where they are welcomed to Fribourg by the Rector and the Syndic (Mayor of the City of Fribourg). This is followed by a meal in the university Mensa provided by the city, where new students are expected to dine with the rest of the Faculty to which they have been admitted.
- Every year, the Catholic Church holds collections during masses throughout Switzerland. Known as Fribourg Sunday, the funds raised are mainly used to award scholarships to foreign priests by the Faculty of Theology.
Student life
The main sports at the University are skiing, fencing, ice hockey, football, and basketball. In common with many Swiss universities, Fribourg does not have its own halls of residence. A minority of students live in foyers often run by religious organisations (though the University aids with some of the construction costs), but most rent places of their own, a common practice in Switzerland. Two of the main foyers at Fribourg are Cité St. Justin and the Salesianum. There is also a student housing cooperative known as APARTIS.
Primary degrees used to last for five or five and a half years, culminating in a Lizenziat (equivalent to a Master's degree), although with the introduction of the Bologna reforms, the University awards a BA after three years and an MA after a further two years. Students are issued with a tabella, a book in which they record all the lectures which they have attended, and which the professors sign.
Fribourg also has an active nightlife, with bars like the Café Populaire (with its renowned Crazy Mondays) or the Irish Pub and clubs like the To See and the Spirit Club. The Fri-Son club often presents famous musical acts, with venues as diversified as Death Cab for Cutie, X-cutioners, Booba, Pleymo, Air, Soulfly, The Decemberists, Zuriwest,Stress...
Branding
The University Seal depicts a Cross and Bishop's ring representing the University's Catholic ethos on a shield of black and white, representing the canton of Fribourg. This is being replaced increasingly by the use of a blue logo with triangles depicting the Alps and the name of the University in Latin.
Notable alumni and faculty
Writers and Academics
- Maurice Zermatten, writer, winner of the Schiller International Prize
- Tariq Ramadan, philosopher and Islamic scholar
- Michel Plancherel, mathematician
- Alfred Gockel, physicist, a graduate of Heidelberg but a Professor of Fribourg, involved in the discovery of cosmic radiation
- Gonzague de Reynold, writer and academic, author of Cités et pays suisse
- Mary Daly, feminist theologian and advocate of parthenogenesis
- Emmanuel Levinas, philosopher
- Professor Thierry Madies, economic advisor to French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin
- Professor Philippe Gugler, president, European International Business Academy
- Peter Trudgill, British sociolinguist and dialectologist
- Jerome Murphy-O'Connor Professor of New Testament at the Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem
Clergy
- Georges Cardinal Coittier, officical theologian to the Papal Household (under John Paul II), Secretary of the International Theological Commission
- Cardinal Christophe Schonborn, Archbishop of Vienna
- Cardinal Angelo Scola, Patriarch of Venice
- Basil Cardinal Hume, former Archbishop of Westminster
- Cardinal Henri Schwery, Bishop of Sion
- Cardinal Michael Browne O.P., Master General of the Order of Preachers
- Cardinal Gilberto Agustoni, Prefect Emeritus of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signature
- Cardinal Gaspard Mermillod, attended the Jesuit Seminary that was the forerunner of the University, Cardinal beer takes its name from him.
- Prince Max von Sachsen, Bishop, Prince of Saxony and son of King George of Saxony and Donna Maria Anna, the Infanta of Portugal
- Bernard Genoud, Bishop of Geneva, Lausanne and Fribourg
- The Very Reverend Dom Henry Wansbrough OSB
- Cardinal Graf von Galen
Politics
- Giuseppe Motta, Federal Councillor (Swiss Cabinet member) 1911-40 (President of Switzerland 1915, '20, '27, '32, '37), President of the League of Nations 1924-25
- Joseph Deiss, Federal Councillor, President of Switzerland 2004
- Ruth Metzler, Federal Councillor
- Chaim Weizmann, First President of Israel
- Juan Carlos I, King of Spain
- Albert Pintat, head of government of Andorra
- Giuseppe Lepori, Federal Councillor and Consigliere del popolo (M.P.) for Ticino
- Ignacy Moscicki, President of Poland 1926-1939
- Bill Press, U.S. political commentator and former Chairman of the Democratic Party of California
Business
Architecture
Mario Botta- Founder of the Academy of Architecture at Mendrisio (Honoris Causa)
Judiciary
Media
- Miguel San Juan, Mister Switzerland 2006
- Christa Rigozzi, Miss Switzerland 2006-2007
In Fiction
- Professor Paul Canntoneau, modelled on Georges Python is a Professor at Fribourg in one of the Tintin comics.
See Also
External links
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