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University of Freiburg
Albert-Ludwigs-Universität 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:	20,714
Location:	Freiburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Colors:	Blue and White
Affiliations:	German Excellence Universities, EUA, LERU, IFPU
Website:	www.uni-freiburg.de

University of Freiburg (German Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg ), sometimes referred to in English as the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, is a public research university located in Freiburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The university was founded in 1457 by the Habsburgs, becoming the second university in Austrian-Habsburg territory after the University of Vienna. Today, Freiburg is among the oldest universities 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.¹ 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.

Contents 1 History 1.1 University seal 2 Campus 3 Students and admission 4 Faculty 5 Current affairs and academics 6 Sustainability 7 Organization 7.1 Faculties 7.2 Graduate schools 7.3 University Cooperative Efforts 8 Notable alumni and professors 9 See also 10 External links 11 References

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.

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".

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 2003.³

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.

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. ⁴

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, 2008.⁵ It is one of the largest in Germany and placed 4^th in an October, 2007 German national ranking of university libraries.⁶

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 1956.⁷

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).

Students and admission

The university has a combined undergraduate and graduate student population of around 20,700. Approximately 16% of these students are foreigners, from 120 different countries. As the University of Freiburg is popular among students, admission can be very competitive. The selectivity largely depends on the faculty and program applied for and is strictly merit based, with the average score on the German Abitur playing an important role. The medical, law, and biology faculties are particularly selective in their admissions and maintain a high numerus clausus.

The University of Freiburg offers a large variety of top-ranking undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral degree programs at its eleven faculties in 150 fields of study.⁸

As common among German universities, the academic year consists of a summer and winter semester. The winter semester runs from October 1 to March 31, while the summer semester runs from April 1 to September 30. However, lectures and classes usually do not run for the full duration of these periods and allow for semester breaks in spring and fall.

German universities enjoy substantial government subsidies, so tuition fees are moderate. The University of Freiburg charges EUR 1210 per year for all undergraduate and most graduate and doctoral programs, regardless of the EU or non-EU citizenship of students.

The mission statement of the university highlights its dedication to providing outstanding education: “The university’s leading position in research is simultaneously the basis for an excellent education, which makes the University of Freiburg one of the most attractive academic centers in Europe; its graduates have high recruitment potential as the elite of the academic, economic, and political world of the future.”⁹

There are numerous student clubs and organizations, among them a student-run radio station, echo-fm,¹⁰ and a student television program, alma*,¹¹ which is also available as a podcast. Because of the nearby French and Swiss borders and the adjacent Black Forest, where the university owns a retreat on Schauinsland Mountain, there are fine opportunities for leisure and outdoor activities.

The university has its own career center, recently singled out as one of the best in Germany by the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft.¹²

Faculty

Today, there are about 430 professors, 3,695 scientific employees and 8,644 non-scientific employees working for the Albert Ludwigs University, making it Freiburg's and the region's biggest employer. The university's reputation attracts world-class professors and researchers to Freiburg, leading to an excellent position in the 2005 Humboldt Ranking,¹³ which measures the number of research stays by foreign fellows and award winners sponsored by the Humboldt Foundation. Freiburg achieved a particularly high rank in the life sciences, finishing second.

In addition, 19 Nobel laureates are affiliated with the University of Freiburg and 13 scientists were honored with the highest German research prize, the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, while working at the University of Freiburg.

Current affairs and academics

In university rankings published by German magazines and periodicals (Der Spiegel, Die Zeit, Focus, etc.¹⁴¹⁵) the University of Freiburg has established itself as one of Germany's top universities.¹⁶ The faculties for law, medicine,¹⁷ history, English studies, biology, and pharmacology achieve especially high scores.

The European Commission compiled a list of 22 European universities with the highest scientific impact (measured in terms of the impact factor of their scientific output), which took several years of effort by specialists. The ranking focuses on the scientific quality of an institution, as opposed to its size or perceived prestige. The University of Freiburg ranked 6^th in Europe and 2^nd in Germany.¹

In the Academic Ranking of World Universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, despite the methodology of the ranking favoring anglophone universities, the University of Freiburg ranks among the top 100 universities of the world, finishing ahead of renowned US institutions such as Dartmouth College, Tufts University, Emory University, and Georgetown University.

The university scored well with its submissions to the German Universities Excellence Initiative. The university received funding in all three categories. In the first category, funding for a new graduate school, the Spemann Graduate School of Biology and Medicine, was granted; in the second, funding was granted for the excellence cluster Centre for Biological Signalling Studies (bioss); and in the third category, Institutional Strategy Line of Funding, open only to institutions with submissions qualified in the first two categories, the university is receiving funding for "Windows for Research", which aims to promote a high level of interdisciplinarity between research fields and attract scientists from all over the world. To that end, the university founded the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS). Being selected for the third category ranks Freiburg as one of nine elite universities in Germany. The University is to receive over Euro 130 million in additional funds over five years (from 2007) from this third category funding.¹⁸¹⁹

In 2007, the Albert Ludwigs University celebrated its 550^th anniversary with a wide range of events that took place throughout the year. Speakers at the festivities included: President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso; Federal Minister of Education and Research Annette Schavan; and Minister-President of the State of Baden-Württemberg Günther Oettinger.

The University of Freiburg has been successful in various recent academic competitions. The moot court team of the Faculty of Law won the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, a prestigious international moot court competition, for the second time in 2007. The humanoid robot team (NimbRo) of the Faculty for Applied Sciences regularly competes with distinction in international tournaments. Team NimbRo are the 2008 world champions in the TeenSize and KidSize categories of the humanoid league.²⁰ Also in 2008, the University of Freiburg team was awarded the second place at the iGEM undergraduate synthetic biology competition held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ²¹ The team was supported by numerous university institutions, among them the recently established bioss cluster of excellence.

The genetically engineered golden rice was developed by the University of Freiburg and the ETH Zurich from 1992 to 2000. It was considered a breakthrough in biotechnology at the time of publication and now helps to provide Vitamin A to people lacking access to it in their diet.

When previous rector Prof. Dr. Jäger retired in 2008, law professor Prof. Dr. Andreas Voßkuhle was chosen as his successor. However, shortly after the start of his term, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) nominated Voßkuhle as vice-president of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany. Voßkuhle accepted the nomination, was confirmed and took his seat on the court in May 2008. In July 2008, then vice-rector Prof. Dr. Hans-Jochen Schiewer was elected as successor to Voßkuhle. Schiewer has assumed the position of rector with the start of the winter semester 2008/2009.

Sustainability

The city of Freiburg is famous for its environmentally friendly policies and focus on renewable energy and sustainability, attracting solar industry and research to the city. This environmentally conscious attitude also extends to the University of Freiburg, which has founded the work group "Nachhaltige Universität Freiburg" (Sustainable University of Freiburg) and has drawn up environmental guidelines to be implemented in university practice.

The university has also founded the initiative Solar-Uni Freiburg in 2007, with the aim of further expanding its capabilities in sustainability and environmental research. Solar panels were installed on the roofs of university buildings, forming the largest roof-based solar panel system in the state of Baden-Württemberg (as of 2007). To bundle renewable energy research and teaching at the university, the Center for Renewable Energy (ZEE, Zentrum für Erneuerbare Energien), an interdisciplinary and cross-faculty facility, was founded. Aside from research in the fields of solar energy, biomass, geothermal energy, energy efficiency and new energies, an international Master of Science degree in Renewable Energy Management is being offered.

In addition to its own expertise, the Center for Renewable Energy can draw upon the support of the renewable energy industrial sector in Freiburg, as well as the university's cooperation with other research institutes in the area, such as the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, the Öko-Institut - Institute for Applied Ecology, or the University of Applied Sciences Offenburg.

Organization

Faculties

The university is headed by a rector and divided into 11 faculties:

Faculty of Theology	Website
Faculty of Law	Website
Faculty of Medicine	Website
Faculty of Economics and Behavioural Sciences	Website
Faculty of Philology	Website
Faculty of Philosophy (history, sociology, etc.)	Website
Faculty of Mathematics and Physics	Website
Faculty of Chemistry, Pharmacy and Geo-sciences	Website
Faculty of Biology	Website
Faculty of Forest and Environmental Sciences	Website
Faculty of Applied Sciences (MEMS, computer science)	Website

Graduate schools

The University of Freiburg has a variety of graduate education and research opportunities. In an evaluation of European graduate programs conducted by a German think tank for higher education, Freiburg ranked in the excellent or top group in all subject fields examined.²²²³

One of the notable graduate opportunities is the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS), a project funded by the German Excellence Initiative.(see Current affairs and academics above)

Apart from the many graduate programs of its faculties, Freiburg has set up additional specialized graduate schools and graduate research centers, coordinated by the newly founded International Graduate Academy (IGA) Freiburg. The IGA coordinates five Graduate Schools: the Spemann Graduate School of Biology and Medicine (SGBM); the European Cultures and Intercultural Networking school; the Theology and Religious Studies school; the Hermann Paul School of Language Sciences and the Environment, Society and Global Change graduate school of the Faculty of Forest and Environmental Sciences.

The IGA also coordinates twelve Graduate Research Centers (Graduiertenkolleg): Biochemistry of Enzymes; Friends, Patrons, Clients; Formation and Development of Present-Day Landscapes; Mathematical Logics and Applications; Mechanisms of Neuronal Signal Transduction; Catalysts and Catalytic Reactions for Organic Synthesis (in cooperation with the University of Basel); Hadron Collider Physics; Embedded Microsystems; From Cells to Organs: Molecular Mechanisms of Organogenesis; Signal Systems in Model Organisms of Plant Origin; Micro Energy Harvesting; and PhD program Computational Neuroscience at the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Freiburg

Finally, the university operates three joint graduate schools with the Max Planck Society: the International Max Planck Research School for Molecular and Cellular Biology; the International Max Planck Research School on Retaliation, Mediation and Punishment; and the International Max Planck Research School for Comparative Criminal Law.

Together with the EUCOR universities of Basel, Karlsruhe, and Strasbourg, the University of Freiburg also runs the shared graduate school Ecole Supérieure de Biotechnologie de Strasbourg, enabling the students to obtain an international degree in biotechnology and a trilingual education, as classes are taught in English, German, and French.

University Cooperative Efforts

The University is part of the regional EUCOR federation with Karlsruhe, Basel, Mulhouse and Strasbourg; the League of European Research Universities; the European University Association; ASEA-Uninet; AC21; and the International Forum of Public Universities (IFPU). The university also has exchange agreements and cooperative efforts with renowned universities on almost every continent.

Other scientific institutions located in Freiburg also cooperate with the university, including:

• the Leibniz Gemeinschaft Kiepenheuer-Institut für Sonnenphysik
• the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Freiburg
• the Max Planck Institutes for Immunobiology; for Foreign and International Criminal Law; and for Chemistry, Fire Ecology Research Group
• the Fraunhofer Institutes for Applied Solid-State Physics; for High-Speed Dynamics, the Ernst-Mach-Institut; for Physical Measurement Techniques; for Solar Energy Systems; and for Mechanics of Materials

Notable alumni and professors

With its long tradition of excellence in science and research, the University of Freiburg has been home to some of the greatest minds. Among them are Hannah Arendt, Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Paul Ehrlich, Hans Adolf Krebs, Hans Spemann, and Friedrich August von Hayek, to name but a few.

Among the distinguished affiliates, there are numerous Nobel laureates and Leibniz Prize winners.

For a complete list of notable alumni and professors, see: People associated with the University of Freiburg

See also

• University Medical Center Freiburg
• Freiburg im Breisgau
• Freiburg School

External links

• Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg
• Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies
• University of Freiburg Alumni
• University Library
• University Medical Center Freiburg
• Freiburg University store

References

v • d • e University of Freiburg Schools and Centers Faculty of Medicine • University Medical Center • Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS) Various People associated with the University • Botanic garden • University library

v • d • e German Excellence Universities RWTH Aachen · Free University of Berlin · University of Freiburg · University of Göttingen · University of Heidelberg · University of Karlsruhe · University of Konstanz · Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich · Technical University of Munich

v • d • e League of European Research Universities Amsterdam · Cambridge · Edinburgh · Freiburg · Geneva · Heidelberg · Helsinki · Karolinska (Stockholm) · Leiden · Leuven · University College London · Lund · Milan · LMU Munich · Oxford · Paris VI: Pierre et Marie Curie · Paris-Sud · Strasbourg I (Louis Pasteur) · Utrecht · Zürich

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