University of Trier

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

University of Trier
Universität Trier
Latin: S. Almi Studii Treverensis
Established:	1970, historical: 1473-1798
Type:	Public
Rector:	Peter Schwenkmezger
Faculty:	7
Staff:	470
Students:	14,000 students
Location:	Trier, Germany
Website:	www.uni-trier.de/

Campus

Faculty building

Library

The modern University of Trier (German: Universität Trier), in the German city of Trier, was (re-)established in the year 1970, starting with 360 students matriculated on October 15, 1970. The new University campus is located on top of the Tarforst heights, an urban district on the outskirts of the town. The University has seven faculties with around 470 members. In the year 2006 around 14,000 students had been matriculated, 43.5% male and 56.5% female students. The percentage of foreign students was approximately 15.5%.

1 History
2 Faculties
3 Student demographics
4 Karl-Marx-University Trier
5 References
6 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Historical university

In 1455, Pope Nicholas V granted the archbishop of Trier, Jakob von Sierck to establish a university in his town. The University of Trier was founded March 16, 1473. Battling with financial problems for decades, the university was acquired by the Jesuits in 1560. They emphasized the philosophical and theological faculties, while neglecting medicine and law. In the 1580s Peter Binsfeld was president of the university. In the 1730s Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim also was a faculty member. After the french occupation of the rhineland, the French administration ordered the Universities of Cologne, Mainz and Bonn closed. The historical University of Trier was closed on April 6, 1798.

[edit] Modern university

In 1970 the university was refounded as part of the twin-University Trier / Kaiserslautern, but in 1975 the partners separated and formed independent institutions. In 1977 the new university campus in Tarforst was opened. During the 1990s a former hospital complex was added, and dubbed Campus II.

[edit] University seal

The modern university still uses the seal of the historical university in its corporate design [1]. It contains the Latin motto "Treveris ex urbe deus complet dona sophiae" (God completes the favors of wisdom from the city of Trier). In 2000 an alternative logo [2] incorporating that seal was introduced, but this met with resistance.

[edit] Faculties

The university is subdivided into 6 faculties, called "Fachbereiche".

FB I - Pedagogy, Philosophy, Psychology (ca. 2300 students)
FB II - Linguistics, Literature, Media (ca. 2700 students)
FB III - Egyptology, Papyrology, History, Archeology, Art history, Politics (ca. 1700 students)
FB IV - Economics, Sociology, Mathematics, Computer Science (ca. 3300 students)
FB V - Law (ca. 1800 students)
FB VI - Geography, Geology (ca. 1600 students)

There is also a Faculty of (Roman Catholic) Theology, affiliated to the university but administratively independent. It is considered to have kept the city's academic tradition alive as (Episcopal) theological academy for 150 years until refounded in 1950.It currently counts about 300 students.

[edit] Student demographics

Foreign Students at the university (WS 2004/05)
Country	Students	Percentage
Luxembourg	424	22.2%
China	290	15.2%
Bulgaria	133	7.0%
Poland	86	4.5%
Romania	70	3.7%
Turkey	56	2.9%
France	52	2.7%
Italy	50	2.6%
Russia	48	2.5%
Ukraine	43	2.3%

WS 2001/02: 11,867 students
WS 2002/03: 12,660 students
WS 2003/04: 13,082 students
WS 2004/05: 13,327 students
WS 2005/06: 13,755 students
WS 2006/07: 13,932 students

While there are many foreign students in Trier, a large majority of students hails from Rhineland-Palatinate and the adjacent states of Saarland and Northrhine-Westphalia.

[edit] Karl-Marx-University Trier

The AStA, consisting of left-wing student-initiatives, proposed changing the name of the University to Karl-Marx-Universität Trier, honoring the city's most famous son. Although the proposal was finally rejected, the AStA still refers to the university as "Karl-Marx-Universität Trier"^[1].