| Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf | |
|---|---|
| Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf | |
| Established | 1966 |
| Provost | Hans Michael Piper |
| Students | ca 17,000 (September 2010) |
| Location | Düsseldorf, Germany |
| Website | www.uni-duesseldorf.de |
Heinrich Heine University (German: Heinrich-Heine-Universität), located in Düsseldorf, Germany, is named after German poet and political thinker Heinrich Heine, who was born in Düsseldorf in 1797. It became a full-fledged university in 1965 and currently comprises faculties of law, medicine, philosophy, mathematics and natural sciences, and economics. Its current enrollment slightly exceeds 16,000 students. The rector is Prof. Dr. Hans Michael Piper.
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In 1806, Joachim Murat, Napoleon Bonaparte's brother-in-law, who had been put in charge of the Duchy of Berg, wanted to found a university in Düsseldorf. At the time, there existed only a few college-like institutions, which had developed between the 16th and 18th centuries.
On 12 December 1811, Napoleon issued a decree calling for a university to be chartered in the duchy. It was to support five faculties. The French invasion of Russia, however, impeded its establishment.
In 1907, a medical academy was founded in Düsseldorf. It began training students in 1923. The state of North Rhine-Westphalia assumed responsibility for the academy from the city of Düsseldorf in 1962.
In 1965, the state government decided to transform the medical academy into a university. On 1 January 1966, the university constituted itself with a faculty of medicine and a combined faculty for natural sciences and philosophy. There was an opening ceremony on 14 February of the same year. The central campus' buildings, located south of Düsseldorf, were completed in the 1970s, a fact evinced by the architectural style prevailing on campus. Due to decades-long controversies, the university was not yet named after Heinrich Heine at this time. Heine was not considered an appropriate figurehead, first for pragmatic then for political reasons. The university's senate did not decide to name the university after Düsseldorf's most famous son until 20 December 1988.
Numerous SOCRATES/ERASMUS-partnerships exist, too.