University of Osnabrück | |
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Universität Osnabrück | |
Latin: Universitas Osnabrugensis | |
Established | 1974 |
Type | public |
President | Prof. Dr.-Ing. Claus R. Rollinger |
Academic staff | 876[1] |
Admin. staff | 694[1] |
Students | 9,298[1] |
Location | Osnabrück, Germany |
Campus | Urban |
Affiliations | EUA |
Website | www.uni-osnabrueck.de or www.uos.de |
The University of Osnabrück is a public university located in the city of Osnabrück in Lower Saxony, Germany.
In 2010 it was attended by 9,298 students. In 2009, the staff of 1,570 consisted of 214 professors, 662 additional academic personnel (lecturers without professorships, post-doctoral researchers and post-graduate assistants) and 694 non-academic personnel .[1] The university is known for a large number of interdisciplinary degree programmes, some of them rare or even unique among German universities, including European Studies, Applied Systems Science and Cognitive Science. Notably, the university is well known for its research in cognitive science, peace and conflict studies, democratic governance, among many others.
The current President of Germany, Christian Wulff, is one of the most famous alumni of the university.
In addition, the university, through its Master of Arts in Democratic Governance and Civil Society graduate program, is also part of the highly-prestigious DAAD Public Policy and Good Governance Scholarships for Developing Countries, along with other reputable institutions in political science and public policy such as the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin and the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy in Erfurt.[2]
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Higher education began in 1632 in Osnabrück with the foundation of the Academia Carolina Osnabrugensis, but this institution was closed a year later as Swedish troops occupied Osnabrück during the Thirty Years' War.
The government of the state of Lower Saxony decided to set up a university in Osnabrück in 1970, and by 1973 had laid down the legal basis for such an institution. The university opened for the summer semester in 1974 as a successor institution to the Adolf Reichwein Teachers' College, which had occupied the former palace of the Prince-Bishopric since 1953.
The main building of Osnabrück University is the baroque castle (built 1667-1675), formerly home and office to the Prince-Bishop of Osnabrück, nowadays housing mainly university administration. It is located close to the city center. In summer, the (mostly grass-covered) castle court is used for open air cinema and concerts.
Most faculty buildings are scattered in close vicinity of the castle. Sport stadium and gymnasium are a bit further away; the mathematical and natural-scientific faculties as well as the Botanischer Garten der Universität Osnabrück (botanical garden) are located in the western part of the city in the borough "Westerberg" (the "West Mountain", which is rather a hill than a mountain). The campus at the Westerberg is in parts shared with the neighbouring University of Applied Science of Osnabrück ("Hochschule Osnabrück") . The linear distance between castle and the Westerberg campus is about 1.2 miles.
The university offers Bachelor's, Master's and PhD (German Doktor) degrees in many Arts and Science subjects. Students who started their programme before the beginning of the Bologna process, are still allowed to finish their studies to obtain traditional German Diplom and Magister degrees.
The University of Osnabrück consists of ten departments (Fachbereiche). Departments are split up into research groups (sometimes identical with a chair) or institutes or both. The institutes are again split up into research groups (or chairs).
The Departments are:[3]
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