University of Münster

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University of Münster
Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster

The Schloss: administrative centre and the symbol of the university.
Established April 16, 1780
Type Public university
Chancellor Dr. Stefan Schwartze
Rector Prof. Dr. Ursula Nelles
Admin. staff 6,500 (As of 2012), including 551 professors
Students 39,000 (As of 2012)
Location Münster, Germany
Campus Urban, 285 buildings (2003), yearly expenses ~ 559 million Euro
Colors Light Green & Light Blue         
Website http://www.uni-muenster.de/en/

The University of Münster (German: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, WWU) is a public university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. The WWU is part of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, a society of Germany's leading research universities. The WWU has also been successful in the German government's Excellence Initiative.

With almost 40,000 students and over 130 fields of study in 15 departments, it is Germany's third largest university and one of the foremost centers of German intellectual life. The university offers a wide range of subjects across the sciences, social sciences and the humanities. Several courses are also taught in English, including PhD programmes as well as postgraduate courses in geoinformatics, geospational technologies or information systems).

Professors and former students have won nine Leibniz Prizes, the most prestigious as well as the best-funded prize in Europe, and one Fields Medal.

History

The University has its roots in the Jesuiten-Kolleg Münster, founded in 1588. But the modern University of Münster was founded in 1780 with four faculties: Law, Health Science (Medicine), Philosophy and Theology. The ceremony of constitution was performed by Franz Freiherr von Fürstenberg. Its current name was established by Emperor Wilhelm II in 1907.

European Degrees

1999 saw the beginning of the Bologna Process, which aimed to ensure comparability in the standards and quality of higher education qualifications. The Münster School of Business Administration and Economics was the first one to establish Bachelor and Master degrees.

In the winter semester 2006/2007 nearly all studies have been changed according to Bachelor/Master system. Exceptions are made in studies leading to the Staatsexamen in medicine,dentistry, pharmacy and law.[1]

Organization

The Centre for Medical Research at the university
Music Conservatory
  • Faculty of Protestant Theology
  • Faculty of Catholic Theology
  • Faculty of Law
  • Faculty of Economics (Muenster School of Business Administration and Economics)
  • Faculty of Health Science (Medicine and Dental Medicine)
  • Faculty of Philosophy
    • Faculty of Educational and Social Science
    • Institute of Communication Science (IfK) (PR, Journalism, Media Science)
    • Faculty of Psychology and Sport Science
    • Faculty of History/Philosophy
    • Faculty of Philology
  • Faculty of Natural Science and Mathematics
    • Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science
    • Faculty of Physics
    • Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy
    • Faculty of Biology
    • Faculty of Earth Science
  • Faculty of Music (Musikhochschule Münster)

Library

The central library of the university is the Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Münster (ULB), which is also the regional library of Westphalia. As of 2011, the library owns more than 6,2 million volumes of which 2,68 volumes are held in the ULB, while 3,53 million volumes are held by the 146 faculty and department libraries. From those, 47.350 are electronical articles and newspapers.[2]

Points of interest

Student life

The city of Münster is regularly ranked as one of the most livable cities in the world

The university offers a very active student life. The university's sports club ("Hochschulsport") offers more than 100 sport courses, sport tours, further education and international tournaments.[3] The university's IT organization ("Zentrum für Informationsverarbeitung" (ZIV)) provides central services for information processing and communication technology. It offers IT facilities for the students with standard and special software.[4] Foreign languages can be learned at the university's language center ("Sprachenzentrum"). It offers traditional language courses, tandem courses (two persons with different native languages meet in order to learn from each other) and language certificates (for example UNIcert).[5] The cultural programme also includes various museums, music (choirs, ensembles, orchestra), theatres and cinemas. [6] Student organisations such as AIESEC, AEGEE, MOVE, MTP and many more are well represented with high membership. The city of Münster itself has a very active night life with more than 1.000 bars and clubs. As the city of the Peace of Westphalia, Münster also has a very rich cultural life.

Notable alumni

See also List of Westphalian Wilhelms-University Münster people.

Students

University lecturers

The Centre for Nanotechnology (CenTech)
The department of physics

Honorary Doctors

Entrance English Seminar
  • Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Jan Assmann (D. theol. h.c. Faculty of Protestant Theology (1998))
  • Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Arnold L. Demain, Biotechnology (2003 Department of Biology, Faculty of Natural Science and Mathematics)
  • Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde, Judge, Bundesverfassungsgericht (2001 Faculty of Law)
  • Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. David A. O. Edward, Judge (2001 Faculty of Law)
  • Prof. Dr. h.c. Gilberto Freyre Ph. D.
  • Dr. h.c. Mikhail Gorbachev
  • Dr. h.c. Manfred Gotthardt (2003 Faculty of Health Science (Medicine))
  • Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Tomas Hammar, Political Scientist (2002 Faculty of Philosophy)
  • Dr. h.c. Wim Kok, Prime Minister (Netherlands) (2003 Faculty of Philosophy)
  • Dr. h.c. Hanna-Renate Laurien, Theologian (1996 Faculty of Catholic Theology)
  • Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Robert Leicht, Reporter (2003 Faculty of Protestant Theology)
  • Dr. h.c. Reinhard Mohn, Director Bertelsmann (2001 Faculty of Economics (Münster School of Business Administration and Economics))
  • Dr. h.c. Rupert Neudeck
  • Dr. h.c. Jean-Claude Juncker, Prime Minister (Luxembourg)
  • Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hubert Schmidbaur, Chemist (2005 Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Faculty of Natural Science and Mathematics)
  • Dr. h.c. Erich Schumann, Jurist (2002 Faculty of Law)
  • Dr. h.c. Wolfgang Thierse, Politician
  • Dr. h.c. Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama (2007 Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy)
  • Dr. h.c. Klaus von Bismarck, (D. theol. h.c. Faculty of Protestant Theology)

See also

External links

Sources

  1. ↑ Study guide - range of courses and corresponding degrees. Retrieved 25. September 2012.
  2. ↑ ULB inventory. Retrieved 25. September 2012.
  3. ↑ Homepage of the university's sports organization (in German).
  4. ↑ Homepage of the university's IT organization (Zentrum für Informationsverarbeitung" (ZIV)).
  5. ↑ Homepage of the university's language center.
  6. ↑ Homepage of the university's cultural programme
  7. ↑ "Dr Andreas Dombret, Member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank". Deutsche Bundesbank. Retrieved 4 August 2010. 

Coordinates: 51°57′50″N 7°36′47″E / 51.964°N 7.613°E / 51.964; 7.613

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