University of Luxembourg

University of Luxembourg
Established 2003
Rector Prof. Dr. Rainer Klump (president)
Students ca. 6200 (10. 2012)
Location Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
Colors Red, white and light blue
Website http://www.uni.lu/
Campus Limpertsberg

The University of Luxembourg is the only university in Luxembourg, founded on 13 August 2003. Prior to that, there were several higher educational institutions such as the cour universitaire or the IST that offered one or two years of academic studies. Luxembourgish students had to go abroad in order to complete their studies at a university (usually to Belgium, France, Germany, Austria, and the United Kingdom). The new university makes it possible for these students to complete their studies in their own country, as well as attract foreign academic interest to Luxembourg.

The University is currently divided into three Campuses, namely:

By the finalisation of the restructured campus in Esch-Belval, south of the capital, two of the three faculties will relocate there: The Faculty of Arts, Humanities, Arts and Education Sciences will first do so in summer 2014, followed by the Faculty of Sciences, Technology and Communication in 2015 and 2016. The Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance will remain on Campus Limpertsberg.[1]

Like Luxembourg itself, the studies at the University of Luxembourg are characterised by their multilingualism. Courses are usually held in two languages: French/English, French/German, or English/German.

Studies

Campus Walferdange

The study programme is set up in the Bologna System and oriented towards the interest of young people and the needs of the employment market. Currently, students may choose between eleven bachelor's and 27 master's degrees.

In order to strengthen the intercultural competences and to enhance personal expertise, many study programmes require an obligatory semester abroad. Here, the University of Luxembourg closely collaborates with many Universities from all over the world, amongst others with:

Asia

Europe

Americas

Research[2]

Campus Kirchberg and surrounding area

The University of Luxembourg is a research-oriented university, focusing on the creation of new knowledge. It therefore sets high priority on a select number of well-defined fields of research, supporting also the master’s and doctoral programmes relating to these focus areas, and recruiting highly qualified researchers.

The University has framed in its current four-year plan (2010-2013) five high-priority focus areas of which the two most prominent are

In this context, the University has established two research centres, the Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT), targeting research and doctoral education in the field of ICT, and the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB), which is partly funded by the Government within the country’s “Health Science Plan”.

SnT launched an extensive partnership programme with for example the European Space Agency, the Swiss university ETH Zürich and the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden. The Centre’s projects include improved satellite systems, computer security, time-of-flight 3D cameras, vehicular networks and trustworthy voting systems.

The LCSB focuses its research on the analysis of biological mechanisms with a special emphasis on neurodegenerative diseases. The initial focus will be on Parkinson's disease. The LCSB cooperates closely with the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) in Seattle, USA, with doctoral candidates spending time researching at both universities, and sharing their knowledge.

The other three focus areas defined in the four-year plan are

The Luxembourg School of Finance (LSF) is the Finance department of the Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance at the University of Luxembourg. The general mission of the LSF today is to evaluate, deal with and anticipate future financial crises. The LSF is particularly concerned with financial crises that may adversely affect the future of Luxembourg’s economy.

In European and Business Law emphasis is placed for example on the constitutional and administrative framework of the EU, the regulation of the banking sector and the financial markets, and the establishment of a European Criminal Justice System. Luxembourg is an ideal location to conduct pioneering research and offer excellent academic training in these fields due to the proximity of the Court of Justice of the EU and other European Institutions, and a vibrant international financial sector.

As a rule, modern societies are both multilingual and multicultural. In this respect, the Luxembourgish society, made up of people from many different national origins, is a model of a modern society with accordingly high expectations towards school, education and learning. The research priority “Education and Learning in Multilingual and Multicultural Contexts” assesses these expectations and their feasibility on a macro, meso and micro level analytically, empirically, and historically.

Finally, these seven additional important research fields also figure in the four-year plan:

Besides its considerable focus on research, the University of Luxembourg is characterised by its internationality, its personal supervision of students, its interdisciplinarity, and its multilingualism.

Size

In October 2012, the University of Luxembourg counted 6,200 students[3] originating from roughly 100 countries and 213 lecturers originating from 20 countries.

The enrollment fees are generally 200 euros per semester. Enrollment for the winter semester is open from July to September and for the summer semester from January to February.

History

The University of Luxembourg is the first university in the country, yet there have been a number of previous institutions that provided research and education on an academic basis. Prior to the university, there has been the Centre Universitaire du Luxembourg (CUNLUX) consisting of a department of arts and humanities (Département des Lettres & des Sciences Humaines), a department of philosophy, a department of ancient history, one for medieval history, another for modern history and one for contemporary history. In addition there have been a socio-scientific department "(ISIS - Interdépendances des Sociétés, Interaction des Science)", a centre for francophone studies (CERF - Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Francophones), a linguistics department as well as an English department and an American Studies Center. Furthermore, there was a centre for the formation of teachers for the Luxemburg school system (ISERP - Institut Supérieur d'Etudes et de Recherches Pédagogiques) in Walferdange, located on the current campus site. Another institute trained graduate educators (IEES -Institut d'études éducatives et sociales), while there was also an institute for the technological formation of students (IST - Institut Supérieur de technologies).

On October 10, 2003 the University of Luxembourg was founded following the law of August 12, 2003. The first rector of the institution was the French-Canadian Prof. François Tavenas (1942–2004) who was followed by Prof. Rolf Tarrach (*1948). Prof. Rainer Klump, the third rector, took over on January 15, 2015.

References

  1. ↑ Interview with Rolf Tarrach, director of the university of Luxembourg. On: Paperjam (http://www.paperjam.lu/article/fr/l-universite-prete-pour-belval). Retrieved 31/10/2012
  2. ↑ Official Internet site of the University of Luxembourg (http://wwwen.uni.lu/research) Retrieved: 10/11/2010
  3. ↑ Website 352 Lux Mag (http://www.station.lu/?p=edito&a=external&id=80328). Retrieved 10/11/2010

External links

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Coordinates: 49°39′37″N 6°08′02″E / 49.66033°N 6.13402°E