University of Rostock

University of Rostock

Universität Rostock
Seal of the University of Rostock
Latin: Universitas Rostochiensis
Motto	Traditio et Innovatio
Motto in English	Tradition and Innovation
Type	Public
Established	13 February 1419
Budget	€ 214.4 million[1]
Chancellor	Mathias Neukirchen
Rector	Wolfgang D. Schareck[2] (906th rector)
Academic staff	1,341[1]
Administrative staff	963[1]
Students	13,766[1]
Doctoral students	1,322[1]
Location	Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany 54°4′32″N 12°6′12″E / 54.07556°N 12.10333°E / 54.07556; 12.10333
Campus	Urban
Nobel Laureates	5
Colours	Blue & Black
Affiliations	EUA DFG DAAD
Website	www.uni-rostock.de

The University of Rostock (Rostock University, German: Universität Rostock) is a public university located in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Founded in 1419, it is the third-oldest university in Germany. It is the oldest and largest university in continental northern Europe and the Baltic Sea area, and 8th oldest in Central Europe.^[3] It was the 5th university established in the Holy Roman Empire.

The university has been associated with five Nobel laureates. Famous alumni include Nobel laureates: Albrecht Kossel, Karl von Frisch, and Otto Stern; theoretical physicists: Pascual Jordan and Walter H. Schottky. It is a member of the European University Association. The language of instruction is usually German, but English for postgraduate studies.

History

It was founded in 1419 by confirmation of Pope Martin V and thus is the oldest university in Northern Europe.

In Germany, there are only five universities that were founded before, while only Heidelberg and Leipzig operated continuously since then: Heidelberg (1386), Cologne (1388), Erfurt (1392/1994), Würzburg (1402/1582) and Leipzig (1409). That makes Rostock University the third oldest German university in continuous operation.

Throughout the 15th century, the University of Rostock had about 400 to 500 students each year, a large number at that time. Rostock was among the largest universities in Germany at the time and many of its students also came from the Low Countries, Scandinavia or other states bordering the Baltic Sea.

In the course of political struggles and pressure from the church, the university moved to Greifswald in 1437 and remained there until 1443. From 1487 to 1488 teaching took place in Lübeck.

A few years later the city of Rostock, its university also became Protestant in 1542. Humanism and Lutheranism were defining characteristics of the university. After the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), the University of Rostock played only a regional role. When the "ownership" of the university moved from the city to the state (Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin) in 1827, however, things changed for the better. The end of the 19th century saw generous building activity in Rostock's alma mater and the university soon regained its old reputation amongst German universities.

1919–1945

On the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the university, Albert Einstein and Max Planck received honorary doctorates on 12 November 1919. This made the University of Rostock the world's first institute of higher learning to award this honour to Einstein. Interestingly enough, the doctorate was not revoked during the Nazi rule in Germany (1933–1945), despite such orders by the Nazis. The reason for this remains unknown. David Katz, Hans Moral (committed suicide) and others lost their posts in 1933.

1945–1989

The end of the Second World War in 1945 brought many changes. The university, now finding itself in the Soviet Zone of Germany (the later German Democratic Republic), was re-opened on 24 February 1946. The Faculty of Law was closed in 1951, a Faculty of Agriculture was introduced in 1950 and in 1951 saw the opening of a Department of Shipbuilding (renamed Faculty of Technology in 1963). The University of Rostock was the first traditional university in Germany to open a technical faculty. In 1952, the Faculty of Aviation was opened, but eventually relocated to Dresden.

In 1976 the university was renamed Wilhelm-Pieck-Universität after Wilhelm Pieck, the first president of the German Democratic Republic. The renaming was annulled after the German reunification.

1989–present

The regional economy has improved as over 800 companies launched from the university since 1991. External funding for research increased between 2005 and 2010 by 83% and currently is above 47 million Euros per year. Over 500 million Euros has been invested in the university infrastructure since 1991, which will reach 750 million Euros by 2015. The number of young people from the West Germany and international students who choose University of Rostock as a study location, are increasing every year. International Students from 99 different countries have been studied at University of Rostock. In 2007, the University of Rostock gathered its research capacities into three profile lines: Life, Light & Matter (LLM), Maritime Systems, and Aging of Individuals and Society. In 2010 a fourth was added, called Knowledge-Culture-Transformation. Life, Light & Matter develops new concepts for future technologies based on atomic and molecular processes in connection with laser optics and life sciences. Maritime Systems unites oceanographers, engineers, humanities scholars, agricultural and social scientists, economists and lawyers. Aging of Individuals and Society has as its target a self-determined lifestyle in old age. Knowledge-Culture-Transformation deals with media and the representation of knowledge, transformation of knowledge, knowledge and interculturalism as well as knowledge and power.

Organisation and structure

Like many continental European universities, the University of Rostock is divided into academic faculties (German: Fakultät). Those can be sub-divided into academic departments (German: Institut) and chairs (German: Lehrstuhl).

Faculties

It is divided into the following nine faculties:

Facilities

Rostock University Library

The Rostock University Library consists of 3 divisional libraries and several specialized libraries provides scientific literature and information for research, education and study. The university statistics shows about 3 million physical volumes recorded in the catalogue. It provides access to electronic journals (EZB) and specialized databases (DBIS). The library possesses large special collections of culturally historical and scientifically historical old books.^[4] In the Patents and Standards Centre (PNZ), all DIN norms and regulations as well as the VDI guidelines are provided.^[5] Moreover, the library also contains the university archive and the art treasure collection.^[6]

Rostock Student Services

The Rostock Student Services (German: Studentenwerk Rostock) provides accommodation for newly arrived international students who plan to study at the University of Rostock and the Rostock University of Music and Theatre. International students, who have not lived or studied in Germany, are considered for a Starter Package service. However, short-time students and students on a programme (ERASMUS; Sokrates) are given a low priority, while postgraduate students cannot use this service.^[7]

Rostock University Hospital

The university operates a hospital, which has several teaching and research institutes.^[8] Among those are the Albrecht Kossel Institute for Neuroregeneration.

Points of interest

• Botanischer Garten Universität Rostock, the university's botanical garden

Academic profile

Rankings

University rankings
Global
ARWU[9]	401-500
QS[10]	200

University of Rostock was ranked in 2014: 401-500 in the world in the Shanghai Jiao Tong University's Academic Ranking of World Universities.^[11]

The CWTS Leiden Ranking ranked University of Rostock as 405th in 2014.^[12]

Moreover, QS World University Rankings ranked University of Rostock as 551st within the top universities in 2015.^[13]

However, Times Higher Education World University Rankings has not listed University of Rostock within the top 400 universities since 2011.^[14]

In 2014, the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) ranked University of Rostock as 481st in the world.^[15]

According to the University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP), Rostock University was ranked as 34th in Germany and 428th in the world in 2014.^[16]

The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) ranked University of Rostock among 101-150 in Chemistry in the world in 2014.^[17] In 2014, the CWTS Leiden Ranking ranked University of Rostock in the world as 269th in Natural Sciences, 336th in Life Sciences, 463rd in Medical Sciences, 449th in Mathematics, Computer Science and Engineering, and 245th in Cognitive Science.^[18] According to the University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP), Rostock University was ranked 224th worldwide in Chemistry in 2014.^[19]

Research

In recent years, the University of Rostock has undergone significant conceptual and organisational changes, which included the bundling of competences and research activities in the interdisciplinary, cross-faculty departments of the Interdisciplinary Faculty. Scientific priorities of the faculties have improved by including the interdisciplinary-based research units: Collaborative Research Centres, Research Training Groups, and Research Units.^[20]

The university cooperates with several independent research centres. Among those:

• Leibniz Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Kühlungsborn (IAP)
• Leibniz Institute for Catalysis (LIKAT)
• Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research, Warnemünde (IOW)
• Leibniz Institute for Farm Animal Biology, Dummerstorf
• Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
• Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research, Department Rostock (IGD)
• Fraunhofer Application Centre Large Structures in Production Engineering (AGP)
• Hanseatic Institute for Entrepreneurship and Regional Development at the University of Rostock (HIE-RO)
• Institute for Implant Technology and Biomaterials
• Institute of banking law and bank management
• Reference- and Translation Center for Cardiac Stem Cell Therapy
• Rostock Center for the Study of Demographic Change
• Faculty of Interdisciplinary Research (INF)
• Center for Life Science Automation (CELISCA)
• Centre of Teacher training and Educational research

• 
  Institute of Zoology (Zoologisches Institut)
• 
  Institute of Anatomy (Anatomisches Institut)
• 
  Building of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock
• 
  University Restaurant and Cafeteria
• 
  University Library

Partner universities

Although cooperation and student exchanges are possible with many more institutions, the university has signed cooperation agreements with the following international universities:

Notable alumni

In nearly six centuries numerous notable students and professors have had ties with the university, for instance:

• Konrad Gesselen (1409-1469), from Geismar, Hesse, astronomer, mathematician, pastor, taught at Rostock and Thorn, wrote Cisiojanus
• Hans Teiste, 29th Bishop of Bergen, Norway (Magister in 1468)
• Hoskuld Hoskuldsson, 28th and last Roman Catholic Bishop of Stavanger (Magister in 1493)
• Mogens Lauritssøn, 27th and last Roman Catholic Bishop of Hamar (Magister in 1494)
• Ulrich von Hutten (1488-1523), humanist, wrote his first important opus in Rostock in 1509
• Olaus Magnus (1490-1557), Swedish humanist, ethnologist and cartographer
• Olav Engelbrektsson, 28th and last Roman Catholic Archbishop of Nidaros (Baccalaureus in 1505, Magister in 1507)
• Levinus Battus (1545-1591), physician (MA in 1559)
• David Chyträus (1530-1600), theologian, education policy maker and historian, Professor of Theology since 1561
• Tycho Brahe (1546-1601), Danish astronomer (studied in 1566)
• Axel Oxenstierna (1583-1654), Swedish chancellor, strategist and statesman (studied, 1599-1601)
• Joachim Jungius (1587-1657), mathematician, physicist and philosopher, Professor of Mathematics in Rostock from 1624 to 1628
• Johann Christopher Jauch (1669-1725), Superintendent of Lueneburg, poet who wrote baroque poems and song texts, studied theology until 1694
• Oluf Gerhard Tychsen (1734-1815), Orientalist and Hebrew scholar; taught at the University of Rostock from 1778
• Samuel Gottlieb Vogel (1750-1837), physician, Professor of Medicine in Rostock since 1789
• Lorenz Karsten (1751-1829), economist and agricultural economist
• Johann Heinrich Friedrich Link (1767-1850), natural scientist, Professor of Chemistry, Zoology and Phytology from 1792 to 1811
• Johann Heinrich von Thünen (1783-1850), economist and social reformer (Dr. h.c. in 1830)
• Ferdinand Kämmerer (1784-1841), jurist, professor from 1816
• Carl Friedrich von Both (1789-1875), jurist, vice-chancellor of the University of Rostock, 1836 to 1870
• Fritz Reuter (1810-1874), novelist, studied law at the University of Rostock from 1831, received an honorary doctorate in 1863

• John Brinckman (1814-1870), poet, studied law at the University of Rostock from 1834 to 1838
• Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Brockmann, philosopher (PhD in 1848)
• Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890), archaeologist (PhD in 1869)
• August Zillmer (1831-1893), actuary (PhD in 1858)
• Rudolf Berlin (1833-1897), physician, Professor of Ophthalmology, dean since 1895 and rector since 1897
• Hermann Roesler (1833-1897), physician, Professor of Ophthalmology, dean and rector
• Rudolph Sohm (1841-1917), lawyer and Church historian
• Albrecht Kossel (1853-1927), medical scientist and Nobel Prize laureate (PhD 1878)
• Eugen Geinitz (1854-1925), geologist and mineralogist, Professor of Mineralogy and Geology, Director of the Mineralogical-Geological Institute
• Isaac Rülf, philosopher, humanitarian organizer, author (PhD in 1865)
• Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), Philosopher (Dr. phil. in 1891)
• Felix Genzmer (1878-1959), jurist and expert on Scandinavian studies, translator of the Edda songs, Professor of Public Law from 1920 to 1922
• Gustav Mie (1868-1957), physicist, studied physics at the University of Rostock from 1886 to 1889
• Moritz Schlick, (1882-1936), philosopher, habilitation in 1911, lecturer from 1911 to 1921, later initiator of the Viennese Circle; at the Institute of Philosophy of the Faculty of Humanities
• Viktor Schilling (1883-1960), physician, co-founder of Hematology, Head of the Rostock University Hospital
• David Katz (1884-1953), psychologist, from 1919-1933 associate professor, later professor, conferred to emerited status by the National Socialists due to his Jewish origins.
• Hans Moral (1885-1933), ab 1920 erst from 1920 on international significant Associate Professor, later Professor of Dentistry, committed suicide after he was dismissed because of his Jewish origins; commemorative plaque in the foyer of the main university building
• Walter H. Schottky (1886-1976), physicist, Professor of theoretical Physics from 1923 to 1927
• Karl von Frisch (1886-1980), ethologist and Nobel laureate in medicine (zoology professor, 1921-1923)
• Otto Stern (1888-1969), Nobel laureate in physics, (experimental physics professor, 1921-1923)
• Albert Einstein, Nobel laureate in physics (Dr. h.c. in 1919^[21])
• Max Planck, Nobel laureate in physics (Dr. h.c. in 1919)
• Kurt von Fritz (1900-1985), classical philologist, Professor of Greek Studies from 1933 to 1935
• Walter Hallstein (1901-1982), politician and jurist, first President of the European Commission, State Secretary in the German Chancellors Office and the Foreign Office (law professor 1930-1941)
• Pascual Jordan (1902-1980), physicist, co-founder of Quantum mechanics, later professor of Physics from 1929 to 1944
• Eugen Gerstenmaier (1906-1986), theologian and politician, member of the Kreisauer Circle, later President of the German Bundestag, Promotion at the Faculty of Theology in 1935
• Fritz Mertsch (1906-1971), statistician, studied politology, doctorate degree as Dr. rer. pol. in 1940
• Gonzalo Rojas (1917-2011), Chilean poet (professor, 1973-1975)
• Arno Esch (1928-1951), student and liberal politician, active member of the Liberal Democratic Party, condemned to death as declared opponent of communism; commemorative plaque in the foyer of the main university building
• Joachim Gauck, 11th President of Germany, studied theology in Rostock until 1965, honorary doctor in 1999
• Walter Kempowski (1929-2007), writer, honorary professor of Contemporary German Literature and Cultural History since 2003
• Hans Apel (1932-2011), politician, former Federal Minister of Finance, later Minister of Defense, Honorary professor of Financial Policy at the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences since 1993
• Uwe Johnson (1934-1984), author, studied German language and literature at the University of Rostock from 1952 to 1956
• Bettina Meyer, Antarctic researcher in marine biology, received her doctorate from the University of Rostock in 1996

• 
  Joachim Gauck, current President of Germany (Dr. h.c. in 1999)
• 
  Albrecht Kossel, Nobel laureate in medicine, (Dr. med. in 1877)
• 
  Otto Stern, Nobel laureate in physics (experimental physics professor, 1921-1923)
• 
  Albert Einstein, Nobel laureate in physics (Dr. h.c. in 1919)
• 
  Max Planck, Nobel laureate in physics (Dr. h.c. in 1919)
• 
  Gustav Mie, physicist (studied physics, 1886-1889)
• 
  Walter H. Schottky, physicist (theoretical physics professor, 1923-1927)
• 
  Pascual Jordan, physicist (theoretical physics professor, 1929-1944)
• 
  Tycho Brahe, Astronomer (studied in 1566)
• 
  Walter Hallstein, first President of the European Commission (law professor, 1930-1941)
• 
  David Chyträus, Theologian (theology professor, 1561-1600)
• 
  Axel Oxenstierna, Swedish chancellor (studied, 1599-1601)
• 
  Heinrich Schliemann, archeologist (PhD in 1869)
• 
  Rudolf Steiner, archeologist (PhD in 1891)
• 
  Joachim Jungius, mathematician and philosopher (professor, 1624-1628)
• 
  Samuel Gottlieb Vogel, physician, (medicine professor, 1789-1837)
• 
  Johann Heinrich Friedrich Link, Natural scientist, (professor, 1792-1811)
• 
  Johann Heinrich von Thünen, Economist (Dr. h.c. in 1830)
• 
  Fritz Reuter, novelist (studied law since 1831, Dr. h.c. in 1863)
• 
  Rudolf Berlin, physician (ophthalmology professor, rector since 1897)
• 
  Eugen Gerstenmaier, president of the West German Bundestag (faculty of theology since 1935)
• 
  Gonzalo Rojas, poet (professor, 1973-1975)
• 
  Walter Kempowski, writer (honorary professor, 2003-2007)

See also

• Catalogus Professorum Rostochiensium
• List of medieval universities
• List of universities in Germany
• List of oldest universities in continuous operation
• Medieval university

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Universität Rostock.

• University of Rostock
• University of Rostock - short history in the Catholic Encyclopedia
• Albrecht-Kossel-Insitut für Neuroregeneration
• Catalogus Professorum Rostochiensium
• Rostocker Matrikelportal (1419-1945)