University of Osnabrück
Encyclopedia
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
located in the city of Osnabrück
Osnabrück
Osnabrück is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, some 80 km NNE of Dortmund, 45 km NE of Münster, and some 100 km due west of Hanover. It lies in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest...
in Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
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
. 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
President of Germany
The President of the Federal Republic of Germany is the country's head of state. His official title in German is Bundespräsident . Germany has a parliamentary system of government and so the position of President is largely ceremonial...
, Christian Wulff
Christian Wulff
Christian Wilhelm Walter Wulff is the President of Germany and a politician of the Christian Democratic Union. He was elected President on 2010 and publicly swore the oath of office on . A lawyer by profession, he served as Premier of the state of Lower Saxony from 2003 to 2010.-Early life and...
, 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
DAAD
DAAD can have several meanings:* The German Academic Exchange Service * Direct Action Against Drugs, a cover name for the Provisional Irish Republican Army...
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
Hertie School of Governance
The Hertie School of Governance is a private university in Berlin, in the historic Quartier 110 of Friedrichstraße. The school is regarded as one of the leading policy institutes in Europe...
in Berlin and the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy in Erfurt.
History
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' WarThirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
.
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.
Location
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 andconcerts.
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
Botanischer Garten der Universität Osnabrück
The Botanischer Garten der Universität Osnabrück , also known as the Botanischer Garten Osnabrück, is a botanical garden maintained by the University of Osnabrück...
(botanical garden
Botanical garden
A botanical garden The terms botanic and botanical, and garden or gardens are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word botanic is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is a well-tended area displaying a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names...
) 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.
Academic degrees
The university offers Bachelor's, Master's and PhDPHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
(German Doktor) degrees in many Arts and Science subjects. Students who started their programme before the beginning of the Bologna process
Bologna process
The purpose of the Bologna Process is the creation of the European Higher Education Area by making academic degree standards and quality assurance standards more comparable and compatible throughout Europe, in particular under the Lisbon Recognition Convention...
, are still allowed to finish their studies to obtain traditional German Diplom
Diplom
A Diplom is an academic degree in the German-speaking countries Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and a similarly named degree in some other European countries including Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Estonia, Finland , Greece, Hungary, Russia, Serbia, Macedonia, Slovenia, and Ukraine...
and Magister
Magister
Magister is Latin for "master" or "teacher." It may refer to:* The Magister , an academic degreePositions or titles* A magister equitum, or Master of the Horse...
degrees.
Departments and Institutes
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:
- Department of Social Sciences
- Department of Cultural and Geo-Sciences
- Department of Educational and Cultural Sciences
- Department of Physics
- Department of Biology/Chemistry
- Department of Mathematics/Computer Science
- Department of Linguistics and Literature
- Department of Human Sciences
- Department of Business and Economy
- Department of Law
See also
- Academic degreeAcademic degreeAn academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
- Education in GermanyEducation in GermanyThe responsibility for the German education system lies primarily with the states while the federal government plays only a minor role. Optional Kindergarten education is provided for all children between three and six years of age, after which school attendance is compulsory, in most cases for...
- FachhochschuleFachhochschuleA Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...
- List of early modern universities in Europe
- List of universities in Germany
- OsnabrückOsnabrückOsnabrück is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, some 80 km NNE of Dortmund, 45 km NE of Münster, and some 100 km due west of Hanover. It lies in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest...
External links
- University of Osnabrück Homepage, available in English and German
- German Wikipedia article