The University of Ulm is a public university

Public university

A public university is a university that is predominantly funded by public means through a national or subnational government, as opposed to private universities. A national university may or may not be considered a public university, depending on regions...

 in the city of Ulm

Ulm

Ulm is a city in the federal German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the River Danube. The city, whose population is estimated at 120,000 , forms an urban district of its own and is the administrative seat of the Alb-Donau district. Ulm, founded around 850, is rich in history and...

, in the South German state of Baden-Württemberg

Baden-Württemberg

Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...

. The university was founded in 1967 and focuses on natural sciences, medicine, engineering sciences, mathematics, economics and computer science. With over 8,000 students, it is one of the smaller universities in Germany, however, it frequently ranks one of the top schools in natural sciences in domestic rankings. The campus

Campus

A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls and park-like settings...

 of the university is located north of the city on a hill called Oberer Eselsberg, while the university hospital

University hospital

A university hospital is an institution which combines the services of a hospital with the education of medical students and with medical research. These hospitals are typically affiliated with a medical school or university...

 has additional sites across the city.

Concept and history

The university is the youngest public university in the state of Baden-Württemberg

Baden-Württemberg

Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...

, which boasts several old, renowned universities in Heidelberg (founded in 1386), Freiburg (1457) and Tübingen

Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen

Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen is a public university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of Germany's oldest universities, internationally noted in medicine, natural sciences and the humanities. In the area of German Studies it has been ranked first among...

 (1477). The idea was to create a university with a new approach in both research and teaching. An important concept since the foundation of the university has always been to promote interdisciplinarity. In the decades following the foundation, the spectrum of subjects has steadily been extended, and the university has grown significantly. It is regarded one of the best universities in the world in the field of Optoelectronics, RF Circuit Design, Microelectronics. It also ranks among the top five universities in Germany for Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

An important step in combining the strength of industrial and academic research was the realization of the idea of a "science city" around the main university campus. Research centers of companies like Daimler, Nokia

Nokia

Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...

, and Siemens

Siemens AG

Siemens AG is a German multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Munich, Germany. It is the largest Europe-based electronics and electrical engineering company....

 have been established at the site, in addition to institutes of the university focusing on applied research. Among other large research projects, the university features four Collaborative Research Centers (German: Sonderforschungsbereiche), which are established on a competitive basis by the German Research Foundation

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft is an important German research funding organization and the largest such organization in Europe.-Function:...

 (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG). Third-party funding of research reached 67.5 million euros

Euro

The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...

 in 2009.

In 1998, Ulm University introduced an International Masters program in English: M.Sc.

Master of Science

A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...

 in Communication Technology, which is the first of its kind in Germany. Since then, this program attracts the very best students from different countries around the world. C-Tech Program has research collaboration with many renowned Universities around the world.

It also offers other English programs, namely M.Sc. and Ph.D.

Ph.D.

A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

 in Molecular Medicine

Molecular medicine

Molecular medicine is a broad field, where physical, chemical, biological and medical techniques are used to describe molecular structures and mechanisms, identify fundamental molecular and genetic errors of disease, and to develop molecular interventions to correct them...

, M.Sc. in Advanced Materials, M.Sc. in Energy Science and Technology, M.Sc. in Finance, M.Sc. in Biology and M.Sc. in Advanced Oncology, the latter being an extra-occupational program.

In 2003, the University of Ulm was involved in founding a private university in Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

, the German University in Cairo

German University in Cairo

The German University in Cairo , is a private, nonsectarian Egyptian university established in cooperation with some German state universities of as well as some of the German and Egyptian educational institutions....

.

Since 2007, the university has been participating in the German Universities Excellence Initiative

German Universities Excellence Initiative

The Excellence Initiative of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the German Research Foundation aims to promote cutting-edge research and to create outstanding conditions for young scientists at universities, to deepen cooperation between disciplines and institutions, to...

 with the newly founded International Graduate School in Molecular Medicine Ulm

International Graduate School in Molecular Medicine Ulm

The International Graduate School in Molecular Medicine Ulm of Ulm University has been established in 2006 and is supported by the Excellence Initiative of the German Federal and State Governments since 2007. It promotes and supports graduate education and training in the field of biomedical...

.

Name of the university

As Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...

 was born in Ulm in 1879, it was suggested repeatedly that the university be named after him. In November 2006, the senate of the university finally decided to rename the university. As this decision was however not confirmed by the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts of the State of Baden-Württemberg, the university will not be called Albert Einstein University Ulm (German: Albert-Einstein-Universität Ulm) as of July 2007 but simply Ulm University. However, the street on which the main buildings of the University of Ulm are located - and thus, the physical address of the university - is called Albert-Einstein-Allee in honor of the great physicist.

Structure

The university is composed of four divisions, which in German universities traditionally are called faculties, and separate institutes. The four faculties are the medical faculty, the engineering and computer science faculty, the natural science faculty and the mathematics and economics faculty. A university hospital is associated with the medical faculty.

University Library

The Library of the University of Ulm is located in a new building on the main campus and features close to 1 million volumes.

Points of interest

• Botanischer Garten der Universität Ulm
  Botanischer Garten der Universität Ulm
  The Botanischer Garten der Universität Ulm , also known as the Botanischer Garten Ulm, is a botanical garden and arboretum maintained by the University of Ulm. It is located at Hans-Krebs-Weg, Ulm, Baden-Württemberg, Germany and open weekdays at various hours.The garden was begun in 1981 on a...
  
  , the university's 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...
  
  

External links

• Homepage of the University of Ulm (in German)
• http://www.guc.uni-ulm.de/Partnership with the German University in Cairo
  German University in Cairo
  The German University in Cairo , is a private, nonsectarian Egyptian university established in cooperation with some German state universities of as well as some of the German and Egyptian educational institutions....
  
  ] (in English)
• Spiegel Ranking (2004) Mathematics (in German)