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The University of Rostock (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 university in continental northern Europe and the Baltic Sea area, and 8th oldest in Central Europe. It was the 5th university established in the Holy Roman Empire.
The university has been associated with four Nobel laureates: Albrecht Kossel, Hans Spemann, Karl von Frisch and Otto Stern. It is a member of the European University Association. According to a ranking published by Times Higher Education in 2018, it is the most beautiful university in Germany and the fourth most beautiful university in all of Europe. The language of instruction is usually German, and English for some postgraduate studies.
The origins of the university date back to the Late Middle Ages, when the city of Rostock had achieved great prosperity through its membership of the Hanseatic League. The university was founded in 1419 by confirmation of Pope Martin V and thus is one of the oldest universities in Northern Europe.
In Germany, there are only five universities that were founded earlier, while only Heidelberg and Leipzig operated continuously since then: Heidelberg (1386), Cologne (1388/1919), Erfurt (1392/1994), Würzburg (1402/1582) and Leipzig (1409). That makes Rostock University the third oldest German university in continuous operation.
Throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, the University of Rostock had about 500 students each year and was among the most important universities in Germany and Northern Europe at the time, with many of its students originating from the Low Countries, Scandinavia or other countries bordering the Baltic Sea.
In the course of political struggles and due to 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 after the city of Rostock, the university became Protestant in 1542. Henceforth, Humanism and Lutheranism were defining characteristics of the university.
In the 16th century, Rostock was the first university to teach Copernicanism, which was introduced by Professor Duncan Liddel. After the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), however, for about two centuries the University of Rostock played only a regional role. After the "ownership" of the university had moved from the city to the state (Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin) in 1827, however, things changed for the better. The second half of the 19th century saw generous building activity in Rostock's alma mater and the university soon regained its old reputation amongst German universities.
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. 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. Psychologist David Katz and professor of dentistry and dean of the medical faculty Hans Moral lost their posts in 1933 among others.
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.
External funding increased by 83 % between 2005 and 2010 alone and currently is above 65 million euros per year. Over 500 million Euros have been invested in the university infrastructure since 1991, reaching 750 million euros by 2015. The numbers of young people from Germany and of international students who choose Rostock as a place to study are increasing every year. As of today [when?], students from at least 99 different countries have studied at Rostock. In 2007, the University of Rostock reorganized its research capacities into three profile lines: Life, Light & Matter, Maritime Systems, and Aging of Individuals and Societies. In 2010, a fourth profile was added, called Knowledge – Culture – Transformation.
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).
It is divided into the following nine faculties:
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. In the Patents and Standards Centre (PNZ), all DIN norms and regulations as well as the VDI guidelines are provided. Moreover, the library also contains the university archive and the art treasure collection.
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.
The university operates a hospital, which has several teaching and research institutes. Among those are the Albrecht Kossel Institute for Neuroregeneration.
According to the 2024 QS World University Rankings, the university is globally positioned in the 761–770 range, while it ranks 40–41st nationally. On the other hand, the 2023 ARWU World rankings place the institution in the 501–600 category globally and 32–36th at the national level.
ARWU ranked University of Rostock among 101–150 in Chemistry in the world in 2014. 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. According to the University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP), Rostock University was ranked 224th worldwide in Chemistry in 2014.
The CWTS Leiden Ranking ranked University of Rostock as 405th in 2014.
In 2014, the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) ranked University of Rostock as 481st in the world.
According to the University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP), Rostock University was ranked as 34th in Germany and 428th in the world in 2014.
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.
The university cooperates with several independent research centres. Among those:
Although cooperation and student exchanges are possible with many more institutions, the university has signed cooperation agreements with the following international universities:
The University History Research Center publishes the Catalogus Professorum Rostochiensium (CPR), a freely accessible online catalogue that attempts to include all professors at the University of Rostock from 1419 to the present. Each entry documents a professor's biographical data and scientific achievements and is linked with further digitized resources such as photographs or handwritten documents. The project has not yet been finished.
In nearly six centuries numerous notable students and professors have had ties with the university, for instance:
Text from the Wikipedia article “University of Rostock”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.