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Founding
Founding of University of Strasbourg
university in France (1621– )
- 1538 – 2009
- Europe
Founding
university in France (1621– )
Fetching the article from Wikipedia…
The University of Strasbourg (French: Université de Strasbourg, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, France, with over 52000 students and 3300 researchers. Founded in the 16th century by Johannes Sturm, it was a center of intellectual life during the Age of Enlightenment.
In the 1970s, the old university was reorganized into three distinct institutions, which were consolidated in 2009. The current University of Strasbourg comprises 35 academic faculties, schools, and institutes, as well as 71 research laboratories spread across six campuses, including the historic site in the Neustadt.
Throughout its existence, Unistra alumni, faculty, or researchers have included 18 Nobel laureates, two Fields Medalists and a wide range of notable individuals in their respective fields. Among them are Goethe, statesman Robert Schuman, historian Marc Bloch and several chemists such as Louis Pasteur.
The university emerged from the Jean Sturm Gymnasium, a gymnasium of Lutheran and humanist inspiration, founded in 1538 by Johannes Sturm in the Free Imperial City of Straßburg. It became a university in 1621 (German: Universität Straßburg) and a royal university in 1631. Among its earliest university students was Johann Scheffler (1624-1677), who studied medicine and later converted to Catholicism and became the mystic and poet Angelus Silesius.
The Lutheran German university continued its activities after the annexation of the city by the French King Louis XIV in 1681 (one famous student was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in 1770/71), but mainly turned into a collection of French-speaking academies following the French Revolution at the end of the 18th century.
After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 to 1871 and the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany provoked a westwards exodus of Francophone teachers, German nationalists in the Second Reich re-founded the university as the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Universität in 1872. During the German Empire the university greatly expanded and numerous new buildings were erected: the university was intended to be a showcase of German against French culture in Alsace. In 1918, Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France, so a reverse exodus of Germanophone teachers took place.
During the Second World War the Axis powers occupied France from 1940 to 1945; personnel and equipment of the University of Strasbourg largely migrated to Clermont-Ferrand in 1939. Nazi Germany re-annexed Alsace in June 1940 and founded the short-lived German Reichsuniversität Straßburg in November 1941. From 1945 the French university resumed activity in Strasbourg.
In 1971, the French Ministry of National Education implemented the loi Faure and subdivided the university into three separate institutions:
Following a national reform of higher education, these universities re-merged on 1 January 2009, and the new institution became one of the first French universities to benefit from greater autonomy. To strengthen this merger and secure funding for a more unified campus, the three predecessor institutions successfully applied for the national "Plan Campus" initiative, being selected in May 2008 to receive state capital of 375 million euros supplemented by local government contributions. Officially launched in February 2009 by Minister Valérie Pécresse and President Alain Beretz, this reorganization focused on the historic Esplanade campus and included the 2010 inauguration of the "Nouveau Patio," a central administrative hub consolidating services previously scattered across the city. Simultaneously, the university's foundation launched France's first major private fundraising campaign on 1 October 2010, under the patronage of Jean-Claude Juncker and Henri Lachmann, successfully securing millions in pledges from companies like AXA and Soprema to bolster research and interdisciplinary projects. Further development followed the 2009 "Investissements d'Avenir" program, which saw the creation of a University Hospital Institute (IHU) funded by 67.5 million euros in public grants and 80 million euros from private partners. In July 2011, Strasbourg became one of the first three French universities to be labeled an "Initiative of Excellence" (Idex), receiving a 750-million-euro endowment to support its "UNISTRA: Beyond Borders" project in collaboration with partners like CNRS and Inserm.
This period was mirrored by international academic recognition, as the university celebrated three Nobel Prizes within five years—Jules Hoffmann (Medicine, 2011), Martin Karplus (Chemistry, 2013), and Jean-Pierre Sauvage (Chemistry, 2016)—bringing its total number of active Nobel laureates to four, alongside Jean-Marie Lehn.
The University of Strasbourg is primarily located in Strasbourg, with its Central Campus situated in the Esplanade district. This main site features a mix of neo-renaissance German architecture—such as the Palais Universitaire, the astronomical observatory, and the botanical garden—alongside modern buildings from the 1960s expansion designed by Charles-Gustave Stoskopf.
The university also operates three specialized campuses within the Eurométropole de Strasbourg: the Cronenbourg Campus, which hosts technology institutes and CNRS laboratories; the Illkirch Campus, home to the Faculty of Pharmacy, the IGBMC, and the International Space University; and the Medicine Campus, located at the historic civil hospital site near the city center. Additional facilities are scattered throughout the region, including the INSPE sites in the Meinau district, Colmar, and Sélestat, as well as an Institute of Technology in Haguenau. The Strasbourg campuses are well-integrated into the city's infrastructure, served by multiple lines of the Strasbourg tramway and bus network.
The university campus covers a vast part near the center of the city, located between the "Cité Administrative", "Esplanade" and "Gallia" bus-tram stations.
Modern architectural buildings include: Escarpe, the Doctoral College of Strasbourg, Supramolecular Science and Engineering Institute (ISIS), Atrium, Pangloss, PEGE (Pôle européen de gestion et d'économie) and others. The student residence building for the Doctoral College of Strasbourg was designed by London-based Nicholas Hare Architects in 2007. The structures are depicted on the main inner wall of the Esplanade university restaurant, accompanied by the names of their architects and years of establishment.
The administrative organisms, attached to the university (Prefecture; CAF, LMDE, MGEL—health insurance; SNCF—national French railway company; CTS—Strasbourg urban transportation company), are located in the "Agora" building.
The University of Strasbourg is a member of several European networks focused on research, student exchange, and the establishment of joint degrees:
Text from the Wikipedia article “University of Strasbourg”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.