The University of Münster (, until 2023 , WWU) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are "the key sites of Knowledge production modes, knowledge production", along with "intergenerational ...

located in the city of

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...

, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. With more than 43,000 students and over 120 fields of study in 15 departments, it is Germany's fifth largest university and one of the foremost centers of German intellectual life. The university offers a wide range of subjects across the sciences, social sciences and the humanities. Several courses are also taught in English, including PhD programmes as well as postgraduate courses in geoinformatics, geospational technologies or information systems. Professors and former students have won ten Leibniz Prizes, the most prestigious as well as the best-funded prize in Europe, one

Fields Medal The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of Mathematicians, International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place e ...

and two Nobel Prizes. The University of Münster has also been successful in the German government's Excellence Initiative.

History

The university has its roots in the Münster's Jesuit College (''Jesuiten-Kolleg Münster''), founded in 1588, and the convent of lay sisters Liebfrauen-Überwasser, founded in 1040, of which it took its seal. The convent was dissolved in 1773, so that its funds could be used to found the University of Münster on 16 April 1780. In 1631,

Pope Urban VIII Pope Urban VIII (; ; baptised 5 April 1568 – 29 July 1644), born Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 August 1623 to his death, in July 1644. As pope, he expanded the papal terri ...

and Emperor Ferdinand II issued privileges, allowing the establishment of a university in Münster. However, due to a lack of funding, they were only put to use in 1780, when the modern University of Münster was founded with four faculties: Law, Medicine, Philosophy and Theology. In 1843, it was renamed to Royal Theological and Philosophical Academy (''Königliche Theologische und Philosophische Akademie''), informally Münster Academy (''Akademie Münster''). The ceremony of constitution was performed by Franz Freiherr von Fürstenberg. The university received the name Westphalian Wilhelm University (''Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster''), from

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia from 1888 until Abdication of Wilhelm II, his abdication in 1918, which marked the end of the German Empire as well as th ...

on 22 August 1907. In 2023 the university was renamed as the University of Münster (''Universität Münster'').

European degrees

1999 saw the beginning of the

Bologna Process file:Bologna-Prozess-Logo.svg, 96px, alt=Logo with stylized stars, Logo file:Bologna zone.svg, alt=Map of Europe, encompassing the entire Bologna zone, 256px, Bologna zone The Bologna Process is a series of ministerial meetings and agreements b ...

, which aimed to ensure comparability in the standards and quality of higher education qualifications. The Münster School of Business Administration and Economics was the first one to establish bachelor's and master's degrees. In the winter semester 2006/2007 nearly all studies have been changed according to Bachelor/Master system. Exceptions are made in studies leading to the Staatsexamen in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and law.

Academics

* Faculty of Protestant Theology * Faculty of Catholic Theology * Faculty of Law * Faculty of Economics ( Muenster School of Business Administration and Economics) * Faculty of Health Science (Medicine and Dental Medicine) * Faculty of Educational and Social Science ** Institute of Communication Science (IfK) (PR, Journalism, Media Science) * Faculty of Psychology and Sport Science * Faculty of History/Philosophy * Faculty of Philology * Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science * Faculty of Physics * Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy * Faculty of Biology * Faculty of Earth Science * Faculty of Music ( Musikhochschule Münster)

Campus

The central library of the university is the Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Münster (ULB), which is also the regional library of Westphalia. As of 2011, the library owns more than 6.2 million volumes of which 2.68 million volumes are held in the ULB, while 3.53 million volumes are held by the 146 faculty and department libraries. Of those, 47,350 are electronical articles and newspapers.

Points of interest

* Botanischer Garten Münster, the university's historic

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe 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 ...

Student life

The university offers a very active student life. The university's sports club ("Hochschulsport") offers more than 100 sport courses, sport tours, further education and international tournaments. The university's IT organization ("Zentrum für Informationsverarbeitung" (ZIV)) provides central services for information processing and communication technology. It offers IT facilities for the students with standard and special software. Foreign languages can be learned at the university's language center ("Sprachenzentrum"). It offers traditional language courses, tandem courses (two persons with different native languages meet in order to learn from each other) and language certificates (for example UNIcert). The cultural programme also includes various museums, music (choirs, ensembles, orchestra), theatres and cinemas.
Homepage of the university's cultural programme Student organisations such as AIESEC, AEGEE, ''move'', '' MTP e.V.'' and many more are well represented with high membership. The city of Münster itself has a very active night life with more than 1,000 bars and clubs. As the city of the

Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire ...

, Münster also has a very rich cultural life.

Rankings

As per the QS World 2024 edition, the university was ranked 384th globally and 21st nationally. In the THE World 2023 rankings, the institution placed 193rd on a global scale and between 19th and 21st within its home country. The university was also evaluated in the ARWU World 2023, where it fell within the 201-300 range worldwide and within the top 10-19 nationally. The University of Münster is member of the association German U15 e.V. which is a coalition of fifteen major research-intensive and leading medical universities in Germany with a full disciplinary spectrum, excluding any defining engineering sciences. The Leiden university ranking, ranks Münster as the third best German university in the size-independent ranking. Strong faculties include mathematics, chemistry, medicine and business studies. According to the Shanghai university ranking, the University of Münster is the fourth best German university for chemistry (46th best university for chemistry worldwide). Two Max-Planck-Prize and five Gottfried-Wilhelm-Leibniz-Winner are currently professors at the faculty of mathematics. Münster has been successful with three excellence clusters "Cells in Motion" (discontinued), "Religion and Politics" and "Mathematics Münster: Dynamics - Geometry - Structure" in the German excellence initiative.

Notable alumni

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Munster, University Of Culture in Münster Educational institutions established in 1780 1780 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire Universities and colleges in North Rhine-Westphalia