Kiel University, officially the Christian Albrecht University of Kiel, (German: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a public research university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in 1665 as the Academia Holsatorum Chiloniensis by Christian Albert, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp and has approximately 27,000 students today. It is the largest, oldest, and most prestigious university in the state of Schleswig-Holstein.
Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel | |
 Seal of Kiel University | |
| Latin: Academia Holsatorum Chiloniensis sive Christiana Albertina[1] | |
| Motto | Pax optima rerum |
|---|---|
Motto in English | Peace is the greatest good |
| Type | Public |
| Established | 1665 |
| Budget | € 268.7 million (2021)[2] Third-party funding: € 65 mio |
| President | Simone Fulda |
Academic staff | 433 professors (2021)[2] |
Total staff | 3,681 (2021, not including UKSH)[2] |
| Students | 27,455 (2021)[2] |
| Location | , , Germany 54°20′20″N 10°7′21″E / 54.33889°N 10.12250°E |
| Campus | Urban |
| Colors | Purple and white |
| Website | www.uni-kiel.de |
 | |
Until 1866, it was not only the northernmost university in Germany but at the same time the 2nd largest university of Denmark. Faculty, alumni, and researchers of Kiel University have won 12 Nobel Prizes. Kiel University has been a member of the German Universities Excellence Initiative since 2006. The Cluster of Excellence The Future Ocean, which was established in cooperation with the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel in 2006, is internationally recognized. The second Cluster of Excellence "Inflammation at Interfaces" deals with chronic inflammatory diseases. The Kiel Institute for the World Economy is also affiliated with Kiel University. The university has a great reputation for its focus on public international law. The oldest public international law institution in Germany and Europe – the Walther Schuecking Institute for International Law – is based in Kiel.[3]
History
editFounding of the University in Kiel
editThe origins of the university in Kiel trace back to the increasing need for well-educated priests during the Reformation. Additionally, the growing involvement of citizens in significant administrative roles contributed to the idea of establishing a university in the duchies. However, wars in the early 17th century and political conflicts between dukes and the king initially delayed these plans. Eventually, Duke Friedrich III commissioned his son, Christian Albrecht, to advance the founding of the university. In 1660, Christian Albrecht succeeded in realizing these plans and selected Kiel as the university's location. On October 5, 1665, the university was inaugurated under the name Christiana Albertina in a former Franciscan monastery with four lecture halls and a library. At that time, 17 professors taught theology, medicine, law, and the liberal arts.[4][5]
Periods of Growth and Stagnation
editA significant growth period for the university occurred a century later under Russian Empress Catherine the Great, from whom it received its colors, purple and white. Following the unification of the duchies in 1773, the university continued to flourish as the northernmost German and southernmost Scandinavian university. Nearly 100 years later, the university's development stagnated, particularly after Schleswig-Holstein became part of Prussia. From 1870, student numbers began to rise again, and 38 years later, women were also admitted.[4]
During and after WWII
editDuring the Nazi regime starting in 1933, the university experienced Gleichschaltung, the expulsion of Jewish professors, and the persecution of dissenters. In World War II, many buildings were destroyed by Allied air raids, including the university library in 1942.[4]
Post-War Reconstruction and Expansion
editWith the support of the British, teaching resumed as early as November 1945, initially on ships. In the 1960s, a new campus was developed on the Kiel Westring. The student protests of the late 1960s led to a modernization of the university's structure. The campus was expanded in 1972 with buildings on Olshausenstraße and new sports facilities, and in 1991, the Faculty of Engineering opened in Kiel-Gaarden. The number of students steadily increased and now stands at about 25,000 to 30,000. The Christian-Albrecht University has not only become an internationally respected university but also one of the largest employers in Kiel.[4]
Faculties
edit
Christian-Albrechts-Universität currently consists of the following eight faculties:[6]
- Faculty of Theology
- Faculty of Law
- Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences
- Faculty of Medicine
- Faculty of Arts and Humanities
- Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences
- Faculty of Agricultural Science and Nutrition
- Faculty of Engineering
Notable people
edit
Alumni
edit- See also Category:University of Kiel alumni
- Franz Boas (1858–1942), anthropologist
- Alice Bota (born 1979), journalist
- Georg von Dadelsen (1918–2007), musicologist, Neue Bach-Ausgabe
- Matthias von Davier, psychometrician, academic, inventor, and author
- Gerhard Domagk, bacteriologist, Nobel laureate
- Andre Franke, geneticist
- Maren Gaulke (born 1955), herpetologist
- Johanna Hellman (1889–1982), surgeon
- Mareile Höppner, television presenter[8]
- Doris König, current judge of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany
- Wolfgang Kubicki, politician, vice chairman of the FDP in Germany, from 1992 to 1993 and since 1996 he is faction leader of the FDP in the Landtag, the parliament of Schleswig-Holstein, member of the Bundestag
- Oswald Pohl (1892–1951), Nazi SS officer executed for war crimes
- Viktoria Schmidt-Linsenhoff (1944–2013), German art historian and professor
- Gerhard Stoltenberg, politician, former prime minister of Schleswig-Holstein, former finance minister of Germany
- Peer Steinbrück, politician, former prime minister of North Rhine Westphalia, former finance minister of Germany
- Erich Walter Sternberg, composer
- Sibylle Kessal-Wulf, current judge of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, Germany's highest court
- Surya Hermawan, lecturer at Petra Christian University, Indonesia
Academics
editNobel Prize winners
edit| Laureate | born | deceased | CAU period | CAU function | Nobel Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Theodor Mommsen | 1817 Garding | 1903 Charlottenburg | 1838–1844 | Law student, Dr. jur. | Literature, 1902 |
| Philipp Lenard | 1862 Bratislava | 1947 Messelhausen | 1898–1907 | Ordinarius, Physics | Physics, 1905 |
| Eduard Buchner | 1860 Munich | 1917 Focsani | 1893–1896 | Privatdozent, Biochemistry | Chemistry, 1907 |
| Max Planck | 1858 Kiel | 1947 Göttingen | 1885–1889 | associate professor, theoretical physics | Physics, 1918 |
| Otto Meyerhof | 1884 Hannover | 1951 Philadelphia | 1912–1924 | Postdoc, a.o. Prof., Physiology | Medicine 1⁄2, 1922 |
| Gerhard Domagk | 1895 Lagow | 1964 Burgberg | 1914–1921 | Study of medicine with degree in Kiel[9] | Medicine, 1939 |
| Walter Rudolf Hess | 1881 Frauenfeld, CH | 1973 Muralto, CH | Student of Medicine[10] | Medicine, 1949 | |
| Otto Diels | 1876 Hamburg | 1954 Kiel | 1916–1945 | Ordinarius, Organic Chemistry | Chemistry 1⁄2, 1950 |
| Kurt Alder | 1902 Königshütte | 1958 Cologne | 1924–1936 | Associate Professor, Organic Chemistry | Chemistry 1⁄2, 1950 |
| Wassily Leontief | 1905 Munich | 1999 New York, USA | 1927–1928 | Scientific Assistant, Economics | Economics, 1973 |
| Wolfgang Paul | 1913 Lorenzkirch | 1993 Bonn | 1937–1942 | Scientific Assistant, Physics | Physics 1⁄3, 1989 |
| Günter Blobel | 1936 Waltersdorf | 2018 New York, USA | Student of Medicine [11] | Medicine, 1999 |
Rankings
edit| University rankings | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall – Global & National | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
Kiel University is recognized in several university ranking systems. According to the 2024 QS World University Rankings, the institution is globally positioned at 530 and holds the 33rd place nationally.[12] In the 2024 THE World University Rankings, it is placed within the 301–350 bracket worldwide and ranks between 32nd and 33rd nationally.[13] The ARWU World Rankings for 2023 presents the university within the global 201–300 range, while its national rank is within the 10th to 19th positions.[14]
Academic publishing
edit- The Ethnographisch-Archaeologische Zeitschrift (EAZ)[15] is an interdisciplinary journal dedicated to the study of human societies from prehistory to the present day by bridging archaeology, anthropology, and philosophy and addressing topics like social inequality, climate change, and indigenous sovereignty.[16][17][18][15] The EAZ was founded in 1960 as the successor to the publication series Ethnographisch-Archäologische Forschungen, which was published from 1953 to 1959.[19] First published at Humboldt University Berlin in 1960,[19] the EAZ later moved to Leipzig in 2010,[20] and since 2023 it is published at Kiel University.[17]
Points of interest
editGallery
edit-
"Some shine when you read them" - Aerial photograph of the University Library of the CAU on Leibniz Street -
The Leibniz Institute for the Education in Natural Sciences and Mathematics at Olshausenstraße -
The Center for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ZMB) of the CAU at the Botanical Garden -
Leibniz-Straße-based institutes, the cafeteria and the university library -
The Otto-Hahn-Platz and the Max-Eyth-Straße with the various chemical institutes and the Anatomical Institute -
The sports facilities and the Institute of Sports Science of the CAU -
The grounds of the botanical garden of the CAU Kiel -
The greenhouses of the Botanical Garden of the CAU
Holstein Study Award
editCAU's most renowned award is the Holstein Study Award (Holsteiner Studienpreis), which is awarded to the university's top three students each year since 2001.[21][22] The award's criteria include extraordinary academic achievements, a broad intellectual horizon and political or social involvement.[23] It is endowed with a prize money of €500 for the 2nd and 3rd prize and €1000 for the 1st prize.[24] The Holstein Study Award is funded by the association 'Iuventus Academiae Holsatorum'. The award's expert jury includes professors of various faculties and the prizes are awarded by the university's president or vice-president in a formal ceremony in the top floor of the skyscraper on campus.[25]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Search". Internet Archive.
- ^ a b c d "Statistische Eckdaten". Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (in German). Retrieved 5 July 2022.
- ^ Stolleis, Michael (2002). Geschichte des öffentlichen Rechts in Deutschland. Munich: C.H. Beck. p. 394. ISBN 978-3-406-48960-0.
- ^ a b c d "350 Jahre Uni Kiel: Vom Kloster zum Campus". NDR (in German). 21 May 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
- ^ "Christian-Albrechts-Universität – Gesellschaft für Schleswig-Holsteinische Geschichte". geschichte-s-h.de. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
- ^ "Faculties & joint facilities". Uni Kiel. 20 July 2023. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
- ^ "SwRI Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) Homepage". Southwest Research Institute. Retrieved 19 January 2011.
- ^ "Mareile Höppner". 321kochen.tv. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
- ^ Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften. "Lebenslauf von Gehard Domagk" (PDF). Retrieved 30 October 2017.
- ^ Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften. "Lebenslauf von Walter Rudolf Hess" (PDF). Retrieved 30 October 2017.
- ^ Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften. "Lebenslauf von Günter Blobel" (PDF). Retrieved 30 October 2017.
- ^ a b "QS World University Rankings 2024". QS World University Rankings. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
- ^ a b "World University Rankings 2024". Times Higher Education World University Rankings. 27 September 2023. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
- ^ a b "2023 Academic Ranking of World Universities". Academic Ranking of World Universities. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
- ^ a b "EAZ – Ethnographisch-Archaeologische Zeitschrift". www.eaz-journal.org. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
- ^ Ethnographisch-Archäologische Zeitschrift. Band 1, Nr. 1, 1960 (eaz-journal.org [retrieved 12 June 2023]).
- ^ a b Steffen, Jan (2023). "A forum for human diversity: New start for the "Ethnographisch-Archaeologische Zeitschrift" at Kiel University". Retrieved 6 July 2023.
- ^ Piezonka, Henny; Angelbeck, Bill; Cunningham, Jerimy; Furholt, Martin; Schneeweiß, Jens; Wunderlich, Maria; Müller-Scheeßel, Nils (30 March 2023). "Editorial: A Space for Difference". EAZ – Ethnographisch-Archaeologische Zeitschrift. 57 (1). doi:10.54799/RXJR3581. ISSN 2751-7233.
- ^ a b Otto, Karl-Heinz (1960). "Editorial". EAZ – Ethnographisch-Archäologische Zeitschrift (in German). 1 (1): 2.
- ^ Veit, Ulrich (24 March 2010). "Editorial". EAZ – Ethnographisch-Archaeologische Zeitschrift (in German). 51 (1/2): 5–6. doi:10.54799/TSHX5119. ISSN 2751-7233. S2CID 257800027.
- ^ "Holsteiner Studienpreis 2023/2024 » Chronik". www.studienpreis.net.
- ^ "Uni Kiel – Preise und Stipendien".
- ^ "Holsteiner Studienpreis 2023/2024 » Kriterien". www.studienpreis.net.
- ^ "Holsteiner Studienpreis 2023/2024 » Merkblatt". www.studienpreis.net.
- ^ "Holsteiner Studienpreis 2023/2024 » Kuratorium". www.studienpreis.net.
External links
edit
- Official website (in English and German)
- Kiel University International Affairs
- Students' Association at Kiel University (in German)