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The 'Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald' (German: ''Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald''), generally known as the 'University of Greifswald', is located in the German town of Greifswald, situated between the Islands Rügen and Usedom in the in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
Founded in 1456, it is one of the oldest universities in both Germany and Europe. For a time, it was also the oldest university of Sweden and Prussia. There are currently about 11,000 students studying at five faculties. Due to the size of the town, Greifswald is rather a university with a town around it than a town with a university.

Contents

History

Founding 1456

16th century

17th and 18th century

19th and 20th century

Structure

Research

Research partners

International co-operation

Possessions

Notable people

Bachelor Degrees

External links

See also

History

Founding 1456

The University of Greifswald was founded on 17 October 1456 with imperial and papal approval. This was possible due to the great commitment Greifswald's mayor, Heinrich Rubenow, who was also to become the university's first rector, under the protection of Duke Wartislaw IX of Pomerania and Bishop Henning Iven of St Nicolas' Cathedral.
The founding of the university was made possible by a law restricting teaching activity at the University of Rostock. Several professors left Rostock for Greifswald to continue their work there, where Heinrich Rubenow saw the chance of establishing his own university.
Originally, the university consisted of the four traditional divisions: Theology, Philosophy, Medicine and Law.
In Germany, there are only four older universities that operated continuously: Heidelberg (1386), Cologne (1388), Leipzig (1409) and Rostock (1419).
International co-operation with other instututions of higher education in northern Europe existed already in the earliest years, sparked and accelerated by the transnational trading network Hanse. From 1456 until 1526, 476 Scandinavians were enrolled at Greifswald University and 22 faculty members as well as six rectors came from Scandinavia. This was a relatively high percentage compared to the total number of students at the time.

16th century

The early sixteenth centry saw significant co-operation of the university, the Lutheran church, the city and the Duchy of Pomerania. Professors of theology simultaneously served as pastors in the three cathedrals. Professors of medicine usually served as personal physicians of the duke. Professors of law where also working at the local courts while professors of the faculty of philosophy usually taught the sons and daughters of the duchal family. The landed nobility also funded university-related purposes such as scholarships and student bursaries.
The Reformation was introduced at the unviversity in 1539. After the secularisation of the monastery at Eldena near Greifswald, Duke Philipp I of Pomerania gave all revenue created by the newly created ''Amt Eldena'' to the university. His successor, Duke Ernst Ludwig, began the construction of a college building, which could only be completed after his death. Duke Philipp Julius presented the university a gown that was used by the rector on ceremonial occasions up until very recently.

17th and 18th century

In 1604, the university introduced the first centralised university library of Germany. The university signed a contract with a book printer from Wittenberg, Germany, for the amount of 2,000 Gulden. This contract lasted nearly a century due to the disruption caused by the Thirty Years' War. Hence, the university owns prestigious early prints of authors and printers such as Johannes Gutenberg or Thomas Thorild.
The Duke of Pomerania was in financial troubles and had not paid the professors. As a solution, he gave the Amt Eldena to the university - a total of 140 square kilometres of land.
After the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 the western part of Pomerania, including Greifswald and its university, came under Swedish control. Without entirely losing its character as a German university, it was heavily influenced by Swedish educational policies until 1815. Especially during the second half of the eighteenth century Greifswald was a cultural and scientific bridge between Germany and Sweden. More than 1,500 Swedes studied at Greifswald University.
The main administrative building - still in use today - was built during the "good old Swedish years" by Andreas Mayer, a mathematician by profession, in the style of North German Baroque.

19th and 20th century

When Swedish Pomerania became part of Prussia in 1815, the University of Greifswald became the oldest university in Prussia. Extensive building activity was undertaken in all faculties and Greifswald grew significantly in size and reputation.
The Faculty of Law became Faculty of Law and Economics in 1905. In 1912, Otto Jaekel, a professor of paleontology in Greifswald, founded the German Paleontological Society.
The spectrum of academic research and teaching was further expanded during the Weimar Republic. The ''Nordisches Institut'' (Scandinavian and Finno-Ugric studies) and several other research institutes, e.g. for biological research, Christian archeology, and Palestinian studies, were founded.

It was named after Ernst Moritz Arndt in 1933, who was a student of theology in 1791 and later taught history at Greifswald. Here, he published his works "''Versuch einer Geschichte der Leibeigenschaft in Pommern und Rügen''", "''Germanien und Europa''" as well as the first part of "''Geist der Zeit''". There have been frequent debates as to whether Arndt's name is desirable for the university or not, but attempts to change the university's name have always been democratically rejected.
All academic activities came to a halt towards the end of the Second World War, and the university was re-opened on 15 February 1946. Several organisational changes were made during the time of the GDR, most of which were revoked in the 1990s after the German Reunification. Freedom of science as well as the autonomy and self-administration of the university were re-established. The Faculty of Law and Economics was re-opened from 1991 to 1993.
Extensive renovation took place since 1990. Large-scale (re-)construction efforts were made, e.g. the new university library as well as new buildings for the departments of physics, biochemistry and medicine were erected.

Structure

The University of Greifswald is governed by a rector (head of the university), a chancellor (head of the administration) and the senate.
Like many European universities, Greifswald University is separated into faculties (German: ''Fakultät'') and among those further subdivided into Departments (German: ''Institut'').
===Faculty of Theology===

★ Evangelical Theology
===Faculty of Philosophy===



★ Caspar-David-Friedrich-Institut (fine arts)

★ Department of English and American Studies

★ Department of German Philology (''Institut für Deutsche Philologie'')

★ Department of History (''Historisches Institut'')

★ Department of Music and Church Music (''Institut für Kirchenmusik und Musikwissenschaft'')

★ Department of Latvian and Lithuanian Studies (''Institut für Baltistik'')

★ Department of Political Science

★ Department of Philosophy

★ Department of Psychology

★ Department of Scandinavian and Finno-Ugric Studies (''Nordisches Institut'')

★ Department of Slavic Studies
===Faculty of Law and Economics===

★ Jurisprudence (Rechtswissenschaft)

★ Business Administration (Wirtschaftswissenschaft)
===Faculty of Medicine===

★ medicine

★ dentistry
===Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences===

★ Department of Biology

★ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

★ Department of Geography and Geology

★ Department of Mathematics and IT

★ Department of Pharmacy

★ Department of Physics

Research

Research emphasis lies in the field of plasma physics, landscape ecology, medicine, biotechnology, the Middle Ages and the languages and cultures of countries bordering the Baltic Sea.
Greifswald's university hospital is the most up-to-date hospital in Germany. Most science departments as well as the hospital and the new university library are located at the new campus to the southeast of the city centre, wheres the faculties of theology, law and economics and philosophy mostly situated in the old town.

Research partners

★ Alfried Krupp Science College (Alfried-Krupp-Wissenschaftskolleg)

★ Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics

★ Institute of Low Temperature Physics and Plasma Physics

★ Nuclear fusion research reactor Wendelstein 7-X

★ German Federal Institute of Animal Virus Diseases, Riems Island

★ Siemens AG, Public Networks

★ Technology Centre Vorpommern

★ Biotechnikum Greifswald

★ Technologiepark (under construction)

★ Research Institute of Diabetes, Karlsburg (near Greifswald)

★ Institute of church music and musicology

International co-operation

The "EMAU" has several offical "partner universities" [1] and focuses on co-operation within the Baltic Sea region and Northern Europe:

★ University of Aarhus, Denmark

★ Holbæk Seminarium Denmark

★ University of Brno, Czech Republic

★ University of Tartu, Estonia

★ University of Joensuu Finland

★ University of Padua, Italy

★ University of Latvia, Latvia

★ University of Klaipeda, Lithuania

★ University of Vilnius, Lithuania

★ University of Poznan, Poland

★ University of Szczecin, Poland

★ Immanuel Kant State University of Russia, Russia

★ Saint Petersburg State University, Russia

★ University of Aberdeen, Scotland

★ Lund University, Sweden
There are also numerous other co-operation agreements on the departmental level with universities all over Europe and across the world.
The University of Greifswald actively participates in the ERASMUS programme, sending and receiving exchange students to and from all over the Europe and also overseas. Student exchange from and to Greifswald is co-ordinated by the university's international office (''Akademisches Auslandsamt'').

Possessions

The University of Greifswald was a large scale land owner until 1945. It owned more than 140 square kilometres of arable land. Because of this, it was one of the wealthiest universities in Germany and financially independent. The former wealth of the university can still be seen in many historic buildings as well as art and other possessions. The ''Croy Tapestry'', a tapestry depicting of the Reformation from 1554) as well as many century old books, fossils, scientific collections form the core of possessions which, in the future, will be exhibited in the former department of physics near the main building. The university also owns one of only four remaining 36-line Gutenberg bibles from 1458.
Wealthiness and independence ended with communist land reforms after the Second World War, though parts of the land have been given back. Today, the university again manages some of the land previously owned, including a large forest, but revenue is low. Some land claims are still pending in court. The university also owns its own forest, which is administered by a "university forester."

Notable people

''For a detailed list see also: List of people associated with the University of Greifswald''
Johannes Stark (1874 - 1957) received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1919 (see Nobel Prize Website) "for his discovery of the Doppler effect in canal rays and the splitting of spectral lines in electric fields" during his time at the University of Greifswald.
In 1939, Gerhard Domagk (1895 - 1964) received the Nobel Prize in Medicine (see Nobel Prize Website) "for the discovery of the antibacterial effects of prontosil".
Other people associated with the university include for instance:

★ Ernst Moritz Arndt, politician ★ Theodor Billroth, medicine ★ Otto von Bismarck, German politician ★ Johannes Bugenhagen, introduced the Reformation in Pomerania and Denmark ★ August Hermann Cremer, Lutheran theologian ★ Jacques Delors, honorary doctorate ★ Johann Friedrich Dieffenbach, surgeon ★ Klaus Fesser, physicist ★ Alfred Gomolka, MEP ★ Paul Grawitz, pathologist ★ Felix Hausdorff, mathematician ★ Ulrich von Hutten, humanist ★ Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, gymnastics educator and patriot ★ Ziad Jarrah, hijacker of Flight 93

★ Hannelore Kohl, honorary doctorate ★ Friedrich Löffler, bacteriologist ★ Hermann Löns, poet ★ Gustav Mie, physicist ★ Gustav Nachtigal, explorer in Central Africa ★ Christiern Pedersen, Danish humanist scholar, writer, printer and publisher ★ Ferdinand Sauerbruch, surgeon ★ Carl Schmitt, influential political theorist ★ Georg Friedrich Schömann, classical scholar ★ Franz Seldte, chemist, National Socialist politician, Reich labour minister ★ Thomas Thorild, a Swedish poet and philosopher ★ Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, classical philologist ★ Bernhard Windscheid, jurist, writer of the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch

Bachelor Degrees

Since 1999, the EMAU has implemented the international Bachelor/Master system as proposed by the Bologna declaration. These are in the process of replacing the traditional German "Magister" and "Diplom" courses. With the rapid introduction and by cooperation with two other universities, Greifswald has become a leading university in welcoming and implementing the new system.

External links

★ Ernst Moritz Arndt University Greifswald

★ City of Greifswald

★ Pomeranian Evangelical Church

See also

★ List of universities in Germany

★ List of oldest universities in continuous operation

★ Medieval university

★ Ernst Moritz Arndt