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The 'University of Vienna' () is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. Having opened in 1365, it is one of the oldest universities in Europe. Although, according to Austrian tradition, the school no longer qualifies as a full university, it still offers more than 130 courses of study, and is attended by more than 63,000 students. Its unofficial name among many Austrians is ''Hauptuni'' ().

Contents

History

Location

National and international rankings

Organization

Research and teaching

Departments and Centers

Famous members

Faculty and scholars

Alumni

The University Library

Largest research library in Austria

Library statistics (2005)

Library history

Gallery

See also

External links

History

The University was founded on March 12, 1365 by Duke Rudolph IV and his brothers Albert III and Leopold III, hence the additional name "Alma Mater Rudolphina". After the Charles University in Prague, the University of Vienna is the second oldest university in Central Europe and the oldest university in the German-speaking world.
In 1365, Rudolph IV sanctioned a deed of foundation for a doctoral-level university in Vienna, modelled on the University of Paris. However, Pope Urban V did not ratify the deed, specifically in relation to the department of theology, presumably due to pressure exerted by Emperor Charles IV who wished to avoid competition for Prague University. Approval was finally received from the Pope in 1384 and Vienna University was granted the status of a full university (including the theology department). The first university building opened in 1385.
The current main building on the Ringstraße was built between 1877 and 1884 by Heinrich von Ferstel. The previous main building was located close to the ''Stuben'' Gate (Stubentor) on Iganz Seipel Square, current home of the old University Church (''Universitätskirche'') and the Austrian Academy of Sciences (''Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften'').
Women were admitted as full students from 1897, although their studies were limited to philosophy. The remaining departments gradually followed suit, although with considerable delay: medicine in 1900, law in 1919, Protestant theology in 1923, and finally Catholic theology in 1946. Eight years after the admission of the first female students, Elise Richter became the first woman to receive ''habilitation'', becoming professor of Romance Languages in 1905; she was also the first female 'distinguished professor'. The first female chair of the university was not awarded until after the Second World War, to physicist Berta Karlik.

Location

The academic facilities of the University of Vienna occupy more than sixty locations throughout the city of Vienna. The historical Main Building on the Ringstraße constitutes the University's center, as the seat of the university’s executive and most of its administrative offices. The nearby University Campus forms an additional, more spacious, focus of the University. A large number of academic facilities, including the new lecture hall complex, are situated there.

National and international rankings

The University of Vienna was placed 65th in the The Times Higher Education Supplement University World Ranking in 2005, rising from 94th place in 2004. Amongst European universities, the University of Vienna was ranked 19th in 2005, up from 31st in 2004. The University is also ranked 40th in the world in the field of biomedicine, and 42nd in the field of social sciences. These world rankings make the University the most highly ranked in Austria.
Despite these rankings, in 2006, the German newspaper, ''Die Zeit'', ranked the University poorly, stating its performance in chemistry, biology, and physics as primary factors.

Organization

The University of Vienna (like all universities and academies in Austria) once featured a novel system of democratic representation. Power in the university was divided equally among three groups: students (the largest group), junior faculty, and full professors. All groups had the right to send representatives to boards who then voted on almost every issue. While this system guaranteed that all groups had equal opportunity to introduce change, some people have argued that it led to corruption, especially in the nomination of persons into prestigious positions.
The former government, headed by then-chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel, reformed the university system so that power is now concentrated with the full professors. The reform also introduced a board of governors and tuition fees (less than €400 per semester in 2007). The reforms also separated the medical departments into separate medical schools, such as the Medical University of Vienna. This change meant that the traditional sense of the word ''university'' no longer applies to the University of Vienna.

Research and teaching

The research activity of the university is undertaken by some 6,100 scholars. Of these, around 3,200 are active as staff of the University of Vienna, and approximately 900 are active in projects financed by third parties. About 2,000 belong to external teaching engagements, many of them still contributing to the scholarship of the university.

Departments and Centers

The departments of the University include: Catholic Theology, Protestant Theology, Law, Economics, Computer Science, History-Culture, Philology-Culture, Philosophy, Pedagogy, Psychology, Social Sciences, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Geology, Geography, Astronomy, Life Sciences, Translatology, Sport Science, University Sports.

Famous members

Faculty and scholars

Nobel Prize Laureates who taught at the University of Vienna include Robert Bárány, Julius Wagner-Jauregg, Hans Fischer, Karl Landsteiner, Erwin Schrödinger, Victor Franz Hess, Otto Loewi, Konrad Lorenz and Friedrich Hayek.
The University of Vienna was the cradle of the Austrian School of economics. The founders of this school who studied here included Carl Menger, Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk, Friedrich von Wieser, Joseph Schumpeter, Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek.
Other famous scholars who have taught at the University of Vienna: Theodor Adorno, Theodor Billroth, Ludwig Boltzmann, Anton Bruckner, Rudolf Carnap, Conrad Celtis, Viktor Frankl, Sigmund Freud, Eduard Hanslick, Berthold Hatschek, Moritz Hoernes, Hans Kelsen, Johann Josef Loschmidt, Oskar Morgenstern, Otto Neurath, Johann Palisa, Richard Pittioni, Pius II, Karl Freiherr von Rokitansky, August Schleicher, Moritz Schlick, Ludwig Karl Schmarda, Joseph von Sonnenfels, Josef Stefan, Carl Auer von Welsbach

Alumni

Some of its better-known students include: Franz Alt, Bruno Bettelheim, Rudolph Bing, Lucian Blaga, Josef Breuer, Elias Canetti, Otto Maria Carpeaux, Felix Ehrenhaft, Janko Ferk, Paul Feyerabend, Heinz Fischer, O. W. Fischer, Iwan Franko, Sigmund Freud, Kurt Gödel, Franz Grillparzer, Jörg Haider, Ernst Gombrich, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, John J. Shea, Jr., Elfriede Jelinek, Percy Julian, Karl Kautsky, Rudolf Kirchschläger, Elisabeth Kehrer, Arthur Koestler, Karl Kraus, Richard Kuhn, Paul Lazarsfeld, Gustav Mahler, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, Lise Meitner, Gregor Mendel, Mordkhe Schaechter Franz Mesmer, Alois Mock, Pius III, Karl Popper, Peter Porsch, Wilhelm Reich, Nabil AlNayeb, Peter Safar, Wolfgang Schüssel, Arthur Schnitzler, Adalbert Stifter, Kurt Waldheim, Otto Weininger, Huldrych Zwingli, Albin Schram.

The University Library

Largest research library in Austria

The University Library of the University of Vienna comprises the Main Library and the 50 departmental libraries at the various university locations throughout Vienna. The library's primary responsibility is to the members of the university; however, the library's 350 staff members also provide access to the public. Use of the books in the reading halls is open to all persons without the need for identification, which is only required for checking out books. The library's website provides direct access to information such as electronic journals and online indices and databases.

Library statistics (2005)

★ Book inventory: 6,531,875 (of which 2,564,591 belong to the Main Library)

★ Journals: 11,536 (of which 2,944 belong to the Main Library)

★ Active borrowers: 84,650

★ Search queries on OPAC each day: ca. 388,000

★ Borrowings and renewals of books each day: 9,200

★ Oldest book: Plinius, ''Historia naturalis'' (1469)

Library history

In a letter on March 12, 1365, Duke Rudolph IV spelled out his idea of a ''publica libraria'', where the most valuable bequeathed books of deceased university members should be collected. This collection was enlarged by many legates and became the core of the old “Libreye”, which shared a room with a student hospital. Starting in the 17th century, there was a revival of interest in the old library with its manuscripts and ''incunabula'', and the modern library in the Jesuit College came into prominence.
In 1756, the University Library was finally opened, annexing the Imperial Library (2,787 volumes). After the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1773, the new Academic Library amalgamated the book collections of the five Lower Austrian Colleges and a large number of duplicate books in the Imperial Library.
On May 13, 1777 (the birthday of Empress Maria Theresia), the library was re-opened in the building of the Academic College. The inventory contained 45,000 books and was soon expanded during the Josephine dissolution of the monasteries. In contrast to its predecessors, the new library was publicly accessible.
Between 1827 and 1829 it received the neoclassical annex (Postgasse 9) to the Academic College, which remained there until 1884. In that year, the main library moved its 300,000 volumes into the new main building built by architect Heinrich von Ferstel on the Ringstraße, where magazines for some 500,000 volumes awaited the collection. With an annual increase of up to 30,000 volumes, the reserved space was quickly exhausted, and the library continually requires expansions for book space. Today, the Vienna University Library has the largest book collection in Austria.

Gallery

See also

★ Education in Austria

★ Klimt University of Vienna Ceiling Paintings

External links

★ Official website (English version)

★ Study in Austria: A Guide