Overview
Kiel University is an institution of interconnecting and interactive academic cultures, which have been evolving here since 1665. The range of subjects offered extends from Theology, Law, Philosophy and Medicine to Natural Sciences, Mathematics, Economics, Social Sciences, Agriculture, Nutritional Sciences, and Engineering. During their time at Kiel University, some 24,000 young women and men, from undergraduate to doctoral level as well as many post-doctorates, enjoy the opportunities and insights offered by the university’s research divisions and advanced degree programmes. With, at present, more than 140 programmes, ranging from AgriGenomics to Quantitative Finance, the university provides a broad base for learning, while focusing on marine, nano and life science as well as societal, environmental and cultural change. Each of these research foci is based on interdisciplinary research across the boundaries of faculties and is continually fed and inspired by strong partnerships with external research institutions. The structure of both our Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programmes is fully compatible with international higher education programmes.
Kiel has been the German centre for marine science since the subject first evolved. As home to four of Germany's research vessels (clusters of excellence), Kiel can offer university students unrivalled opportunities for on-board training and scientific expeditions across the globe. Some of the world’s leading climate scientists teach at Kiel University, and the university hosts its own supercomputer for numerical modelling of global climate change and biogeochemical cycles. The Kiel marine sciences are closely integrated with different disciplines, such as Biology, Chemistry, Geology and Physics. These are all brought together in a cluster of excellence, “The Future Ocean”, in which the GEOMAR | Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel is a strong partner.
Kiel University’s heritage in life science stretches back to 1665, with the establishment of its medical faculty. An exciting new manifestation of this traditional field is the cluster of excellence, “Inflammation at Interfaces”, which is an outstanding alliance between the Research Center Borstel and the Universities of Kiel and Lübeck. In addition, a new Centre of Molecular Bioscience provides facilities for interdisciplinary teaching and pioneering disease and medication research, as well as cooperation with the biotechnology sector.
Over the past 20 years, Kiel University has developed in the science of societal, environmental and cultural change, which explores the interrelationship between mankind and the environment. Within this discipline, the Leibniz Laboratory for Radiometric Dating and Stable Isotope Research helps scientists uncover cultural developments in ancient human societies and reconstruct the climate of the past. In the graduate school, “Human Development in Landscapes”, young archaeologists and geoscientists, historians and medical scientists, classical scholars and biologists are supported in a multidisciplinary approach towards preparing for their doctorates. Their common theme: space as a defining element of human development.
The latest interdisciplinary research area are Nano Sciences. The Kiel Nano Lab is the hub for visionary research leading to revolutionary nano applications. Chemists, physicists and material scientists work together with biologists, electrical engineers and medical doctors to develop molecular machines and nanostructured interfaces for medicine and technology. The faculties of Engineering and of Mathematics and Natural Sciences have developed special partnerships with other institutions in order to examine how nano elements function and can be controlled.
The University of Kiel was founded under the name Christiana Albertina on 5 October 1665 by Christian Albert, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. The citizens of the city of Kiel were initially quite sceptical about the upcoming influx of students, thinking that these could be "quite a pest with their gluttony, heavy drinking and their questionable character" (German: mit Fressen, Sauffen und allerley leichtfertigem Wesen sehr ärgerlich seyn). But those in the city who envisioned economic advantages of a university in the city won, and Kiel thus became the northernmost university in the Holy Roman Empire.
When Kiel became part of Prussia in the year 1866, the university grew rapidly in size. The university opened one of the first botanical gardens in Germany (now the Alter Botanischer Garten Kiel), and Martin Gropius designed many of the new buildings needed to teach the growing number of students.
The Christiana Albertina was one of the first universities to obey the Gleichschaltung in 1933 and agreed to remove many professors and students from the school, for instance Ferdinand Tönnies or Felix Jacoby. During World War II, the University of Kiel suffered heavy damage, therefore it was later rebuilt at a different location with only a very few of the older buildings housing the medical school.
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