HUMBOLDT - UNIVERSITY OF BERLIN
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At the end of the 18th century Wilhelm von Humboldt's concept portrayed a "universitas litterarum" uniting teaching and research and striving toward a comprehensive humanistic education. These were the guiding principles which lead to the founding of the University of Berlin with four faculties (Law, Medicine, Philosophy and Theology) in October 1810. The Charite, the hospital which had evolved in 1727 from the plaguehouse built in 1710 outside the city walls became the university's Faculty of Medicine in 1829. The School of Veterinary Medicine, opened in 1790, and the Museum of Natural History were also integrated. Berlin's Agricultural College, which had been founded in 1881 with its roots at the agricultural school in Moglin, became the university's Department of Agriculture in 1934. During the starting phase the Royal Library was used as university library; the university's own library was established in 1831. From 1828 to 1945, the alma mater berolinensis bore the name "Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitat". Twenty-nine Nobel laureates have been associated with Berlin's university in the course of their teaching and research careers, contributing to the excellent academic reputation which the university continues to enjoy today. The Nazi period did irreparable damage to higher education in Germany, culminating with the exodus of numerous Jewish academics and students, as well as the book-burning of May 10, 1933. Courses resumed in January 1946, after the end of the Second World War, at first in seven departments of the heavily damaged university. Conflicts over communist attempts to influence the university led to a schism in the staff and student body, and then to the founding of the Freie Universitat (i.e. Free University) in December 1948 in West Berlin. The original university on the boulevard Unter den Linden was renamed in 1949 after the brothers Wilhelm and Alexander von Humboldt: „Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin" (HU). Developments in higher education in the Ex-GDR during the 1950s and especially after the "Third Higher Education Reform" of 1968 created structures at the Humboldt-Universitat which no longer followed earlier academic traditions altering the contents and organisation of university education, as well as the conditions under which research was conducted. In spite of strong pressure, the university was able to attain international recognition in various academic fields. After the unification of Germany in 1990 the Humboldt-Universitat developed a new academic framework. Course contents have been evaluated, amended and redefined, and all staff have been subjected to a personal and professional evaluation. Some 500 professors have been appointed or reappointed to date. East and West Germans are represented roughly equally among professors; women make up thirteen per cent of the staff. Since the reorganisation, the Humboldt-Universitat now comprises eleven faculties and two centrally administered institutions, the Museum of Natural History and the recently founded British Studies Centre. Today 224 study courses are offered at the Humboldt-Universitat. In the 2000 summer semester, more than 33.000 students were enrolled at the Humboldt-Universitat. About eleven per cent of these students are from abroad. The Charite is a large medical clinic in the centre of Berlin. The Charite merged with the Virchow Klinikum, located near by in the north-west district of Wedding. The Charite was erected in 1710. Today, the faculty of medicine Charite with about 5,500 students ranks among one of the largest academic disciplines at the Humboldt-Universitat. Approximately 400 students are enrolled in each year, with about 30 % coming from West Germany and West Berlin, 60 % from the eastern part of Germany, and 10 % from foreign countries. Dental medicine, nursing and medical paedagogics and a post graduate course for medical physics compile the medical education in Berlin. |
