University of Augsburg

This article is about an institute of higher education in Augsburg, Germany. For the liberal arts college in the United States, see Augsburg University.

University of Augsburg
Universität Augsburg
Motto
Scientia et conscientia
TypePublic
Established16 October 1970; 54 years ago
Budget€ 117.4 million[1]
RectorSabine Doering-Manteuffel
Academic staff
1,235[1]
Administrative staff
2,641[1]
Students20,437[1]
Location
Augsburg
,
Bavaria
,
Germany

48°20′02″N 10°53′54″E / 48.33389°N 10.89833°E / 48.33389; 10.89833
CampusSuburban, single-site campus
Websitewww.uni-augsburg.de

The University of Augsburg (German: Universität Augsburg) is a public research university located in the Universitätsviertel district of Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany. Founded in 1970, it is a campus university organized into eight faculties spanning the humanities and social sciences, natural sciences, applied computer science, business and economics, law, and medicine.

The university enrolls around 19,000 students and employs more than 300 professors, offering over 90 degree programmes across undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels. It is considered a medium-sized German university and has a significant international student population.[2]

Organisation

The university is divided into 8 faculties:

Campus

The individual faculties, the administration offices (including the Student Service Centre), the refectory, cafeterias, bars, and the libraries are all close together. There are a few small off-site locations, mostly in the city of augsburg, as well as a campus in development for the faculty of medicine located next to University Hospital Augsburg.

Augsburg University library consists of the central library plus libraries for social sciences, humanities and natural sciences. It was founded along with the university in 1969 and was at first situated in the ducal residence (Fronhof). In 1970, it was moved to the campus of the old university at Memminger Straße. The new central library on the current campus south of Augsburg opened in 1984.[3] The library comprises a total of some 2.0 million items (as of 2007).

History

The University of Augsburg was founded in 1970. It is one of the new, modern universities in Bavaria, and with approximately 18,000 (October 2012) students it is still of a manageable size. It attracts students from far beyond its immediate catchment area. About 20% of the German students come from outside Bavaria, and at 14% its share of foreign students is larger than at comparable universities.

The University of Augsburg maintains partnerships with the universities of Pittsburgh (USA), Osijek (Croatia) and Iași (Romania), and the Far Eastern State University of Humanities, which is in Khabarovsk (Russia). It has cooperation agreements with over forty universities in Europe, Asia, South Africa, North America and Latin America. The number of ERASMUS exchange programmes also continues to grow. There are currently exchange programmes with more than 130 universities throughout Europe.

Anyone who has studied or carried out research here can keep in touch with the University of Augsburg once they have returned home. “Alumni Augsburg International” is a network for Augsburg students, too, as they can use it to find contacts.

In October 2011 Sabine Doering Manteuffel succeeded Alois Loidl as rector of the university. She was the first female rector of a Bavarian university.

Professional language teaching

The University of Augsburg's Language Centre provides tuition in modern languages. Students of philology receive practical language training in English, French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. In addition to this, the Language Centre offers courses specifically tailored to law and economics students, as well as the opportunity to study other languages such as Russian, Turkish or Japanese. Foreign students can improve their German language skills in tandem with their other studies. The University of Augsburg and the University of Applied Sciences work closely together in a joint testing centre for German as a Foreign Language (“TestDaF-Zentrum”), which tests the German language skills of international students.

Partnerships

The University of Augsburg has cooperation agreements with over 40 universities in Europe, Asia, South Africa, North America and Latin America. Particularly close partnerships are maintained with the following 4 universities:

The 2009 student sit-in

On 17 November 2009, over 500 students occupied lecture hall number 1, in an action to draw attention to what they perceived as poor conditions of education in Augsburg and in Germany as a whole.[4] Their specific protest was directed against the introduction of mandatory university tuition fees, and against what they saw as a decline in the quality of German high school education.

They kept the room occupied until 22 December, while using it as a plenary meeting room, holding discussions, organizing theater and concert performances, showing films, and presenting their claims to the university management and the Bavarian state. They agreed to end the sit-in after the vice-president of the university provided assurances to solve the problems that arose within the university's competence.[5]

After massive student protests, all German states eventually canceled their attempts to introduce tuition fees at public universities.

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Wintersemester 2016/2017". University of Augsburg (in German). Archived from the original on 23 December 2017. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
  2. ^ "University of Augsburg" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 May 2011. Retrieved 17 November 2010.
  3. ^ Rudolf Frankenberger: Die Universitätsbibliothek Augsburg Augsburg 1970–1985. In: Bibliotheksforum Bayern 13 (1985), 6–22
  4. ^ Augsburger Allgemeine: Augsburger Hörsaal fest in Studentenhand Archived 28 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine (recalled the 4th of July 2010).
  5. ^ Augsburger Allgemeine: Augsburger Studenten räumen besetzten Hörsaal Archived 18 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine (recalled the 4th of July 2010).
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