German Universities (I)

For many years, Germany’s system of higher education has been the subject of envy for many nations around the globe. The system of structuring lectures and smaller meetings, teaching and research that was developed in German universities, which has come to be known as the German university model, has come to serve as the basis for a number of the finest research universities across the world. Many of Germany’s finest thinkers owe a large part of their ideological formation to the experiences they had while attending school. Many of the German universities have emerged from the past century of political and ideological divisiveness with a newly reinstated mission: to mold the next generation of German scientists, mathematicians, engineers, philosophers, artists, and businesspeople.

One of the most prominent of the German universities, as well as the oldest university in Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin has been serving the intellectual needs of Berliners since 1810. Established by Wilhelm von Humboldt, an educational reformer and linguist from Prussia, the university pioneered the German model that has taken root at other European and Western universities over the past two centuries. During its years of operation, the Humboldt University of Berlin has been privileged to have associated with it several German luminaries, such as Albert Einstein, G.W.F. Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer, Max Planck, W.E.B. Du Bois, and many others. During the era of the Third Reich, Nazis ejected Jewish students from the rolls of Humboldt, deporting some, and raided the university library for nearly 200,000 “undesirable” books, which were then burned in a public bonfire on May 10, 1933. When the university re-opened after the end of World War II, the Soviet Union had a strong influence over its ideology, refusing any students who did not conform to its communist ideas. After the reunification of East and West Germany, Humboldt was completely restructured, and had many of its professors replaced. Today, Humboldt University of Berlin operates with its counterpart, the Free University of Berlin, which was founded during the Soviet era in response to the Soviet policies governing the university.

Established in 1409, the University of Leipzig is one of the oldest German universities, as well as one of the oldest universities in Europe. Several prominent people, including Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Friedrich Nietzsche, Richard Wagner, and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, have attended or taught at the university. The university has a number of locations around the city of Leipzig, and comprises fourteen different faculties, including Theology Law, Philology, Education, Social Sciences, Medicine, Mathematics, Physics and Earth science, Chemistry and Mineralogy, and Veterinary Medicine. Among these, the most well-known is the Medical faculty, which has established a worldwide reputation for excellence. The university library, the main branch of which is known as the “Bibliotheca Albertina,” is also well-respected for its collections of literature, non-fiction and historical objects. During the period of Soviet control in East Germany, the University of Leipzig was known as Karl Marx University. The University of Leipzig is one of the most well-renowned German universities.