Bielefeld University

Bielefeld University
Universität Bielefeld

Bielefeld University logo
Established September 5, 1969
Chancellor Dr. Stephan Becker
Rector Gerhard Sagerer
Administrative staff
 4,478
Students 23,683
Location Bielefeld, Northrhine-Westphalia, Germany
52°02′16″N 8°29′35″E / 52.03778°N 8.49306°E / 52.03778; 8.49306Coordinates: 52°02′16″N 8°29′35″E / 52.03778°N 8.49306°E / 52.03778; 8.49306
Website www.uni-bielefeld.de
[1][2][3]
Bielefeld University
The central hall of the university
Bielefeld University on the north side of Teutoburg Forest
Bielefeld University building X

Bielefeld University (German: Universität Bielefeld) is a university in Bielefeld, Germany. Founded in 1969, it is one of the country's newer universities, and considers itself a "reform" university, following a different style of organization and teaching than the established universities. In particular, the university aims to "re-establish the unity between research and teaching", and so all its faculty teach courses in their area of research. The university also stresses a focus on interdisciplinary research, helped by the architecture, which encloses all faculties in one great structure. It is among the first of the German universities to switch some faculties (e.g. biology) to Bachelor/Master-degrees as part of the Bologna process.

Bielefeld University has started an extensive multi-phase modernisation project, which upon completion in 2025 would result in completely new university buildings to replace the 40-year-old main building. A total investment of more than 1 billion euros has been planned for this undertaking.[4]

Faculties

Bielefeld University is known for its faculty of sociology. It is associated with Norbert Elias and Niklas Luhmann, who were professors there. The faculty of history launched the "Bielefeld School" of Social History under Hans-Ulrich Wehler, while the Laborschule and Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF) are projects of the faculty of educational science.

The Academic Ranking of World Universities of 2010 places Bielefeld in terms of mathematics among the four best universities of Germany, the 21 best universities of Europe and 51 to 76 best universities in the world,[5] which confirms the ranking of 2009.[6] In the Times Higher Education World University Rankings of 2010-2011 Bielefeld is placed among the top 50 engineering and technology universities.[7] The German Center for Higher Education Development Excellence Ranking, which measures academic performance of European graduate programs in biology, chemistry, mathematics, and physics, placed Bielefeld in the excellence group for mathematics, together with such universities as Cambridge and ETH Zürich.

The university has the following faculties:

Central academic institutes

Oberstufen-Kolleg at the University of Bielefeld

The Oberstufen-Kolleg is a UNESCO Project School and as such it aims for international understanding and cooperation. Since 1998, the Kolleg has worked together with the German School of Guayaquil in a charitable project to help in the development of the town of Daular, Ecuador,[22] which project won a United Nations Award in 2006/2007 for its international concept.[23]

Library

Bielefeld University Library occupies most of the first floor of the main university building and contains over 2.2 million volumes. It is open every day of the year, from 08:00 until 01:00 Monday to Friday, and from 09:00 to 22:00 during weekends and public holidays.[24]

The library's projects include the development of tools to improve access to electronic resources. It works with commercial system suppliers to meet the needs of academic libraries—collaborations that have resulted in developments such as BASE (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine), by which metadata is collected from scientific repository servers and indexed, along with data from selected web sites and data collections, using the Solr framework.[25]

Protests against tuition fees

Bielefeld University was one of the centers of student protests in the fight against the introduction of tuition fees. In the course of the protests, the central hall and the university president's office were occupied by protesting students for over a month. In a vote organised by the AStA and the students parliament, about 94 percent of the participants voted against the introduction of tuition fees, although only 22 percent of the students cast their vote. This is comparable to similar results at other German universities.

In its session of July 12, 2006, the university senate decided to introduce tuition fees of €500 per semester, beginning in 2007.[26][27]

In August 2006, a universal key for the university went missing during a senate session. After that, multiple cases of arson and defacement of university property were reported. University president Dieter Timmermann was a particular target of these attacks. The cost of the damage, mainly due to the replacement of thousands of locks, was estimated at over a million euros.

Location

The university is located in the west of Bielefeld next to the Teutoburg Forest. The main building, which houses all the faculties and institutes, as well as the large library, is a functional concrete structure, typical of the 1960s.

Intercity trains running between Cologne/Bonn and Berlin stop regularly at Bielefeld, and the university can be accessed via city tram (Line 4) in about 10 minutes from the city center—or in about 15 minutes by car. The nearest airport, Paderborn/Lippstadt, is about 50 kilometres southeast of Bielefeld.[28]

Statistics

Bielefeld University 2007[3]
Number of study possibilities 76   
Professors 294   
Number of employees (scientific) 449.5 
Number of employees (non-scientific) 848.5 
Number of students 17,554   
Number of foreign students 1,604   

References

  1. ↑ "Zeittafel zum Aufbau der Universität Bielefeld". Chronology of the university's development (in German). Universität Bielefeld. Archived from the original on 20 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  2. ↑ "Rektorat". University board (in German). Universität Bielefeld. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  3. 1 2 "Zahlen und Daten". Statistics and data (in German). Universität Bielefeld. 2007. Archived from the original on 19 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
  4. ↑ Campus Bielefeld
  5. ↑ "ARWU in Mathematics - 2010". Academic Ranking of World Universities. Archived from the original on 2011-08-30.
  6. ↑ "ARWU in Mathematics - 2009". Academic Ranking of World Universities. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16.
  7. ↑ "Top 50 Engineering & Technology universities". Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
  8. ↑ "Fakultät für Biologie". Faculty of biology (in German). Universität Bielefeld. Archived from the original on 30 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  9. ↑ "Fakultät für Chemie". Faculty of chemistry (in German). Universität Bielefeld. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  10. ↑ "Fakultät für Geschichtswissenschaft, Philosophie und Theologie". Faculty of history, philosophy and theology (in German). Universität Bielefeld. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  11. ↑ "Bielefeld School of public health". Fakultät für Gesundheitswissenschaften (Faculty of public health). Universität Bielefeld. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  12. ↑ "Fakultät für Linguistik und Literaturwissenschaft". Faculty of linguistics and literature (in German). Universität Bielefeld. Archived from the original on March 7, 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  13. ↑ "Abteilung Kunst und Musik". Department of art and music (in German). Universität Bielefeld. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  14. ↑ "Fakultät für Mathematik". Faculty of mathematics (in English index page). Universität Bielefeld. Archived from the original on 2008-03-19. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  15. ↑ "Fakultät für Erziehungswissenschaft". Faculty of educational science (in German). Universität Bielefeld. Archived from the original on 8 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  16. ↑ "Faculty of physics" (in English index page). Universität Bielefeld. Archived from the original on 2008-06-19. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  17. ↑ "Fakultät für Psychologie und Sportwissenschaft". Faculty of psychology and sports (in German). Universität Bielefeld. Archived from the original on 18 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  18. ↑ "Fakultät für Rechtswissenschaft". Faculty of Law (in German). Universität Bielefeld. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  19. ↑ "Fakultät für Soziologie". Faculty of sociology (in German). Universität Bielefeld. Archived from the original on 17 July 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  20. ↑ "Technische Fakultät". Faculty of technology. Universität Bielefeld. Archived from the original on 2008-02-19. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  21. ↑ "Fakultät für Wirtschaftswissenschaften". Faculty of business administration and economics (in English introductory page). Universität Bielefeld. Archived from the original on 2008-09-17. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  22. ↑ "Kooperationsvertrag" (PDF). German School Guayaquil-University of Bielefeld (in German). Universität Bielefeld. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 18, 2006. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
  23. ↑ "Das etwas andere Abitur". Bielefeld Marketing (in German). Bielefeld Marketing. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
  24. ↑ "Library Profile". Bielefeld University Library. Universität Bielefeld. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  25. ↑ "About BASE". Bielefeld Academic Search Engine. Universität Bielefeld. Retrieved 2013-09-09.
  26. ↑ "Senat der Universität Bielefeld beschließt Studienbeiträge" (PDF). Senate of the University of Bielefeld decides tuition fees (in German). Universität Bielefeld. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  27. ↑ "Einige wichtige Informationen zur Erhebung von Studienbeiträgen an der Universität Bielefeld" (PDF). Some important information about the collection of tuition fees at the University of Bielefeld (in German). Universität Bielefeld. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  28. ↑ "First Contact". International Students. Universität Bielefeld. 2007-07-30. Archived from the original on 2007-11-30. Retrieved 2008-06-13.

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