University of Duisburg-Essen



The University of Duisburg-Essen (Universität Duisburg-Essen) is a public research university in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. In the 2019 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, the university was awarded 194th place in the world. It was originally founded in 1654 and re-established on 1 January 2003, as a merger of the Gerhard Mercator University of Duisburg and the university of Essen. It is based in both the cities of Duisburg and Essen, and a part of University Alliance Metropolis Ruhr.

With its 12 departments and around 40,000 students, the University of Duisburg-Essen is among the 10 largest German universities. Since 2014, research income has risen by 150 percent. Natural science and engineering are ranked within the top 10 in Germany, and the humanities are within the top 20 to 30. Especially, the physics field is ranked in the top 1 in Germany.

Origins: University of Duisburg (1555)
The university's origins date back to the 1555 decision of Duke Wilhelm V von Jülich-Kleve-Berg, to create a university for the unified duchies at the Lower Rhine. To this end, it was necessary to obtain a permission of the emperor and the pope. Although the permission of the pope was granted in 1564 and of the emperor in 1566, the university was founded about ninety years later in 1654, after the acquisition of the Duchy of Cleves by Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg. It opened on 14 October 1655 by Johannes Claudberg as their first rector. The university had four faculties: Theology, Medicine, Law and Arts. During its period of activity it was one of the central and leading universities of the western provinces of Prussia.

Only a few decades later the university was in competition with the much better equipped Dutch universities. Since only about one third of the population in the western provinces of Prussia were member of The Reformed Church, most Lutheran and Catholic citizens in the second half of the 18th century sent their sons to other universities.

The university declined rapidly and was closed on 18 October 1818, due to a Cabinet Order of Friedrich Wilhelm III. At the same time, the University of Bonn was founded. Large parts of the Duisburg University Library were relocated to Bonn and formed the basis of the newly formed Bonn Library. The sceptre of the University of Duisburg was given to the University of Bonn, where it is still located today.

In 1891, the Rheinisch-Westfälische Hüttenschule was relocated from Bochum to Duisburg. Subsequently, the school was transformed into the Königlich-Preußischen Maschinenbau- und Hüttenschule, and in 1938 was renamed to Public School of Engineering.

After a decision of the federal state government in 1960, the teacher training college of Kettwig was settled to Duisburg and was named Pedagogical University Ruhr. In 1968, the university was founded again in Duisburg, related to the old one, bearing the name: Comprehensive University of Duisburg. Initially only small, the university was developed rapidly in the 1970s up to about 15,000 students. In 1972 the Pedagogical University Ruhr and the Public School of Engineering, which was renamed in 1971 to University of applied sciences Duisburg. Other schools were also relocated to Duisburg. The University of Duisburg was then called Comprehensive University of Duisburg. In 1994 the university was renamed Gerhard Mercator University.

In 2003, Gerhard Mercator University merged with the University of Essen to form the University of Duisburg-Essen, which is today one of the largest universities in Germany with about 40,000 students.

Recent developments
In March 2007 the three universities of Bochum, Dortmund and Duisburg-Essen founded the University Alliance Metropolis Ruhr, which now includes more than 120,00 students and 1,300 professors and is modelled after the University of California system.

In May 2018, the three members of the University Alliance Metropolis Ruhr launched the Research Academy Ruhr (RAR), an inter- and university overarching program for the development and support of young scientists. The program is funded by the State of North Rhine-Westfalia (NRW) and the Mercator Research Center Ruhr (MERCUR) with €800,000 over the next four years and an additional €1 million being added by the three participating members of the University Alliance.

Campus


The university has two main campus locations in Duisburg and Essen.

Main faculties
The University of Duisburg-Essen today has twelve faculties, listed below:
 * Faculty of Art and Design
 * Faculty of Biology and Geography
 * Faculty of Business Administration and Economics
 * Mercator School of Management – Faculty of Business Administration
 * Faculty of Chemistry
 * Faculty of Engineering
 * Department of Building sciences
 * Department of Electrical engineering and Information technology
 * Department of Computer sciences and Applied Cognitive Sciences
 * Department of Mechanical and Process engineering
 * Department of Transport Systems and Logistics
 * International Studies in Engineering
 * Faculty of Humanities
 * Faculty of Mathematics
 * Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Essen
 * Faculty of Social sciences
 * Institute for Political Sciences
 * NRW School of Governance
 * Institute for Educational sciences
 * Institute for Development and Peace (INEF – Institut für Entwicklung und Frieden)
 * Institute for Sociology
 * Faculty of Physics

Central scientific institutes

 * Centre for Nanointegration Duisburg-Essen (CeNIDE) (German)
 * German-French Institute for Automation and Robotics (IAR)
 * Erwin L. Hahn Institute for Magnetic Resonance Imaging
 * Essen College of Gender Studies (EKfG)
 * Institute for Experimental Mathematics (IEM)
 * Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities
 * Institute of East Asian Studies (IN-EAST)
 * Institute for Labor/ Labour and Qualification (IAQ)
 * Interdisciplinary center for analytics on the nanoscale (ICAN)
 * Centre for Logistics and Transport (ZLV)
 * Centre for Medical Biotechnology (ZMB)
 * Centre for Water and Environmental Research (ZMU)
 * Centre for empirical research in education (ZeB)

The NRW School of Governance
The NRW School of Governance is a central institution within the Institute for Political science and was founded in 2006 under the direction of Karl-Rudolf Korte.

It aims, through research and teaching, to promote the scientifically sound understanding of political processes (in North Rhine-Westphalia).

It does so by educating and training students in three main programs:


 * 1) Masters program: "Political management, Public policy and Public administration"
 * 2) Part-time masters program: "Public Policy"
 * 3) Doctoral School: Scholarship and Excellence Programs at the Department of Political Science

and also through the use of various other education modules.

Associated institutes

 * paluno, The Ruhr Institute for Software Technology
 * German Textile Research Centre North-west (DTNW)
 * Development Centre for Ship Technology and Transport Systems (DST)
 * Asia-Pacific Economic Research Institute (FIP)
 * Institute of Energy and Environmental Technology (IUTA)
 * Institute for Labor/ Labour and Qualification (IAQ)
 * Institute of Mobile and Satellite Communication Technology (IMST)
 * Institute for Prevention and Health Promotion (IPG)
 * Institute of Science and Ethics (IWE)
 * IWW Water Centre (IWW)
 * Rhine-Ruhr Institute for Social Research and Political Consulting (RISP)
 * Salomon Ludwig Steinheim Institute for German-Jewish History (StI)
 * Centre for Fuel Cell Technology (ZBT)

The university has a Confucius Institute.

Student body
it is the German university with the largest number of Chinese international students. Overall, it has a 16% composition of international students. The majority of such students are enrolled as engineering or economics majors.

Rectors

 * 01.2003–09.2003 – Heiner Kleffner, Founding commissioner and head of section
 * 10.2003–12.2006 – Lothar Zechlin, Founding rector
 * 01.2007–03.2008 – Lothar Zechlin, 1. rector
 * 04.2008–03.2022 – Ulrich Radtke, 2. rector
 * 04.2022 – Barbara Albert

Mercator-Professorship Award
The University of Duisburg-Essen awards the Mercator-Professur to individuals who are well known for their social and scientific engagement. So far, recipients of the Mercator-Professur have been:
 * 1997: Hans-Dietrich Genscher, politician (FDP), former Foreign Minister and Vice-Chancellor of Germany
 * 1998: Siegfried Lenz, writer
 * 1999: Jan Philipp Reemtsma, literary scholar.
 * 2000: Jutta Limbach, jurist and politician (SPD)
 * 2001: Volker Schlöndorff, filmmaker.
 * 2002: Ulrich Wickert, journalist, chief anchor for tagesthemen
 * 2003: Daniel Goeudevert French writer, management consultant.
 * 2004: Walter Kempowski, writer.
 * 2005: Richard von Weizsäcker, politician (CDU), former President of the Federal Republic of Germany.
 * 2006: Necla Kelek, social scientist
 * 2007: Hanan Ashrawi, legislator, activist, and scholar
 * 2008: Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, biologist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
 * 2009: Peter Scholl-Latour, journalist and publicist
 * 2010: Alice Schwarzer, publisher and feminist
 * 2011: Udo Di Fabio, former judge of the Federal Constitutional Court
 * 2012: Wolfgang Huber, bishop, former chairman of the Council of the Protestant Church in Germany
 * 2013: Margarethe von Trotta, film director.
 * 2015: Götz Werner, founder of dm-drogerie markt
 * 2016: Karl Lehmann, Cardinal prelate, former Chairman of the Conference of the German Bishops

Further professors include Jette Joop, Kai Krause and Bruce Ames.

Poets in Residence
The institution of the poet in residence is not missing at any university in the US. In Germany, the University of Duisburg-Essen was the first and, for a long time, only university that followed the American example and brought contemporary authors to the university as guest lecturers for readings and seminars. In 1975, Martin Walser was the first poet in residence to hold his poetics lectures in Essen.

Since the summer semester 2000, the following personalities have worked as poet in residence at the University of Essen (later Duisburg-Essen):


 * Ss 2000: Emine Sevgi Özdamar
 * Ws 2000/01: Kirsten Boie
 * Ss 2001: Volker Braun
 * Ws 2001/02: Robert Gernhardt
 * Ss 2002: Mike Nicol
 * Ss 2003: Friedrich Christian Delius
 * Ws 2003/04: Brigitte Burmeister
 * Ss 2004: Georg Klein
 * Ws 2004/05: Andreas Steinhöfel
 * Ss 2005: Yōko Tawada
 * Ws 2005/06: Dagmar Leupold
 * Ss 2006: Friedrich Ani
 * Ws 2006/07: Hans-Ulrich Treichel
 * Ss 2007: Terézia Mora
 * Ws 2007/08: Zafer Şenocak
 * Ss 2008: Jürgen Lodemann
 * Ws 2009/10: Klaus Händl
 * Ws 2010/11: Judith Kuckart
 * Ss 2011: Norbert Hummelt
 * Ws 2011/12: Norbert Scheuer
 * Ss 2012: Guy Helminger
 * Ws 2012/13: Reinhard Jirgl
 * Ss 2013: Antje Rávic Strubel
 * Ws 2013/14: Bernhard Jaumann
 * Ws 2014/15: Kathrin Röggla
 * Ss 2015: Marion Poschmann
 * Ws 2016/16: Klaus Modick
 * Ss 2016: Lukas Bärfuss
 * Ws 2016/17: Dorothee Elmiger, Reto Hänny
 * Ss 2017: Christof Hamann

Earlier poets in residence (since the winter semester 1975/76) include Jurek Becker, Wilhelm Genazino, Günter Grass, Günter Herburger, Rolf Hochhuth, Heinar Kipphardt, Cees Nooteboom, Peter Rühmkorf, Martin Walser and Dieter Wellershoff (writer).

Erasmus program
The university is part of the ERASMUS exchange program.

International university cooperations
The university also cooperates with several other international institutions of higher education.

University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE)'s faculty partner institutions
Besides the main partnering universities, various faculty of the University Essen-Duisburg also cooperate with international universities and specific faculties or programmes (click "show" to expand).

University Alliance Metropolis Ruhr
As part of the University Alliance Metropolis Ruhr network the university is involved in running three liaison offices in Moscow, New York City and São Paulo. The offices aim to foster international academic exchange between the local and Ruhr area and are responsible for their respective continents.

International network
The university is also part of the AURORA Network of European universities.

Further cooperation programmes
The university is part of the IS:link (Information Systems Student Exchange Network), the VDAC (Verband der Deutsch-Amerikanischen Clubs / Federation of German-American Clubs e.V.) and offers the internationally oriented, doctoral programme "ARUS – Advanced Research in Urban Systems", which is based on previous academic achievements in selected fields within the Joint Centre "Urban Systems".

Rankings
In the QS World University Rankings for 2024, the institution placed between 771 and 780 globally, corresponding to the 42nd rank nationally. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings for 2023 positioned the university in the 251-300 bracket worldwide, and between 27th and 32nd place within the national context. The ARWU World ranking for 2023 listed the university within the 301-400 tier globally, and between the 20th and 24th rank nationally.

Measured by the number of top managers in the German economy, University of Duisburg-Essen ranked 15th in 2019.

In May 2018 the Centrum für Hochschulentwicklung (CHE – Center for Higher Education Development) rankings placed the university in the top ranks in different categories and fields, like the Physics department for seminar and lecture content and Biology, Computer Science, Math, Medicine and Sports for excellent programs and support in the early stages of starting at Essen-Duisburg.

In the European Commission-funded U-Multirank system the university as a whole was ranked as "excellent" in the research categories "External research income", "Top cited publications", "Post-doc positions", in the knowledge transfer categories "Income from private sources", "Spin-offs" and "Publications cited in patents". In the category international orientation Essen-Duisburg was rated "excellent" for their "International academic staff".

Alumni
Notable alumni of the university include:


 * Gorden Wagener, German car designer, and is the chief design officer for Daimler AG
 * Cornelius Boersch, serial entrepreneur and business angel
 * Osagie Ehanire, Nigerian medical doctor and politician
 * Peter Bialobrzeski, photographer and a professor of photography
 * Rainer Blasczyk, physician for transfusion medicine
 * Bärbel Höhn, German politician
 * Moritz Körner, German politician
 * Andreas Gursky, German artist and photographer
 * Ina Hartwig, German writer, literature critic and academic lecturer
 * Klaus-Dieter Hungenberg, German chemist
 * Petra Kammerevert, German politician
 * Suzie Kerstgens, German singer
 * Dieter Nuhr, German cabaret artist
 * Hannelore Kraft, German politician and Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westfalia (NRW)
 * Frank T. Rothaermel, American academic
 * Heike Mauer, German gender theorist
 * Peter Voswinckel, German physician, medical historian and author

Points of interest

 * Botanischer Garten der Universität Duisburg-Essen, the university's botanical garden in Essen