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Bielefeld University is a university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...

 in Bielefeld
Bielefeld
Bielefeld is an independent city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 323,000, it is also the most populous city in the Regierungsbezirk Detmold...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. 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 completely switch some faculties (e.g. biology) to Bachelor
Bachelor
A bachelor is a man above the age of majority who has never been married . Unlike his female counterpart, the spinster, a bachelor may have had children...

/Master
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...

-degrees as part of the Bologna process
Bologna process
The purpose of the Bologna Process is the creation of the European Higher Education Area by making academic degree standards and quality assurance standards more comparable and compatible throughout Europe, in particular under the Lisbon Recognition Convention...

.

Faculties

While Bielefeld University offers many options to study, it is well known for its faculty of sociology. It is associated with Norbert Elias
Norbert Elias
Norbert Elias was a German sociologist of Jewish descent, who later became a British citizen.-Biography:...

 and Niklas Luhmann
Niklas Luhmann
Niklas Luhmann was a German sociologist, and a prominent thinker in sociological systems theory.-Biography:...

, who were professors there. The faculty of history launched the "Bielefeld School" of Social History under Hans-Ulrich Wehler
Hans-Ulrich Wehler
Hans-Ulrich Wehler is a German historian known for his role in promoting social history through the "Bielefeld School", and for his critical studies of 19th century Germany.-Career:...

, while the Laborschule and Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF) are projects of the faculty of educational science.

The faculty of mathematics is also highly regarded. The Academic Ranking of World Universities
Academic Ranking of World Universities
The Academic Ranking of World Universities , commonly known as the Shanghai ranking, is a publication that was founded and compiled by the Shanghai Jiaotong University to rank universities globally. The rankings have been conducted since 2003 and updated annually...

 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, which confirms the ranking of 2009.
In the Times Higher Education World University Rankings
Times Higher Education World University Rankings
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings is an international ranking of universities published by the British magazine Times Higher Education in partnership with Thomson Reuters, which provided citation database information...

 of 2010-2011 Bielefeld is placed among the top 50 engineering & technology universities.
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 renowned universities as Cambridge and ETH Zürich.

The university has the following faculties:
  • Faculty of biology
  • Faculty of chemistry
  • Faculty of history, philosophy and theology
    • Department of history
    • Department of philosophy
    • Department of theology
  • Faculty of public health
  • Faculty of linguistics and literature
    • Department of art and music
  • Faculty of mathematics
  • Faculty of educational science
  • Faculty of physics
  • Faculty of psychology and sports
  • Faculty of Law
  • Faculty of sociology
  • Faculty of technology
  • Faculty of business administration and economics

Central adademic institutes


Oberstufen-Kolleg at the University of Bielefeld

The Oberstufen-Kolleg is a UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

 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, which project won a United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 Award in 2006/2007 for its unique international concept.

Library

Bielefeld University Library occupies most of the first floor of the main university building and contains over 2.2 million volumes. It has long opening hours and 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.

The library's projects include the exploration and development of tools and systems to improve access to an increasing number of electronic resources. It works with commercial system suppliers to meet the specific needs of academic libraries—collaborations that have resulted in developments such as BASE
BASE (search engine)
BASE is a multi-disciplinary search engine to scholarly internet resources, created by Bielefeld University Library in Bielefeld, Germany...

 (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine), by which metadata
Metadata
The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...

 is collected from scientific repository servers
Server (computing)
In the context of client-server architecture, a server is a computer program running to serve the requests of other programs, the "clients". Thus, the "server" performs some computational task on behalf of "clients"...

 and indexed, along with data from selected web sites and data collections, using FAST
Fast Search & Transfer
Fast Search & Transfer ASA is a Norwegian company based in Oslo. FAST focuses on data search technologies. It also has offices located in Germany, Italy, Sri Lanka, France, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Brazil, Mexico and other countries around the world. The company was founded...

 software.

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
AStA
The General Students' Committee or AStA, is the acting executive board and the external representing agency of the student body at universities in most German states. It is therefore considered the student government and student representative organization...

 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.

In August 2006, a universal key for the university went missing during a senate session. After that, multiple cases of arson
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...

 and defacement
Defacement (vandalism)
In common usage, to deface something refers to marking or removing the part of an object designed to hold the viewers' attention. Example acts of defacement could include scoring a book cover with a blade, splashing paint over a painting in a gallery, or smashing the nose of a sculpted bust...

 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
Teutoburg Forest
The Teutoburg Forest is a range of low, forested mountains in the German states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia which used to be believed to be the scene of a decisive battle in AD 9...

. 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
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

/Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....

 and Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 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
Paderborn Lippstadt Airport
-Facilities:The terminal offers several facilities for travelers. There are mainly travel agencies in the airport. A Restaurant is available, too. There are also shops and car rentals at the airport....

, is about 50 kilometres southeast of Bielefeld.

Statistics

Bielefeld University 2007
Number of study possibilities 76   
Professors 294   
Number of employees (scientific) 449.5 
Number of employees (not scientific) 848.5 
Number of students 17,554   
Number of foreign students 1,604   

External links

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