University of Bonn

University of Bonn

Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
University of Bonn Seal
Latin: Universitas Fridericia Guilelmia Rhenana
Type	Public
Established	18 October 1818
President	Michael Hoch
Administrative staff	9,287
Students	> 32,500
Location	Bonn, Germany
Campus	Urban
Affiliations	Europaeum EUA
Website	www.uni-bonn.de

The University of Bonn (German: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany. Founded in its present form in 1818, as the linear successor of earlier academic institutions, the University of Bonn is today one of the leading universities in Germany. The University of Bonn offers a large number of undergraduate and graduate programs in a range of subjects. Its library holds more than five million volumes. The University of Bonn has 544 professors and 32,500 students. Among its notable alumni and faculty are seven Nobel Laureates, three Fields Medalist, twelve Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize winners, Prince Albert, Pope Benedict XVI, Frederick III, Karl Marx, Heinrich Heine, Friedrich Nietzsche, Konrad Adenauer, and Joseph Schumpeter. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2016 and the Academic Ranking of World Universities 2015 ranked the University of Bonn as one of the 100 best universities in the world.

The university's forerunner was the Kurkölnische Akademie Bonn (English: Academy of the Prince-elector of Cologne) which was founded in 1777 by Maximilian Frederick of Königsegg-Rothenfels, the prince-elector of Cologne. In the spirit of the Enlightenment the new academy was nonsectarian. The academy had schools for theology, law, pharmacy and general studies. In 1784 Emperor Joseph II granted the academy the right to award academic degrees (Licentiat and Ph.D.), turning the academy into a university. The academy was closed in 1798 after the left bank of the Rhine was occupied by France during the French Revolutionary Wars.