University of Saarland

Saarland University

Universität des Saarlandes
Latin: Universitas Saraviensis
Type	Public
Established	1948
Budget	€ 357 million
Rector
Academic staff	1,571
Administrative staff	1,181
Students	17,317
Location	Saarbrücken and Homburg, Saarland, Germany
Website	www.uni-saarland.de

Saarland University (German: Universität des Saarlandes) is a modern research university located in Saarbrücken, the capital of the German state of Saarland. It was founded in 1948 in Homburg in co-operation with France and is organized in six faculties that cover all major fields of science. The university is particularly well known for research and education in computer science, computational linguistics and materials science, consistently ranking among the top in the country in those fields. In 2007, the university was recognized as an excellence center for computer science in Germany.

Thanks to bilingual German and French staff, the University has an international profile, which has been underlined by its proclamation as "European University" in 1950 and by establishment of Europa-Institut as its "crown and symbol" in 1951.

Nine academics have been honored with the highest German research prize, the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, while working at Saarland University.

Saarland University, the first to be established after World War II, was founded in November 1948 with the support of the French Government and under the auspices of the University of Nancy.

At the time the Saarland found itself in the special situation of being partly autonomous and linked to France by economic and monetary union. With its combination of the German and French educational traditions and the dual languages of instruction, the university had a European perspective right from the start. Prior to the foundation of the university, clinical training courses for medical students at the state hospital, Saarland University Hospital, in Homburg, Saarland, had been introduced in January 1946 and the "Centre Universitaire d'Etudes Supérieures de Hombourg" established on 8 May 1947 under the patronage of the University of Nancy. Students in certain disciplines can obtain degree certificates from both universities.