University of Augsburg

The University of Augsburg (German: Universität Augsburg) is a university located in the Universitätsviertel section of Augsburg, Germany. It was founded in 1970 and is organized in 8 Faculties.

This article is about an institute of higher education in Augsburg, Germany. For the liberal arts college in the United States, see Augsburg University.
University of Augsburg
Universität Augsburg
Motto
Scientia et conscientia
TypePublic
Established1970
Budget€ 117.4 million[1]
RectorSabine Doering-Manteuffel
Academic staff
1,235[1]
Administrative staff
2,641[1]
Students20,437[1]
Location
Augsburg
,
Bavaria
,
Germany

48°20′02″N 10°53′54″E
CampusSuburban, Single-site campus
Websitewww.uni-augsburg.de

The University of Augsburg is a relatively young campus university with approx. 18,000 students in October 2012. About 14% of its students come from foreign countries, a larger percentage than at comparable German universities.[2]

In October 2011 Sabine Doering Manteuffel succeeded Alois Loidl as rector of the university. She is the first female rector of a Bavarian university.

Organisation
Scene from the main campus of the University of Augsburg

The university is divided into 8 faculties:

Campus

The individual faculties, the administration offices (including the Student Service Centre), the refectory, cafeterias, bars, and the libraries are all close together.

History

The University of Augsburg was founded in 1970. It is one of the new, modern universities in Bavaria, and with approximately 18,000 (October 2012) students it is still of a manageable size. It attracts students from far beyond its immediate catchment area. About 20% of the German students come from outside Bavaria, and at 14% its share of foreign students is larger than at comparable universities.

The University of Augsburg maintains partnerships with the Universities of Pittsburgh (USA), Osijek (Croatia) and Iaşi (Romania), and the Far Eastern State University of Humanities, which is in Khabarovsk (Russia). It has cooperation agreements with over forty universities in Europe, Asia, South Africa, North America and Latin America. The number of ERASMUS exchange programmes also continues to grow. There are currently exchange programmes with more than 130 universities throughout Europe.

Anyone who has studied or carried out research here can keep in touch with the University of Augsburg once they have returned home. “Alumni Augsburg International” is a network for Augsburg students, too, as they can use it to find contacts.

University library

Augsburg University library consists of the central library plus libraries for social sciences, humanities and natural sciences. It was founded along with the university in 1969 and was at first situated in the ducal residence (Fronhof). In 1970, it was moved to the campus of the old university at Memminger Straße. The new central library on the current campus south of Augsburg opened in 1984.[3] The library comprises a total of some 2.0 million items (as of 2007).

Professional language teaching

The University of Augsburg's Language Centre provides tuition in modern languages. Students of philology receive practical language training in English, French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. In addition to this, the Language Centre offers courses specifically tailored to law and economics students, as well as the opportunity to study other languages such as Russian, Turkish or Japanese. Foreign students can improve their German language skills in tandem with their other studies. The University of Augsburg and the University of Applied Sciences work closely together in a joint testing centre for German as a Foreign Language (“TestDaF-Zentrum”), which tests the German language skills of international students.

Partnerships

The University of Augsburg has cooperation agreements with over 40 universities in Europe, Asia, South Africa, North America and Latin America. Particularly close partnerships are maintained with the following 4 universities

Occupation and Protest 2009

On the 17. November 2009 over 500 students occupied the lecture room number 1 to call attention to the bad conditions in Augsburg and the entire German educational system.[4] Specifically, they protested against the need for university students to pay tuition fees and what they perceived as a decline in education quality in the German high school system.

They occupied the hall until the 22. December, using it as a plenary meeting room, holding discussions, organizing theatre and concert performances, showing films, and presenting their claims to the university administration and the Bavarian state. They agreed to end the sit-in because the university vice-president gave assurances that he would solve the problems, which are part of the university itself.[5]

Eventually, all German states scrapped the experiment with university tuition fees in public universities, after mass student protests.

References
  1. "Wintersemester 2016/2017". University of Augsburg (in German). Retrieved 2017-06-20.
  2. "University of Augsburg" (PDF).
  3. Rudolf Frankenberger: Die Universitätsbibliothek Augsburg Augsburg 1970-1985. In: Bibliotheksforum Bayern 13 (1985), 6-22
  4. Augsburger Allgemeine: Augsburger Hörsaal fest in Studentenhand (recalled the 4th of July 2010).
  5. Augsburger Allgemeine: Augsburger Studenten räumen besetzten Hörsaal (recalled the 4th of July 2010).
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