Hamburg University Information
Hamburg University Today
With approximately 42,500 students, Hamburg University
ranges fifth in
size among the institutions of higher learning in Germany. It has about
900 professors engaged in teaching and research, as well as an
additional full-time academic staff numbering 1,700. There are also
aproximately 6,800 technical and administrative employees. About 1,000
part-time academic instructors teach at the University, and an equal
number of additional academic and other employees are engaged in
individual research projects financed by parties outside the University.
The University is spread over 270 buildings (alone 120 occupied by the
Department of Medicine) with a usable area of 345,000 square meters. The
center of the University is its campus at Von-Melle-Park, which is
situated close to the lake in the heart of Hamburg, the
Au├čenalster, and which adjoints parts of the district of
Hamburg-Eimsbüttel. Many more facilities belonging to the
University are to be found in other parts of Hamburg (like our institute
that is located approximately 3 miles away from the campus).
Bits of History
Hamburg University is one of the younger German universities. On 28
March 1919, the parliament of the city-state of Hamburg, which had just
been democratically constituted after the end of World War I, passed the
resolution to establish Hamburg University. The roots of the University,
however, date back to the beginning of the 17th century. From 1613 to
1883, Hamburg had had an Akademisches Gymnasium (an intermediate
level of education between school and university), and from 1885 on an
Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen (an organization of general lectures)
had existed, with both already possessing professional chairs. In
addition to these institutions, a number of state scientific institutes
developed (the Botanical Garden, the Observatory and the State Chemical
and Physics Laboratory), and in 1907, the Colonial Institute was
founded, which also had had professional chairs. The demands for higher
education for returning, young veterans generated the final impulse to
combine all existing scientific institutions into a university.
The start of the young University in the 1920's was outstanding; names
such as Ernst Cassirer (Philosophy), Erwin Panofsky (Art History), Otto
Stern (Physical Chemistry), William Stern (Psychology) testify this.
Correspondingly deep was the University's fall when these and many other
scholars had to leave Germany in 1933.
After the end of World War II, the student body increased rapidly, from
3,000 in 1949 to 17,000 in 1965. In back of the University's old main
building, a campus arose on what had previously been a park
(Von-Melle-Park). In 1969 Hamburg's parliament passed a new body of laws
governing the University. The far-reaching reforms manifested themselves
on the one hand in the extension of academic self-administration, the
participation of all members of the university in the governing process
of academic affairs, and on the other hand in the creation of a
continuous central authority, the office of the President of the
University.
Sven Mü├čig, (14-dec-94). Your feedback is welcome.