Kiel University, officially the Christian Albrecht University of Kiel, (, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are "the key sites of Knowledge production modes, knowledge production", along with "intergenerational ...

in the city of

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

, Germany. It was founded in 1665 as the ''Academia Holsatorum Chiloniensis'' by Christian Albert, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp and has approximately 27,000 students today. It is the largest, oldest, and most prestigious university in the state of

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

. Until 1866, it was not only the northernmost university in Germany but at the same time the 2nd largest university of

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. Faculty, alumni, and researchers of Kiel University have won 12

Nobel Prizes The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred ...

. Kiel University has been a member of the

German Universities Excellence Initiative The Excellence Initiative of the German Council of Science and Humanities and the German Research Foundation (DFG) aims to promote cutting-edge research and to create outstanding conditions for young scholars at universities, to deepen coopera ...

since 2006. The Cluster of Excellence The Future Ocean, which was established in cooperation with the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel in 2006, is internationally recognized. The second Cluster of Excellence "Inflammation at Interfaces" deals with chronic inflammatory diseases. The Kiel Institute for the World Economy is also affiliated with Kiel University. The university has a great reputation for its focus on public international law. The oldest

public international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...

institution in Germany and Europe – the Walther Schuecking Institute for International Law – is based in Kiel.

History

Founding of the University in Kiel

The origins of the university in Kiel trace back to the increasing need for well-educated priests during the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

. Additionally, the growing involvement of citizens in significant administrative roles contributed to the idea of establishing a university in the duchies. However, wars in the early 17th century and political conflicts between dukes and the king initially delayed these plans. Eventually, Duke Friedrich III commissioned his son, Christian Albrecht, to advance the founding of the university. In 1660, Christian Albrecht succeeded in realizing these plans and selected Kiel as the university's location. On October 5, 1665, the university was inaugurated under the name ''Christiana Albertina'' in a former

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

with four lecture halls and a library. At that time, 17 professors taught theology, medicine, law, and the liberal arts.

Periods of Growth and Stagnation

A significant growth period for the university occurred a century later under Russian Empress

Catherine the Great Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter I ...

, from whom it received its colors, purple and white. Following the unification of the duchies in 1773, the university continued to flourish as the northernmost German and southernmost Scandinavian university. Nearly 100 years later, the university's development stagnated, particularly after Schleswig-Holstein became part of Prussia. From 1870, student numbers began to rise again, and 38 years later, women were also admitted.

During and after WWII

During the

Nazi regime Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

starting in 1933, the university experienced

Gleichschaltung The Nazi term (), meaning "synchronization" or "coordination", was the process of Nazification by which Adolf Hitler—leader of the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, Germany—established a system of totalitarian control and coordination over all ...

, the expulsion of Jewish professors, and the persecution of dissenters. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, many buildings were destroyed by Allied air raids, including the university library in 1942.

Post-War Reconstruction and Expansion

With the support of the British, teaching resumed as early as November 1945, initially on ships. In the 1960s, a new campus was developed on the Kiel Westring. The student protests of the late 1960s led to a modernization of the university's structure. The campus was expanded in 1972 with buildings on Olshausenstraße and new sports facilities, and in 1991, the Faculty of Engineering opened in Kiel-Gaarden. The number of students steadily increased and now stands at about 25,000 to 30,000. The Christian-Albrecht University has not only become an internationally respected university but also one of the largest employers in Kiel.

Faculties

Christian-Albrechts-Universität currently consists of the following eight faculties: *Faculty of Theology *Faculty of Law *Faculty of Business, Economics and

Social Sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

*Faculty of Medicine *Faculty of Arts and

Humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

*Faculty of Mathematics and

Natural Sciences Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

*Faculty of

Agricultural Science Agricultural science (or agriscience for short) is a broad multidisciplinary field of biology that encompasses the parts of exact, natural, economic and social sciences that are used in the practice and understanding of agriculture. Professio ...

and Nutrition *Faculty of Engineering

Notable people

Alumni

:''See also :University of Kiel alumni'' *

Franz Boas Franz Uri Boas (July 9, 1858 – December 21, 1942) was a German-American anthropologist and ethnomusicologist. He was a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology". His work is associated with the mov ...

(1858–1942), anthropologist * Alice Bota (born 1979), journalist * Georg von Dadelsen (1918–2007), musicologist, '' Neue Bach-Ausgabe'' * Matthias von Davier, psychometrician, academic, inventor, and author *

Gerhard Domagk Gerhard Johannes Paul Domagk (; 30 October 1895 – 24 April 1964) was a German pathologist and bacteriologist. He is credited with the discovery of Sulfonamide (medicine), sulfonamidochrysoidine (KL730) as an antibiotic for which he received th ...

, bacteriologist, Nobel laureate * Andre Franke, geneticist * Maren Gaulke (born 1955), herpetologist * Johanna Hellman (1889–1982), surgeon * Mareile Höppner, television presenter * Doris König, current judge of the

Federal Constitutional Court of Germany The Federal Constitutional Court ( ; abbreviated: ) is the supreme court, supreme constitutional court for the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany, established by the constitution or Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, Basic Law ...

* Wolfgang Kubicki, politician, vice chairman of the FDP in Germany, from 1992 to 1993 and since 1996 he is faction leader of the FDP in the

Landtag A ''Landtag'' (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence ...

, the parliament of

, member of the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

Oswald Pohl Oswald Ludwig Pohl (; 30 June 1892 – 7 June 1951) was a German high-ranking SS official during the Nazi era. As the head of the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office and the head administrator of the Nazi concentration camps, he was a ke ...

(1892–1951), Nazi SS officer executed for war crimes * Viktoria Schmidt-Linsenhoff (1944–2013), German art historian and professor * Gerhard Stoltenberg, politician, former prime minister of

, former finance minister of Germany * Peer Steinbrück, politician, former prime minister of

North Rhine Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

, former finance minister of Germany * Erich Walter Sternberg, composer * Sibylle Kessal-Wulf, current judge of the

, Germany's highest court * Surya Hermawan, lecturer at Petra Christian University, Indonesia

Academics

Nobel Prize winners

Rankings

Kiel University is recognized in several

university ranking College and university rankings order higher education institutions based on various criteria, with factors differing depending on the specific ranking system. These rankings can be conducted at the national or international level, assessing inst ...

systems. According to the 2024 ''

QS World University Rankings The ''QS World University Rankings'' is a portfolio of comparative college and university rankings compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds, a higher education analytics firm. Its first and earliest edition was published in collaboration with '' Times ...

'', the institution is globally positioned at 530 and holds the 33rd place nationally. In the 2024 ''THE World University Rankings'', it is placed within the 301–350 bracket worldwide and ranks between 32nd and 33rd nationally. The ''ARWU World Rankings'' for 2023 presents the university within the global 201–300 range, while its national rank is within the 10th to 19th positions.

Academic publishing

* The Ethnographisch-Archaeologische Zeitschrift (EAZ) is an

interdisciplinary Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several fields such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, economi ...

journal dedicated to the study of human societies from prehistory to the present day by bridging

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

, and philosophy and addressing topics like

social inequality Social inequality occurs when resources within a society are distributed unevenly, often as a result of inequitable allocation practices that create distinct unequal patterns based on socially defined categories of people. Differences in acce ...

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

, and indigenous sovereignty. The EAZ was founded in 1960 as the successor to the publication series ''Ethnographisch-Archäologische Forschungen'', which was published from 1953 to 1959.Otto, Karl-Heinz (1960). "Editorial". ''EAZ – Ethnographisch-Archäologische Zeitschrift'' . 1 (1): 2. First published at

Humboldt University Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humboldt ...

in 1960, the EAZ later moved to Leipzig in 2010, and since 2023 it is published at Kiel University.

Holstein Study Award

CAU's most renowned award is the Holstein Study Award (Holsteiner Studienpreis), which is awarded to the university's top three students each year since 2001. The award's criteria include extraordinary academic achievements, a broad intellectual horizon and political or social involvement. It is endowed with a prize money of €500 for the 2nd and 3rd prize and €1000 for the 1st prize. The Holstein Study Award is funded by the association 'Iuventus Academiae Holsatorum'. The award's expert jury includes professors of various faculties and the prizes are awarded by the university's president or vice-president in a formal ceremony in the top floor of the skyscraper on campus.

Points of interest

* Botanischer Garten der Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, the university's

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...

Gallery

File:Universitätsbibliothek CAU Leibniz-Straße Luftaufnahme.jpg, "Some shine when you read them" - Aerial photograph of the University Library of the CAU on Leibniz Street File:Luftaufnahme IPN.jpg, The Leibniz Institute for the Education in Natural Sciences and Mathematics at Olshausenstraße File:Luftaufnahme ZBM Botanischer Garten.jpg, The Center for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ZMB) of the CAU at the Botanical Garden File:Luftaufnahme Leibniz-Straße Institute Universitätsbibliothek Mensa.jpg, Leibniz-Straße-based institutes, the cafeteria and the university library File:Luftaufnahme Otto-Hahn-Platz Max-Eyth-Straße Chemie Anatomie Biochemie.jpg, The Otto-Hahn-Platz and the Max-Eyth-Straße with the various chemical institutes and the Anatomical Institute File:Luftaufnahme CAU Kiel Sportstätten Institut Sportwissenschaft.jpg, The sports facilities and the Institute of Sports Science of the CAU File:Luftaufnahme Botanischer Garten CAU Kiel.jpg, The grounds of the botanical garden of the CAU Kiel File:Schaugewächshäuser Botanischer Garten CAU Kiel.jpg, The greenhouses of the Botanical Garden of the CAU

References

External links

*
Kiel University International Affairs

Students' Association at Kiel University
{{Authority control Universities and colleges in Schleswig-Holstein

University A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

Educational institutions established in the 1660s 1665 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire