The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; , abbreviated as RUG) 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 ...

of more than 30,000 students in the city of

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Founded in 1614, the university is the second oldest in the country (after

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

). The University of Groningen has eleven faculties, nine

graduate school Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachel ...

s, 27 research centres and institutes, and more than 175-degree programmes. The university's alumni and faculty include

Johann Bernoulli Johann Bernoulli (also known as Jean in French or John in English; – 1 January 1748) was a Swiss people, Swiss mathematician and was one of the many prominent mathematicians in the Bernoulli family. He is known for his contributions to infin ...

, Aletta Jacobs, four

Nobel Prize 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 N ...

winners, nine Spinoza Prize winners, one Stevin Prize winner, various members of the Dutch royal family, several politicians, the first president of the

European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central component of the Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's Big Four (banking)#International ...

, and a secretary general of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

History

The institution was founded as a college in 1614 in an initiative taken by the Regional Assembly of the city of

and the '' Ommelanden'', or surrounding region. There were four faculties – Theology, Law, Medicine, and Philosophy. The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

of the university was confirmed by

The Estates The Estates, also known as the States (, , , Hungarian: Rendek), was the assembly of the representatives of the estates of the realm, the divisions of society in feudal times, called together for purposes of deliberation, legislation or taxatio ...

of the City and County of Groningen in 1615. It consists of the provincial arms, charged with an open book inscribed with the abbreviated words VER/BVM/DNI LV/CER/NA, short for ''Verbum Domini Lucerna Pedibus Nostris''. The shield is surmounted by a golden crown of five leaves and four pearls. In the first 75 years of its existence about 100 students enrolled every year. Almost half of the students and lecturers came from outside the Netherlands – the first ''rector magnificus'', Ubbo Emmius, came from

East Frisia East Frisia () or East Friesland (; ; ; ) is a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is primarily located on the western half of the East Frisia (peninsula), East Frisian peninsula, to the east of West Frisia and to the ...

in modern-day Germany, for instance – but at the same time there was already a close relationship between the university and the city and the surrounding region. The development of the university came to a standstill at the end of the seventeenth and during the eighteenth century because of theological differences of opinion, a difficult relationship with the Regional Assembly and political problems that included the month-long siege of the city by the prince-bishop of Münster ‘''Bommen Berend (Bombing Bernhard)''’ in 1672 during which the university fielded a voluntary student company (VSC). On average two to three hundred students were registered with the university at any one time during this period. Academiegebouw Groningen 1858

During the French occupation between 1775 and 1814 the University of Groningen was administered by the Imperial University of Paris. Unlike Leiden University, it was not shut down and the institute was renamed Imperial University of Groningen (''Keizerlijke Universiteit Groningen''). During this time period, it remained the only open university in the

Kingdom of Holland The Kingdom of Holland ( (contemporary), (modern); ) was the successor state of the Batavian Republic. It was created by Napoleon Bonaparte in March 1806 in order to strengthen control over the Netherlands by replacing the republican governmen ...

. In 1815 after the Napoleonic Wars, at the same time as Leiden and Utrecht, the university gained recognition as a national college of higher education, but this was followed by discussions about closure. The situation improved when a new main university building, the Academiegebouw, was constructed in 1850, a building that was largely financed by the people of Groningen. A fire completely destroyed the building in 1906. In the meantime, the Higher Education Act of 1876 had radically improved the position of the university, which was renamed the "''Rijksuniversiteit Groningen''" (RUG). Teaching took place in Dutch and Latin, and the university was given a research duty as well as an educational duty. The University of Groningen developed during the first decades of the twentieth century. The number of faculties and courses grew steadily while the number of students grew rapidly. When the university celebrated its first 300 years in 1914 there were 611 registered students; this had grown to 1,000 by 1924. After a drop back during the Depression, and in particular during the Second World War, the number of students grew rapidly from 1945 to reach 20,000 in 1994. In recent times there are about 32,700 students registered at the University of Groningen with the number of foreign students again growing steadily, and following the tradition set by the first Rector Magnificus, the number of German students and researchers has grown strongly. In March 2015, the RUG signed an agreement with the China Agricultural University to establish a campus in the Chinese city of

Yantai Yantai, formerly known as Chefoo, is a coastal prefecture-level city on the Shandong Peninsula in northeastern Shandong province of the People's Republic of China. Lying on the southern coast of the Bohai Strait, Yantai borders Qingdao ...

. This would have made the RUG the first Dutch university to open a campus in China. The plan was heavily criticised, mainly due to worries about the restriction of academic freedom caused by

censorship in China Censorship in the People's Republic of China (PRC) is mandated by the country's ruling party, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It is one of the strictest censorship regimes in the world. The government censors content for mainly political re ...

. In January 2018, the plans were cancelled by the Executive Board of the UG, based on the "insufficient support for the project".

Facts and figures

Key facts and figures about the University of Groningen are: * The university, as of 2020, has 34,000 students enrolled in various programs from the undergraduate level up to doctorate students. This includes 8,250 international students. * The university currently has 3,600 individuals in its academic staff. The UMCG included, a third of the academic staff is international. * 425

full professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a 'person who professes'. Professors ...

s * 45+ bachelor's degree programmes (35+ bachelor's degree programmes are taught in English) * 120+ master's degree programmes taught in English * 40+

research master's A Master of Research (Abbreviation, abbr. MRes, MARes, MScRes, or MScR) degree is an internationally recognised advanced postgraduate research degree in the United Kingdom, Singapore, Australia and Hong Kong. In most cases, the degree is designed ...

and top programmes * 11 faculties (one in the Frisian capital of Leeuwarden), nine graduate schools * 140,000 alumni * 120+ nationalities * 8,000 research publications * 4,350 PhD candidates (51% international) * 1.0 billion EUR budget * Research grants from the

Dutch Research Council The Dutch Research Council (NWO, Dutch: Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek) is the national research council of the Netherlands. NWO funds thousands of top researchers at universities and institutes and steers the course o ...

(NWO): 14 starting grants (Veni), 5 experienced research grants (Vidi) and 4 senior research grants (Vici) awarded in 2020 * Research grants from the

European Research Council The European Research Council (ERC) is a public body for funding of scientific and technological research conducted within the European Union (EU). Established by the European Commission in 2007, the ERC is composed of an independent Scientific ...

(ERC): 1 Starting Grant, 1 Consolidator Grant, 3 Advanced Grants and 1 Proof of Concept Grant awarded in 2020 * 18 patent applications in 2020 The university operates under the BSA (Binding Study Advice) system, under which a first year undergraduate (bachelor) student must achieve a certain number of ECTS in order to progress to the second year. This varies from 30 ECTS to 45 ECTS among various degrees. RUG has its own newspaper: the '. The university's Center for Information Technology (CIT) houses an

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

Blue Gene/L

supercomputer A supercomputer is a type of computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second (FLOPS) instead of million instruc ...

and data center of

Target Target may refer to: Warfare and shooting * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artille ...

used by the

LOFAR LOFAR may refer to: * Low-Frequency Array, a large radio telescope system based in the Netherlands * Low Frequency Analyzer and Recorder and Low Frequency Analysis and Recording, for low-frequency sounds {{disambiguation ...

project as well as a Virtual Reality and 3D-visualisation center.

Rankings and reputation

* The University of Groningen (RUG) is a member of the so-called Excellence Group of universities in Europe. The Excellence Group has 56 members, which is 1.3 percent of the approximately 4,500 European institutions of higher education. * RUG belongs to the top 100 large comprehensive research universities in the world. * RUG was #80 in the

Times Higher Education World University Rankings The ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'', often referred to as the THE Rankings, is the annual publication of university rankings by the ''Times Higher Education'' magazine. The publisher had collaborated with Quacquarelli Symon ...

2021. * According to the 2019 U.S. News & World Report, the Faculty of Economics and Business ranks as 3rd in the Netherlands, 10th in Europe and 32nd in the world for Economics and Business.Global University Rankings
retrieved 4 April 2015 * In 2021, the university ranked #64 in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). In addition to this overall score, the university falls within the global top 100 for several specific fields and subjects: Psychology (41), Clinical Medicine (51–75), Business Administration (37), Ecology (51–75). * RUG was ranked #139 worldwide in the QS WUR 2024. * The university was ranked #73 worldwide in 2019 by the National Taiwan University that publishes the Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities. * The Webometrics placed the university #85 worldwide and #14 in Europe. *The university was ranked 3rd place in the UI GreenMetric World University Ranking in 2021, which includes 780 universities. UI GreenMetric World University Rankings was launched by Universitas Indonesia (UI) to focus awareness on sustainability in university policy-making. Universities are ranked in the basis of self-reported data in the areas of Setting and Infrastructure, Energy and Climate Change, Waste, Water, Transportation, and Education and Research. *From 2019 to 2020, the university was ranked 91st place in the Centre for World University Rankings (CWUR). *In 2019, Times Higher Education introduced a new ranking: the Europe Teaching Rankings. The university was ranked 26th place, which includes more than 200 universities. This new ranking focusses on higher education institutions' teaching quality and learning environments for students. *The university was ranked 1st in the Netherlands by U-Multirank (UMR)in 2019. UMR was developed by a consortium consisting of the Centre for Higher Education Policy Studies (CHEPS) in Twente, the Centre for Higher Education (CHE) in Germany and the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) in Leiden. The university achieved the highest score on 16 indicators that include International Orientation dimension, Research and Knowledge Transfer. * The Faculty of Economics and Business is accredited by both

AACSB The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) is an American professional and accreditation organization. It was founded as the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business in 1916 to provide accreditation to business ...

and

EQUIS The EFMD Quality Improvement System (EQUIS) is a business school accreditation managed by Brussels based EFMD. It provides accreditation for higher education institutions of management and business administration and is run by the European Fou ...

Organisation

The RUG has 6,250 employees. The university library was renovated between 2013 and 2017. The RUG has a branch in Leeuwarden. Plans to establish a "branch campus" in China's Yantai were called off in January 2018, and the University Museum is now in the process of being established. The University of Groningen is represented in the Academic Heritage Foundation, a foundation that aims to preserve university collections and cultural treasures.

Faculties

The University of Groningen is organized in eleven faculties that offer programmes and courses in the fields of humanities, social sciences, law, economics and business, spatial sciences, life sciences, and natural sciences and technology. Each faculty (''cf.'', College in the USA or School in Europe) is a formal grouping of academic degree programmes, schools and institutes, discipline areas, research centres, and/or any combination of these drawn together for educational purposes. Each faculty offers bachelor's, master's, PhD, and exchange programmes, while some also offer short certificate courses. Since 2014, the RUG also has a partly independent

liberal arts college A liberal arts college or liberal arts institution of higher education is a college with an emphasis on Undergraduate education, undergraduate study in the Liberal arts education, liberal arts of humanities and science. Such colleges aim to impart ...

, University College Groningen (UCG). * Faculty of Economics and Business * Faculty of Arts * Faculty of Law * Faculty of Religion, Culture and Society * Faculty of Philosophy * Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences * Faculty of Medical Sciences * Faculty of Science and Engineering * Faculty of Spatial Sciences * University College Groningen * Campus Fryslân

National Cooperation

*Exposome-NL, Dutch consortium cooperating in the field of exposome research.

International Cooperation

The University of Groningen engages in many types of international cooperation throughout both teaching and research. The main networks and partners of the university are: *Enlight, an alliance of nine European universities, The Guild of European research-intensive universities and the

Coimbra group The Coimbra Group (CG) is an international association of 40 universities in Europe. It was established in 1985. It works for the benefit of its members by promoting "internationalization, academic collaboration, excellence in learning and rese ...

, a network of 37 long established European multidisciplinary universities. *Strategic partnerships (academic connection): Universität Hamburg (UHH) and Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg *Global strategic partnerships:

Nanyang Technological University Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is a public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1981, it is also the second oldest autonomous university in the country. The university is organised across numerous colleges and schools, includi ...

(Singapore),

Osaka University The , abbreviated as UOsaka or , is a List of national universities in Japan, national research university in Osaka, Japan. The university traces its roots back to Edo period, Edo-era institutions Tekijuku (1838) and Kaitokudō, Kaitokudo (1724), ...

(Japan),

Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a Public university, public research university in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the Sydney metropolitan area. ...

(Australia),

Universitas Gadjah Mada Gadjah Mada University (; , abbreviated as UGM) is a public research university located in Sleman, Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Officially founded on 19 December 1949, Gadjah Mada University is one of the oldest and largest institutio ...

(Indonesia),

Universidad de Antioquia The University of Antioquia (), also called UdeA, is primarily a Public university, public research, research-based university, located in the city of Medellín, Colombia. With regional campuses in Amalfi, Antioquia, Amalfi, Andes, Antioquia, An ...

(Colombia),

Universidad de Chile The University of Chile () is a public research university in Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the co ...

(Chile),

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public university, public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countri ...

(Mexico), Universidade de São Paulo (Brazil),

Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch University (SU) (, ) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant university in Sub-Sahara ...

(South Africa)

Campus

The various faculties are housed around the city. Most of the faculties- including the faculties of Law, Arts and Philosophy are located in and around the city center. The university's original building, which acts as the main administrative building, lies exactly in the center of the city at the ''Broerstraat''. The faculty of medical sciences is located close by at the University Medical Center Groningen(UMCG). The Faculties of Economics and Business, Spatial Sciences, and Science and Engineering are housed in the northern outskirts of the city, at the Zernike Campus, named after

winner

Frits Zernike Frits Zernike (; 16 July 1888 – 10 March 1966) was a Dutch physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1953 for his invention of the phase-contrast microscope. Early life and education Frederick "Frits" Zernike was born on 16 July ...

. The Zernike campus is also shared by the Hanze University of Applied Sciences, the other big university in the city, making the total number of students studying there around 40,000. The university has libraries in three locations: the main one at the city center, one in the Duisenberg building in Zernike Campus, and one in the faculty of medicine, that includes a vast array of books and online material for students. The university has also recently opened another campus in Leeuwarden, Friesland, referred to as "Campus Fryslân", that offers multiple disciplines in both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Student life

The city of Groningen is known as the student city of the Netherlands; around one-third of the city's residents are students at either The University of Groningen or at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences. The university, through ACLO, offers a wide range of sporting activities, and courses. Almost each sport has its own association, and offers the use of its facilities at discount rates for students. The university also has multiple student societies that organize social events for its members, as well as student and study associations, that are mostly concerned with specific faculties and courses. The use of

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered transport, human-powered or motorized bicycle, motor-assisted, bicycle pedal, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two bicycle wheel, wheels attached to a ...

s as the means for transport is particularly prevalent for locals and students alike, and has integrated, labelled bike paths from the city center to Zernike. The city is popularly referred to as "The World Cycling City" because of this.

Student housing

The University of Groningen does not have student accommodation. It does, however, offer students with accommodation via SSH Student Housing, which operates student houses in various locations in Groningen, and various other cities within the Netherlands. A significant number of students live in private accommodations within the city, however, a recent addition to the housing options for students is The Student Hotel as well. In an effort to combat the annual housing shortage, the city of Groningen has incentivized the construction of short-term accommodation such as The Village which is made of shipping containers for international students. The Dutch government has strict laws for private accommodations for both tenants (students) and the landlords, so that fair rent prices, and renting conditions can be maintained. In 2018, the university received national attention due to the housing crisis in the city of Groningen. Due to the fact that most incoming students at the university are primarily from other parts of the country, or the world, there has been a lack of housing options for students. Especially in the fall semester of 2021 the housing crisis hit its peak with hundreds of students reportedly not having any accommodation and resorting to emergency shelters. The housing shorting evoked a protest in the city centre which culminated in the Academy building being temporarily occupied by students to put pressure on the city to extend emergency housing.

Research

In 2023, 635 PhDs were awarded (12% of the total for the Netherlands). Around 60% of newly-admitted PhD students came from abroad.

Research schools, centres and institutes

Humanities and Social Sciences * Center for Language and Cognition Groningen (CLCG) * Centre for Religion and Heritage *Centre for Religion, Conflict and Globalization (CRCG) *Centre Religion, Health and Wellbeing *CRASIS, Culture, Religion and Society in Graeco-Roman Antiquity *Globalisation Studies Groningen (GSG) * Groningen Institute of Archeology (GIA) * Groningen Institute for Educational research (GION) * Groningen Research Institute of Philosophy (GRIPH) * Groningen Research Institute for the Study of Culture (ICOG) * Heymans Institute *Institute of Indian Studies * Interuniversity Center for Social Science Theory and Methodology (ICS) *Qumran Institute * Urban and Regional Studies Institute (URSI) Law * Centre for Law, Administration and Society (CRBS) * Groningen Centre of Energy Law (GCEL) Economics & Business * SOM research institute Life Sciences * Research School of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences (BCN) / UMCG * Research Institute BCN-BRAIN / UMCG * Cancer Research Center Groningen (CRCG) / UMCG * Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES) * Groningen University Institute for Drug Exploration (GUIDE) / UMCG * Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology (GBB) * Groningen Research Institute of Pharmacy (GRIP) * Science in Healthy Ageing and healthcaRE (SHARE), UMCG * W.J. Kolff Institute for Biomedical Engineering and Materials Science / UMCG Science and Engineering * Bernoulli Institute for Mathematics, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence * ENTEG - Engineering and Technology Institute Groningen * ESRIG - Energy and Sustainability Research Institute Groningen * GBB - Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute * GELIFES - Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences * GRIP - Groningen Research Institute of Pharmacy * ISEC - Institute for Science Education and Communication *

Kapteyn Astronomical Institute The Kapteyn Astronomical Institute is the department of astronomy of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. The institute is named after its founder, Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn, who lived from 1851 to 1922. Jacobus Kapteyn was appointed pr ...

* Stratingh Institute for Chemistry * Van Swinderen Institute for Particle Physics and Gravity * Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials (ZIAM)

Graduate schools

The University of Groningen's Graduate Schools are organized somewhat different from its international counterparts. The main difference is that the Graduate Schools do not contain all Master's programmes; Graduate Schools manage and facilitate the two-year Master's programmes: top master's degree programmes and Research master's degree programmes. * Graduate School of Behavioural and Social Sciences * Graduate School of Economics and Business * Graduate School of Humanities * Graduate School of Law * Graduate School of Medical Sciences * Graduate School of Philosophy * Graduate School of Science * Graduate School of Spatial Sciences * Graduate School of Religion, Culture and Society

Notable alumni

Notable alumni of the University of Groningen include:

Heads of Government

* Paramanga Ernest Yonli, Prime Minister of

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...

John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute (; 25 May 1713 – 10 March 1792), styled Lord Mount Stuart between 1713 and 1723, was a British Tory statesman who served as the Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1762 to 1763 under George III. He became the ...

, Prime Minister of

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

* Suzanne Camelia-Römer, Prime Minister of the

Netherlands Antilles The Netherlands Antilles (, ; ), also known as the Dutch Antilles, was a constituent Caribbean country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands consisting of the islands of Saba (island), Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten in the Lesser Antilles, ...

* Etienne Ys, Prime Minister of the

* Johan Remkes, Deputy Prime Minister of the

Business leaders

* Bart Becht, CEO of

Reckitt Benckiser Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC, currently branded as Reckitt, formerly known as Reckitt Benckiser, is a British multinational consumer goods company headquartered in Slough, United Kingdom. It is a producer of health, hygiene and nutrition prod ...

* Maarten van den Bergh, Chairman of

Lloyds Bank Lloyds Bank plc is a major British retail banking, retail and commercial bank with a significant presence across England and Wales. It has traditionally been regarded one of the "Big Four (banking)#England and Wales, Big Four" clearing house ...

, named the most powerful businessman in

in 2005 by

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

* Marc Bolland, CEO of

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks & Sparks or simply Marks) is a major British multinational retailer based in London, England, that specialises in selling clothing, beauty products, home produc ...

* Dolf van den Brink, CEO of Heineken N.V. * Paul Polman, CEO of

Unilever Unilever PLC () is a British multinational consumer packaged goods company headquartered in London, England. It was founded on 2 September 1929 following the merger of Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie with British soap maker Lever B ...

* Roel de Vries, Global Head of Marketing at Nissan Motor Corporation * Hans Wijers, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of

ING Ing, ING or ing may refer to: Art and media * '' ...ing'', a 2003 Korean film * i.n.g, a Taiwanese girl group * The Ing, a race of dark creatures in the 2004 video game '' Metroid Prime 2: Echoes'' * "Ing", the first song on The Roches' 199 ...

, former CEO of

AkzoNobel Akzo Nobel N.V., stylised as AkzoNobel, is a Dutch multinational corporation, multinational company which creates paints and performance coatings for both industry and consumers worldwide. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company has activities ...

* George Möller, CEO of Robeco, former CEO of

Euronext Euronext N.V. (short for European New Exchange Technology) is a European bourse that provides trading and post-trade services for a range of financial instruments. Traded assets include regulated equities, exchange-traded funds (ETF), warrant ...

* Chris Vogelzang, CEO of

Danske Bank Danske Bank A/S (, ) is a Danish multinational banking and financial services corporation. Headquartered in Copenhagen, it is the largest bank in Denmark and a major retail bank in the northern European region with over 5 million retail custome ...

* Volkert Engelsman, CEO of Eosta * Paul Fentener van Vlissingen, CEO of SHV Holdings * Marjan Rintel, CEO of KLM, former CEO of Dutch Railways * Louise Gunning-Schepers, chairman of the Supervisory Board of the

Schiphol Group Royal Schiphol Group is a Dutch airport management company. It was established during 1916 in conjunction with Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, having been responsible for operating and developing throughout its operational life. During October 2008 ...

* Maria Oudeman, president of

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; , formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public university, public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2023, it had an enrollment of ...

, former director of

Equinor Equinor ASA (formerly Statoil and StatoilHydro) is a Norwegian multinational energy company headquartered in Stavanger, Norway. It is primarily a petroleum company, petroleum company operating in 36 countries with additional investments in renew ...

Economists and scientists

Wim Duisenberg Willem Frederik "Wim" Duisenberg (; 9 July 1935 – 31 July 2005) was a Dutch politician and economist who served as President of the European Central Bank from 1 June 1998 until 31 October 2003. He was a member of the Labour Party (PvdA). Du ...

, first president of the

* Klaas Knot, current President of the Dutch

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the mo ...

De Nederlandsche Bank De Nederlandsche Bank (, , abbr. DNB) is the national central bank for the Netherlands within the Eurosystem. It was the Dutch central bank from 1814 to 1998, issuing the guilder. Since 2014, it has also been the country's national competent au ...

(DNB) *

Dirk Stikker Dirk Uipko Stikker (5 February 1897 – 23 December 1979) was a Dutch politician and diplomat of the defunct Liberal State Party (LSP), co-founder of the defunct Freedom Party (PvdV) and of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (V ...

Secretary General of NATO The secretary general of NATO is the chief civil servant of the NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), an intergovernmental military alliance with 32 member states. The officeholder is an international diplomat responsible for coordinat ...

* Diederik Stapel, professor of social psychology known for fabrication of research data * Gerbrand Bakker, early 19th century physician * Johan van Benthem, logician *

, mathematician *

Bart Bok Bartholomeus Jan "Bart" Bok (April 28, 1906 – August 5, 1983) was a Dutch-American astronomer, teacher, and lecturer. He is best known for his work on the structure and evolution of the Milky Way galaxy, and for the discovery of Bok globules, w ...

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

* Hans van Abeelen, first Dutch behavior geneticist * Corina Brussaard, Antarctic researcher in viral ecology and phytoplankton * Anita Buma, Antarctic researcher in marine

ecophysiology Ecophysiology (from Greek , ''oikos'', "house(hold)"; , ''physis'', "nature, origin"; and , '' -logia''), environmental physiology or physiological ecology is a biological discipline that studies the response of an organism's physiology to envir ...

* Wei Ji Ma, professor of psychology and neuroscience * Ben Feringa, recipient of the

Nobel Prize in Chemistry The Nobel Prize in Chemistry () is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outst ...

in 2016 for his work on molecular motors *

Heike Kamerlingh Onnes Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (; 21 September 1853 – 21 February 1926) was a Dutch Experimental physics, experimental physicist. After studying in Groningen and Heidelberg, he became Professor of Experimental Physics at Leiden University, where he tau ...

, recipient of the

Nobel Prize in Physics The Nobel Prize in Physics () is an annual award given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for those who have made the most outstanding contributions to mankind in the field of physics. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the ...

while professor in

for his experiments on the properties of matter at low temperatures which made the production of liquid

helium Helium (from ) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, non-toxic, inert gas, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. Its boiling point is ...

possible *

, recipient of the

for his invention of the phase-contrast optical microscope in 1953.

Politicians

Job Cohen Marius Job Cohen (born 18 October 1947) is a retired Dutch politician and jurist who served as List of mayors of Amsterdam, Mayor of Amsterdam from 2001 to 2010 and Leader of the Labour Party (Netherlands), Leader of the Labour Party (PvdA) from ...

, former mayor of

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

and former leader of the Dutch Labour Party *

Pim Fortuyn Wilhelmus Simon Petrus Fortuijn, known as Pim Fortuyn (; 19 February 1948 – 6 May 2002), was a Dutch politician, author, civil servant, businessman, sociologist and academic who founded the party Pim Fortuyn List (Lijst Pim Fortuyn or LPF) in ...

lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

, later politician and founder of the

Pim Fortuyn List The Pim Fortuyn List (, LPF) was a political party in the Netherlands that existed from 2002 to 2008 at a national level and was named after its eponymous founder Pim Fortuyn, a former university professor and political columnist. The party was ...

(and assassinated in 2002) * Pavela Mitova, member of parliament

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

* Niccolò Invidia, member of parliament

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Jacques Wallage Jacques Wallage (; born 27 September 1946) is a retired Netherlands, Dutch politician of the Labour Party (Netherlands), Labour Party (PvdA) and sociologist. Wallage attended a Gymnasium (school), Gymnasium in Groningen from April 1959 until M ...

, former mayor of Groningen * Halbe Zijlstra, former Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs * Bruno Bruins, former Dutch State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science

Others

* Albert Hofman, epidemiologist at the

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is the public health school at Harvard University, located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. It was named after Hong Kong entrepreneur Chan Tseng-hsi in 2014 following a US$350 ...

* Turtle Bunbury, Irish historian and author * James Burnett * Lex van Dam, hedge fund manager, featured on '' Million Dollar Traders'' on

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...

* Ubbo Emmius, founder of the University of Groningen and first

rector magnificus A rector (Latin for 'ruler') is a senior official in an educational institution, and can refer to an official in either a university or a secondary school. Outside the English-speaking world, the rector is often the most senior official in a u ...

Willem Frederik Hermans Willem Frederik Hermans (; 1 September 192127 April 1995) was a Dutch author of poetry, novels, short stories, plays, as well as book-length studies, essays, and literary criticism. His most famous works are ''The House of Refuge'' (novella, 195 ...

, lecturer and writer * Gerardus Heymans, philosopher and psychologist *

Jack Hoeksema Jacob "Jack" Hoeksema (born 30 October 1956 in Groningen) is a linguist and professor in the Department of Dutch Language and Culture with a specialities in semantics, morphology, and historical linguistics. His first degree was in Dutch literature ...

, linguist and professor in the Department of Dutch Language and Culture * Pieter Crull, jurist, attorney-general of Suriname and acting governor * Peter Hofstee, professor of

theoretical physics Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict List of natural phenomena, natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental p ...

, joined

in 1996, currently the chief architect of the Synergistic Processor Element (SPE) of the Cell microprocessor *

Johan Huizinga Johan Huizinga (; 7 December 1872 – 1 February 1945) was a Dutch historian and one of the founders of modern cultural history. Life Born in Groningen as the son of Dirk Huizinga, a professor of physiology, and Jacoba Tonkens, who died two ...

, historian * Aletta Jacobs, first woman in the

to receive an MD * Ashin Jinarakkhita, Indonesian Buddhist monk * Roland Kupers, Dutch theoretical physicist * Johann Heinrich Alting, theologian * Annemarie, Duchess of Parma, journalist, consultant, and member of the Dutch royal family *

Jaap Kunst Jaap Kunst (12 August 1891 – 7 December 1960) was a Dutch musicologist. He is credited with steering the discipline away from exclusively comparative methods and into the direction of historical particularism, coining the term " ethno-musicolo ...

, ethnomusicologist (studied law) * Prince Maurits van Oranje Nassau, first cousin of King

Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands Willem-Alexander (; Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand; born 27 April 1967) is King of the Netherlands since 30 April 2013. Willem-Alexander was born in Utrecht during the reign of his maternal grandmother, Queen Juliana, as the eldest ch ...

* John Nerbonne, professor of humanities computing, expert in dialectology, member of the Dutch Royal Academy of Science * Wubbo Ockels, first Dutch

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

, received a PhD degree in

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

and

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

, 1973 * Jan Oort, astronomer * Johannes Jacobus Poortman, philosopher, psychologist * Dagmar Reichardt, professor of Cultural Industry at

University of Latvia University of Latvia (, shortened ''LU'') is a public research university located in Riga, Latvia. The university was established in 1919. History The University of Latvia, initially named as the Higher School of Latvia () was founded on Se ...

* James Renwick (1662–1688) Scottish

Covenanter Covenanters were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. It originated in disputes with James VI and his son C ...

Willem de Sitter Willem de Sitter (6May 187220November 1934) was a Dutch mathematician, physicist, and astronomer. He is known for the de Sitter universe is a cosmological model, which was named after him. Life and work Born in Sneek, Netherlands, de Sitte ...

, astronomer * Tom Snijders, statistician and sociologist, expert on multilevel analysis and developer of Siena in R, a program for longitudinal

social network analysis Social network analysis (SNA) is the process of investigating social structures through the use of networks and graph theory. It characterizes networked structures in terms of ''nodes'' (individual actors, people, or things within the network) ...

* Henk G. Sol, Professor of

Business Engineering A business process, business method, or business function is a collection of related, structured activities or tasks performed by people or equipment in which a specific sequence produces a service or product (that serves a particular business g ...

and ICT *

Pieter Jelles Troelstra Pieter Jelles Troelstra (; 20 April 186012 May 1930) was a Dutch lawyer, journalist and politician active in the socialist workers' movement. He is most remembered for his fight for universal suffrage and his failed call for revolution at the en ...

, lawyer, politician (early 20th century) * René Veenstra, professor of

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

, expert on

and group processes in

bullying Bullying is the use of force, coercion, Suffering, hurtful teasing, comments, or threats, in order to abuse, aggression, aggressively wikt:domination, dominate, or intimidate one or more others. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. On ...

* Wietse Venema, programmer and physicist * Clemens von Bönninghausen, lawyer, botanist, homeopathic physician * Epke Zonderland, 2012 Olympics gold medalist

Notable researchers

* Dirk Bezemer (born 1971), economist * Mineke Bosch, historian * Cornelis de Bot, linguist * Marijn van Dijk, developmental psychologist * Caroline van Eck, art historian * Paul van Geert, developmental psychologist * Nathalie Katsonis, chemist * Wander Lowie, linguist *

Angus Maddison Angus Maddison (6 December 1926 – 24 April 2010) was a distinguished British economist specialising in quantitative macro economic history, including the measurement and analysis of economic growth and development. Maddison lectured at sev ...

, British

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

* Lodi Nauta, professor of the History * Sijbren Otto, chemist of Philosophy * Erik Scherder * Wolfgang Stroebe, social psychologist *

Albert Szent-Györgyi Albert Imre Szent-Györgyi de Rapoltu Mare, Nagyrápolt (; September 16, 1893 – October 22, 1986) was a Hungarian biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1937. He is credited with first isolating vitamin C and disc ...

, biochemist, awarded the

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine () is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, acco ...

in 1937 * Marjolijn Verspoor, linguist * Ben Feringa, synthetic organic chemist, awarded the

in 2016 *

Pauline Kleingeld Pauline Kleingeld (born 1962) is a Dutch philosopher and Professor of Philosophy (Ethics and its History) at the University of Groningen. She is known for her works on ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral ...

, professor of Ethics and its history * Amina Helmi, Argentine astronomer, and a professor of dynamics, structure and formation of the milky way * Cisca Wijmenga, professor of Human Genetics * Theunis Piersma, professor of Global Flyway Ecology * Bert Röling, Professor of Law and progenitor of the field of Polemology in the Netherlands * Linda Steg, professor of environmental psychology, and a pioneer and world leader in the field of environmental psychology * Sabeth Verpoorte professor of

microfluidics Microfluidics refers to a system that manipulates a small amount of fluids (10−9 to 10−18 liters) using small channels with sizes of ten to hundreds of micrometres. It is a multidisciplinary field that involves molecular analysis, molecular bi ...

and miniaturized "lab-on-a-chip" systems in the Faculty of Science and Engineering * Jacques Zeelen, professor of globalization studies and humanitarian action

References

External links

*
University of Groningen Datasets
{{DEFAULTSORT:University Of Groningen 1614 establishments in the Dutch Republic Buildings and structures in Groningen (city) Educational institutions established in the 1610s Supercomputer sites Groningen, University Of Law schools in the Netherlands Education in the Dutch Republic