# University of Duisburg-Essen

The University of Duisburg-Essen (German: Universität Duisburg-Essen) is a public research university in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. In the 2019 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, the university was awarded 194th place in the world. It was originally founded in 1654 and re-established on 1 January 2003, as a merger of the Gerhard Mercator University of Duisburg and the university of Essen. It is based in both the cities of Duisburg and Essen, and a part of University Alliance Metropolis Ruhr.
With its 12 departments and around 40,000 students, the University of Duisburg-Essen is among the 10 largest German universities. Since 2014, research income has risen by 150 percent. Natural science and engineering are ranked within the top 10 in Germany, and the humanities are within the top 20 to 30. Especially, the physics field is ranked in the top 1 in Germany.

## History
### Origins: University of Duisburg (1555)

The university's origins date back to the 1555 decision of Duke Wilhelm V von Jülich-Kleve-Berg, to create a university for the unified duchies at the Lower Rhine. To this end, it was necessary to obtain a permission of the emperor and the pope. Although the permission of the pope was granted in 1564 and of the emperor in 1566, the university was founded about ninety years later in 1654, after the acquisition of the Duchy of Cleves by Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg. It opened on 14 October 1655 by Johannes Claudberg as their first rector. The university had four faculties: Theology, Medicine, Law and Arts. During its period of activity it was one of the central and leading universities of the western provinces of Prussia.
Only a few decades later the university was in competition with the much better equipped Dutch universities. Since only about one third of the population in the western provinces of Prussia were member of The Reformed Church, most Lutheran and Catholic citizens in the second half of the 18th century sent their sons to other universities.
The university declined rapidly and was closed on 18 October 1818, due to a Cabinet Order of Friedrich Wilhelm III. At the same time, the University of Bonn was founded. Large parts of the Duisburg University Library were relocated to Bonn and formed the basis of the newly formed Bonn Library. The sceptre of the University of Duisburg was given to the University of Bonn, where it is still located today.
In 1891, the Rheinisch-Westfälische Hüttenschule was relocated from Bochum to Duisburg. Subsequently, the school was transformed into the Königlich-Preußischen Maschinenbau- und Hüttenschule, and in 1938 was renamed to Public School of Engineering.
After a decision of the federal state government in 1960, the teacher training college of Kettwig was settled to Duisburg and was named Pedagogical University Ruhr. In 1968, the university was founded again in Duisburg, related to the old one, bearing the name: Comprehensive University of Duisburg. Initially only small, the university was developed rapidly in the 1970s up to about 15,000 students. In 1972 the Pedagogical University Ruhr and the Public School of Engineering, which was renamed in 1971 to University of applied sciences Duisburg. Other schools were also relocated to Duisburg. The University of Duisburg was then called Comprehensive University of Duisburg. In 1994 the university was renamed Gerhard Mercator University.
In 2003, Gerhard Mercator University merged with the University of Essen to form the University of Duisburg-Essen, which is today one of the largest universities in Germany with about 40,000 students.

### Recent developments

In March 2007 the three universities of Bochum, Dortmund and Duisburg-Essen founded the University Alliance Metropolis Ruhr, which now includes more than 120,00 students and 1,300 professors and is modelled after the University of California system.
In May 2018, the three members of the University Alliance Metropolis Ruhr launched the Research Academy Ruhr (RAR), an inter- and university overarching program for the development and support of young scientists. The program is funded by the State of North Rhine-Westfalia (NRW) and the Mercator Research Center Ruhr (MERCUR) with €800,000 over the next four years and an additional €1 million being added by the three participating members of the University Alliance.

## Campus

The university has two main campus locations in Duisburg and Essen.

## Faculties and Institutes
### Main faculties

The University of Duisburg-Essen today has twelve faculties, listed below:
* Faculty of Art and Design
* Faculty of Biology and Geography
* Faculty of Business Administration and Economics
** Mercator School of Management – Faculty of Business Administration
* Faculty of Chemistry
* Faculty of Engineering
** Department of Building sciences
** Department of Electrical engineering and Information technology
** Department of Computer sciences and Applied Cognitive Sciences
** Department of Mechanical and Process engineering
** Department of Transport Systems and Logistics
** International Studies in Engineering
* Faculty of Humanities
* Faculty of Mathematics
* Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Essen
* Faculty of Social sciences
** Institute for Political Sciences
*** NRW School of Governance
** Institute for Educational sciences
** Institute for Development and Peace (INEF – Institut für Entwicklung und Frieden)
** Institute for Sociology
* Faculty of Physics

### Central scientific institutes

* Centre for Nanointegration Duisburg-Essen (CeNIDE) (German)
* German-French Institute for Automation and Robotics (IAR)
* Erwin L. Hahn Institute for Magnetic Resonance Imaging
* Essen College of Gender Studies (EKfG)
* Institute for Experimental Mathematics (IEM)
* Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities
* Institute of East Asian Studies (IN-EAST)
* Institute for Labor/ Labour and Qualification (IAQ)
* Interdisciplinary center for analytics on the nanoscale (ICAN)
* Centre for Logistics and Transport (ZLV)
* Centre for Medical Biotechnology (ZMB)
* Centre for Water and Environmental Research (ZMU)
* Centre for empirical research in education (ZeB)

#### The NRW School of Governance

The NRW School of Governance is a central institution within the Institute for Political science and was founded in 2006 under the direction of Karl-Rudolf Korte.
It aims, through research and teaching, to promote the scientifically sound understanding of political processes (in North Rhine-Westphalia).
It does so by educating and training students in three main programs:
* Masters program: "Political management, Public policy and Public administration"
* Part-time masters program: "Public Policy"
* Doctoral School: Scholarship and Excellence Programs at the Department of Political Science
and also through the use of various other education modules.

### Associated institutes

* paluno, The Ruhr Institute for Software Technology
* German Textile Research Centre North-west (DTNW)
* Development Centre for Ship Technology and Transport Systems (DST)
* Asia-Pacific Economic Research Institute (FIP)
* Institute of Energy and Environmental Technology (IUTA)
* Institute for Labor/ Labour and Qualification (IAQ)
* Institute of Mobile and Satellite Communication Technology (IMST)
* Institute for Prevention and Health Promotion (IPG)
* Institute of Science and Ethics (IWE)
* IWW Water Centre (IWW)
* Rhine-Ruhr Institute for Social Research and Political Consulting (RISP)
* Salomon Ludwig Steinheim Institute for German-Jewish History (StI)
* Centre for Fuel Cell Technology (ZBT)
The university has a Confucius Institute.

## Student body

As of 2018 it is the German university with the largest number of Chinese international students. Overall, it has a 16% composition of international students. The majority of such students are enrolled as engineering or economics majors.

## People
### Rectors

* 01.2003–09.2003 – Heiner Kleffner, Founding commissioner and head of section
* 10.2003–12.2006 – Lothar Zechlin, Founding rector
* 01.2007–03.2008 – Lothar Zechlin, 1. rector
* 04.2008–03.2022 – Ulrich Radtke, 2. rector
* 04.2022 – Barbara Albert

### Mercator-Professorship Award

The University of Duisburg-Essen awards the Mercator-Professur to individuals who are well known for their social and scientific engagement. So far, recipients of the Mercator-Professur have been:
* 1997: Hans-Dietrich Genscher, politician (FDP), former foreign minister and vice-chancellor of Germany
* 1998: Siegfried Lenz, writer
* 1999: Jan Philipp Reemtsma, literary scholar.
* 2000: Jutta Limbach, jurist and politician (SPD)
* 2001: Volker Schlöndorff, filmmaker.
* 2002: Ulrich Wickert, journalist, chief anchor for tagesthemen
* 2003: Daniel Goeudevert French writer, management consultant.
* 2004: Walter Kempowski, writer.
* 2005: Richard von Weizsäcker, politician (CDU), former President of the Federal Republic of Germany.
* 2006: Necla Kelek, social scientist
* 2007: Hanan Ashrawi, legislator, activist, and scholar
* 2008: Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, biologist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
* 2009: Peter Scholl-Latour, journalist and publicist
* 2010: Alice Schwarzer, publisher and feminist
* 2011: Udo Di Fabio, former judge of the Federal Constitutional Court
* 2012: Wolfgang Huber, bishop, former chairman of the Council of the Protestant Church in Germany
* 2013: Margarethe von Trotta, film director.
* 2015: Götz Werner, founder of dm-drogerie markt
* 2016: Karl Lehmann, cardinal prelate, former chairman of the Conference of the German Bishops
Further professors include Jette Joop, Kai Krause and Bruce Ames.

### Poets in residence

The institution of the poet in residence is not missing at any university in the US. In Germany, the University of Duisburg-Essen was the first and, for a long time, only university that followed the American example and brought contemporary authors to the university as guest lecturers for readings and seminars. In 1975, Martin Walser was the first poet in residence to hold his poetics lectures in Essen.
Since the summer semester 2000, the following personalities have worked as poet in residence at the University of Essen (later Duisburg-Essen):
* Ss 2000: Emine Sevgi Özdamar
* Ws 2000/01: Kirsten Boie
* Ss 2001: Volker Braun
* Ws 2001/02: Robert Gernhardt
* Ss 2002: Mike Nicol
* Ss 2003: Friedrich Christian Delius
* Ws 2003/04: Brigitte Burmeister
* Ss 2004: Georg Klein
* Ws 2004/05: Andreas Steinhöfel
* Ss 2005: Yōko Tawada
* Ws 2005/06: Dagmar Leupold
* Ss 2006: Friedrich Ani
* Ws 2006/07: Hans-Ulrich Treichel
* Ss 2007: Terézia Mora
* Ws 2007/08: Zafer Şenocak
* Ss 2008: Jürgen Lodemann
* Ws 2009/10: Klaus Händl
* Ws 2010/11: Judith Kuckart
* Ss 2011: Norbert Hummelt
* Ws 2011/12: Norbert Scheuer
* Ss 2012: Guy Helminger
* Ws 2012/13: Reinhard Jirgl
* Ss 2013: Antje Rávic Strubel
* Ws 2013/14: Bernhard Jaumann
* Ws 2014/15: Kathrin Röggla
* Ss 2015: Marion Poschmann
* Ws 2016/16: Klaus Modick
* Ss 2016: Lukas Bärfuss
* Ws 2016/17: Dorothee Elmiger, Reto Hänny
* Ss 2017: Christof Hamann
Earlier poets in residence (since the winter semester 1975/76) include Jurek Becker, Wilhelm Genazino, Günter Grass, Günter Herburger, Rolf Hochhuth, Heinar Kipphardt, Cees Nooteboom, Peter Rühmkorf, Martin Walser and Dieter Wellershoff [de].

## Academics
### International cooperation
#### Erasmus program

The university is part of the ERASMUS exchange program.

#### International university cooperations

The university also cooperates with several other international institutions of higher education.

##### University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE)'s main partner universities

| Country | Partner University | UDE Faculties |
| China | China University of Mining and Technology | Engineering Humanities Physics |
| | Fudan University | Canter for Nanointegration Faculty of Medicine Mercator School of Management |
| | Huazhong University of Science and Technology | Canter for Nanointegration Faculty of Medicine and University Clinic Institute for East Asian Studies |
| Colombia | Universidad Nacional de Colombia | Faculty of Humanities Faculty of Social Sciences Faculty of Engineering |
| Japan | Kyushu University | Faculty of Engineering Institute for East Asian Studies |
| Netherlands | Radboud University | Faculty of Humanities Faculty of Medicine and University Clinic Centre of Water and Environmental Research |
| Russian Federation | Lomonosov Moscow State University | Faculty of Chemistry Faculty of Physics Faculty of Biology and Geography |

##### University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE)'s faculty partner institutions

Besides the main partnering universities, various faculty of the University Essen-Duisburg also cooperate with international universities and specific faculties or programmes (click "show" to expand).
| Country | Partner University | UDE Faculties |
| Australia | Curtin University | Centre for Empirical Research in Education |
| | Griffith University | Faculty of Economics and Business Administration |
| | Macquarie University | Faculty of Humanities |
| Brazil | Santa Catarina State University | Department of Educational Sciences |
| | Universidade de Brasilia | Faculty of Engineering |
| | Universidade LaSalle | Faculty of Engineering |
| | Universidade Estadual Paulista "Julio de Mesquita Filho"/ UNESP | Faculty of Engineering |
| | University of São Paulo | Faculty of Engineering |
| Canada | University of Waterloo | Center for Nanointegration Duisburg-Essen (CENIDE) |
| China | Beijing International Studies University | Faculty of Humanities |
| | Chu Hai College | Mercator School of Management |
| | Dalain University of Technology | Faculty of Engineering |
| | Hong Kong Baptist University | Mercator School of Management Faculty of Physics |
| | Nankai University | Institute for East Asian Studies |
| | Renmin University of China | Institute for East Asian Studies |
| | Shanghai Medical College at Fudan University | Faculty of Medicine and University Clinic |
| | Southeast University | Faculty of Physics |
| | Sun Yat-sen University | Faculty of Medicine and University Clinic |
| | Tongji Medical College | Faculty of Medicine and University Clinic |
| | Tsinghua University | Faculty of Humanities |
| | Wuhan University | Institute for East Asian Studies |
| | Wuhan University of Technology | Faculty of Engineering |
| | Zhejiang University of Science and Technology | Faculty of Engineering |
| | Zhengzhou University | Faculty of Engineering |
| Colombia | Universidad Santo Tómas de Aquino | Faculty of Engineering |
| Egypt | Fayoum University | Centre for Water and Environmental Research (ZWU) |
| France | Institut Français du Pètrole (IFP-School) | Faculty of Engineering |
| | Champagne School of Management | Mercator School of Management |
| | Institut national des sciences appliquées de Lyon (INSA) | Faculty of Mathematics |
| Ghana | University of Ghana | Faculty of Social Sciences |
| India | Amity University | Centre for Water and Environmental Research (ZWU) |
| | Indian Institute of Technology Madras | Faculty of Engineering |
| Indonesia | Institute of Technology Bandung | Faculty of Engineering |
| | University of Indonesia | Faculty of Engineering |
| Israel | Tel Aviv University | Faculty of Humanities |
| Italy | Collegio Carlo Alberto | Faculty of Social Sciences |
| Japan | Chukyo University | Faculty of Humanities |
| | Dokkyo University | Institute for East Asian Studies |
| | Doshisha University | Mercator School of Management |
| | Fukuoka University | Institute for East Asian Studies |
| | German Institute for Japanese Studies | Institute for East Asian Studies |
| | Hokkaido University | Institute for East Asian Studies |
| | Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology | Faculty of Engineering |
| | Kanagawa University | Institute for East Asian Studies |
| | Kokugakuin University | Faculty of Humanities |
| | Nagoya University | Institute for East Asian Studies |
| | Ryukoku University | Institute for East Asian Studies |
| | Seinan Gakuin University | Institute for East Asian Studies |
| | Sophia University | Institute for East Asian Studies |
| | Tokyo University | Institute for East Asian Studies and Faculty of Social Sciences |
| | Tsukuba University | Center for Nanointegration Duisburg-Essen |
| | Yamagata University | Institute for East Asian Studies |
| | Yamanashi Gakuin University | Faculty of Social Sciences |
| Lithuania | Vilnius University | Faculty of Humanities |
| Luxembourg | University of Luxembourg | Faculty of Humanities |
| Malaysia | National University of Malaysia | Faculty of Engineering |
| | University of Malaysia Terengganu | Faculty of Mathematics |
| Mexico | University Iberoamericana | Faculty of Engineering |
| Namibia | University of Namibia | Faculty of Humanities |
| Netherlands | University of Amsterdam | Faculty of Humanities |
| Palestinian territories | Palestine Polytechnic University | Faculty of Engineering |
| Peru | Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú | Faculty of Engineering |
| Poland | Warsaw School of Economics | Mercator School of Management |
| Romania | The West University of Timisoara | Faculty of Educational Sciences |
| Russian Federation | Far-Eastern Federal University | Faculty of Humanities |
| | Far-Eastern State University of Humanities | Faculty of Humanities |
| | Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University | Faculty of Physics |
| | The Linguistic University of Nizhny Novgorod | Faculty of Humanities |
| | Nizhny Novgorod State Medical Academy | Faculty of Medicine and University Clinic |
| | Nizhny Novgorod State University | Faculty of Educational Sciences |
| | Plekhanov Russian Academy of Economics | Mercator School of Management |
| Serbia | University of Novi Sad | Faculty of Chemistry |
| Singapore | Nanyang Technological University | Faculty of Engineering |
| South Africa | University of Pretoria | Faculty of Humanities |
| South Korea | Chung-Ang University | Faculty of Social Sciences Mercator School of Management Institute for East Asian Studies |
| | Chungnam National University | Faculty of Engineering |
| Taiwan | National Tsing Hua University | Faculty of Physics Faculty of Engineering |
| Ukraine | Donetsk National University | Faculty of Humanities |
| US | American University | Mercator School of Management |
| | Arkansas State University | Mercator School of Management |
| | Colorado State University | Faculty of Chemistry |
| | Colorado State University | Mercator School of Management |
| | Fort Hays State University | Faculty of Humanities |
| | Georgia Institute of Technology | Mercator School of Management |
| | Indiana University of Pennsylvania | Mercator School of Management |
| | Lehigh University | Mercator School of Management Faculty of Social Sciences |
| | Mississippi State University | Mercator School of Management |
| | Tulane University | Faculty of Social Sciences |
| | University of Colorado | Mercator School of Management |
| | University of Illinois | Mercator School of Management |
| | University of North Carolina | Mercator School of Management |
| | University of Northern Iowa | Mercator School of Management |
| | Western Washington University | Mercator School of Management Faculty of Social Sciences |

#### University Alliance Metropolis Ruhr

As part of the University Alliance Metropolis Ruhr network the university is involved in running three liaison offices in Moscow, New York City and São Paulo. The offices aim to foster international academic exchange between the local and Ruhr area and are responsible for their respective continents.

#### International network

The university is also part of the AURORA Network of European universities.

#### Further cooperation programmes

The university is part of the IS:link (Information Systems Student Exchange Network), the VDAC (Verband der Deutsch-Amerikanischen Clubs / Federation of German-American Clubs e.V.) and offers the internationally oriented, doctoral programme "ARUS – Advanced Research in Urban Systems", which is based on previous academic achievements in selected fields within the Joint Centre "Urban Systems".

## Rankings

In the QS World University Rankings for 2024, the institution placed between 771 and 780 globally, corresponding to the 42nd rank nationally. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings for 2023 positioned the university in the 251-300 bracket worldwide, and between 27th and 32nd place within the national context. The ARWU World ranking for 2023 listed the university within the 301-400 tier globally, and between the 20th and 24th rank nationally.
Measured by the number of top managers in the German economy, University of Duisburg-Essen ranked 15th in 2019.
In May 2018 the Centrum für Hochschulentwicklung (CHE – Center for Higher Education Development) rankings placed the university in the top ranks in different categories and fields, like the Physics department for seminar and lecture content and Biology, Computer Science, Math, Medicine and Sports for excellent programs and support in the early stages of starting at Essen-Duisburg.
In the European Commission-funded U-Multirank system the university as a whole was ranked as "excellent" in the research categories "External research income", "Top cited publications", "Post-doc positions", in the knowledge transfer categories "Income from private sources", "Spin-offs" and "Publications cited in patents". In the category international orientation Essen-Duisburg was rated "excellent" for their "International academic staff".

## Notable people
### Alumni

Notable alumni of the university include:
* Peter Bialobrzeski, photographer and a professor of photography
* Rainer Blasczyk, physician for transfusion medicine
* Cornelius Boersch, serial entrepreneur and business angel
* Osagie Ehanire, Nigerian medical doctor and politician
* Andreas Gursky, artist and photographer
* Ina Hartwig, writer, literature critic and academic lecturer
* Bärbel Höhn, politician
* Klaus-Dieter Hungenberg, chemist
* Petra Kammerevert, politician
* Suzie Kerstgens, singer
* Moritz Körner (born 1990), politician of the Free Democratic Party, Member of the European Parliament
* Hannelore Kraft, politician and Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westfalia (NRW)
* Heike Mauer, gender theorist
* Dieter Nuhr, cabaret artist
* Frank T. Rothaermel, American academic
* Peter Voswinckel, physician, medical historian and author
* Gorden Wagener, car designer, and is the chief design officer for Daimler AG

## Points of interest

* Botanischer Garten der Universität Duisburg-Essen, the university's botanical garden in Essen