# University of Luxembourg

The University of Luxembourg (French: Université du Luxembourg; German: Universität Luxemburg; Luxembourgish: Universitéit Lëtzebuerg) is a public research university in Luxembourg.

## History

The University of Luxembourg was founded in 2003 by combining four existing education and research institutes: the Centre universitaire, Institut supérieur d'études et de recherches pédagogiques, Institut supérieur de technologie, and Institut d'études éducatives et sociales. The university is the only public university in Luxembourg.

## Description

The university has three campuses: the Belval Campus, the Kirchberg Campus, and the Limpertsberg Campus.
The university is governed by a board of governors, a rector, and a university council. The current rector of the University of Luxembourg is Jens Kreisel.

### Academics

The university offers 18 bachelor's degrees, 46 master's degrees, and doctorates. Bachelor's degrees require a semester abroad. The university also offers vocational training and lifelong learning training courses.
The university is multilingual. Courses are generally taught in two languages, being French and English or French and German. Some courses are taught in three, and some courses are taught entirely in English. Some courses are also taught entirely in Luxembourgish.
The University has three faculties, the Faculty of Science, Technology, and Medicine, the Faculty of Law, Economics, and Finance, and the Faculty of Humanities, Education, and Social Sciences, and ``four interdisciplinary centres: the Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT), the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB), the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C$^2$DH), and a new research centre dedicated to European law. All the faculties offer bachelor's and master's degree programs, doctoral, and vocational programs.

#### COVID-19 pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic in Luxembourg as part of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, the university switched to remote learning and later hybrid learning.

### Demographics

As of August 2023, the University of Luxembourg's enrollment was 7000 students, including 1000 doctoral candidates, 2,400 staff, and 293 professors and senior lecturers.
In 2023, the university had 5,185 full-time equivalent students and a student–teacher ratio of 19.3. In 2023, 51% of students at the university were international students.

### Rankings

In 2023, U.S. News & World Report ranked the University of Luxembourg number 570 in Best Global Universities and number 227 in Best Global Universities in Europe.
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings ranked the University of Luxembourg 201–250 in their 2023 World University Ranking, 4th worldwide for its international outlook and 25th worldwide in their 2022 Young University Rankings. The university's scores in international outlook (92.7), included a high percentage of international students (52%), industry income (81.3), and research quality (77.1). Lower ratings included research environment (39.7) and teaching (39.2).
The Academic Ranking of World Universities, also known as the Shanghai Ranking, ranked the University of Luxembourg 601-700 in their 2023 rankings.

## Research

Research at the university focus on the areas of digital transformation, medicine and health, as well as sustainable and societal development. A special focus is placed on interdisciplinary approaches. In 2020, the university founded the Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS), which primarily promotes interdisciplinary research projects.
Since creation in 2006, the university has been awarded 15 ERC grants and it has established 22 industrial, public and public-private chairs, with 16 endowed chairs ongoing.In March 2021, the University of Luxembourg had 1,000 ongoing research projects and 114 Horizon 2020 projects. In 2022, university researchers produced 2,438 publications. While women make up 50% of PhD students, they represent only 39% of research scientists and just 21% of full professors. PhD students and postdoctoral researchers work on fixed-term contracts that cannot exceed five years. Of the researchers at the university, 1,199 are on fixed-term contracts, while only 416 hold permanent positions, most of whom were hired when the university was founded and continue to occupy these roles. Newly recruited research scientists and professors are generally hired from abroad, with no internal promotion path from postdoctoral to senior positions.

## Notable people

The University of Luxembourg has more than 14,000 alumni.

### Notable faculty

* Alex Biryukov (Cryptographer)
* Robert Brisart (Philosopher)
* Emile Haag (Historian, national president of the confederation of government employees)
* Dietmar Heidemann (Philosopher)
* Norbert von Kunitzki (Economist, businessman and university president)
* Jean-Paul Lehners (Historian)
* Jeanne Peiffer (Historian of mathematics)
* Martin Schlichenmaier (Mathematician)
* Emma Schymanski (Chemist, environmental engineer)
* François Tavenas (Engineer and academic)
* Leon van der Torre (Computer scientist)
* Renée Wagener (Journalist, sociologist, historian, and former politician)
* Volker Zotz (Philosopher, religious studies scholar, Buddhologist)
* Michael Heneka (Neurologist and clinician-scientist)
* Alexandre Tkatchenko (physicist)
* Paul Wilmes (Systems ecology)
* Björn Ottersten (Electrical engineer)

### Notable alumni

* Djuna Bernard (Luxembourgish politician)
* Max Hahn (Luxembourgish politician)
* Philip Hoffmann (Member of the German Bundestag)
* Amin Mekki Medani (Sudanese lawyer, diplomat, human rights and political activist)
* Jean-Paul Pier (Mathematician)
* Jean-François Rischard (Economist, World Bank vice president)