page_title: University of Göttingen
section_title: Reputation and rankings
hierarchical_section_title: University of Göttingen / Academics / Reputation and rankings
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Die von der Niedersächsischen Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen genutzte Göttinger Paulinerkirche. English: Paulinerkirche, Göttingen, now department of the Göttingen State and University Library.
context_page_description: The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded in 1734 by George II, King of Great Britain and Elector of Hanover, and starting classes in 1737, the Georgia Augusta was conceived to promote the ideals of the Enlightenment. It is the oldest university in the state of Lower Saxony and the largest in student enrollment, which stands at around 31,600.
  Home to many noted figures, it represents one of Germany's historic and traditional institutions. As of October 2019, 45 Nobel Prize winners have been affiliated with the University of Göttingen as alumni, faculty members or researchers.
  The University of Göttingen was previously supported by the German Universities Excellence Initiative, holds memberships to the U15 Group of major German research universities and to the Coimbra Group of major European research universities. Furthermore, the university maintains strong connections with major research institutes based in Göttingen, such as those of the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science and the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Scientific Community.
context_section_description: Within the framework of the 2006–07 German Universities Excellence Initiative, it won funding for its future concept "Tradition, Innovation, Autonomy," its graduate school "Neurosciences and Molecular Biosciences," and its research cluster "Microscopy at the Nanometer Range." In the 2012 Excellence Initiative, Göttingen succeeded in obtaining funds for its graduate school "Neurosciences and Molecular Biosciences" and its research cluster "Microscopy at the Nanometer Range", but failed in its bid for future concept financing. In September 2018, Göttingen succeeded in gaining funds only for its research cluster "Multiscale Bioimaging", and failed in the other applications. Consequently, Göttingen would no longer be eligible for the fourth round of future concept financing across the country in 2019. 
  As of October 2019, the University of Göttingen is associated with 45 Nobel laureates. By this number alone, the University of Göttingen ranks among global top 15. The most recent Nobel laureates associated with the university are Stefan Hell (Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2014) and Thomas C. Südhof (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 2013). Stefan Hell has been a lecturer (in Privatdozent capacity) at the University of Göttingen since 2004 and the director of the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in the Göttingen Campus since 2002, while Thomas Südhof, currently a professor at Stanford University, worked on his doctoral thesis at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in the lab of British biochemist Victor P. Whittaker.
  As of 2020, four out of sixteen in-office Justices of the Federal Constitutional Court (German: Bundesverfassungsgericht; abbreviated: BVerfG), Germany's supreme constitutional court, are affiliated with the University of Göttingen: two of them (Andreas Paulus & Christine Langenfeld) are, currently, professors at the Faculty of Law of the University of Göttingen, while two others (Ines Härtel & Henning Radtke) obtained their PhD in law (Dr.iur) from the University of Göttingen.
  However, Göttingen has declined overall in other international rankings in recent years. For example, in the Shanghai Ranking (ARWU) of 2018, it was ranked 99th, while in 2004 it was ranked 79th. More surprisingly, according to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, Göttingen was previously ranked 43rd in 2011, but was ranked only 123rd in 2019.
caption: The Pauliner Church, once the seat of the University Library in which Heinrich Heine, the Brothers Grimm, and Goethe worked
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