page_title: Saxony
section_title: Education
hierarchical_section_title: Saxony / Education
caption_attribution_description: English: Exterior of new addition to the Deutsche Bücherei in Leipzig
context_page_description: Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and its largest city is Leipzig. Saxony is the tenth largest of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of 18,413 square kilometres, and the sixth most populous, with more than 4 million inhabitants.
  The history of Saxony spans more than a millennium. It has been a medieval duchy, an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire, a kingdom, and twice a republic. The first Free State of Saxony was established in 1918 as a constituent state of the Weimar Republic. After World War II, it became part of the German Democratic Republic and was abolished by the communist government in 1952. Following German reunification, the Free State of Saxony was reconstituted with slightly altered borders in 1990 and became one of the five new states of the Federal Republic of Germany.
  The area of the modern state of Saxony should not be confused with Old Saxony, the area inhabited by Saxons.
context_section_description: Saxony's school system belongs to the most excelling ones in Germany. It has been ranked first in the German school assessment (Bildungsmonitor) for several years.
  Saxony has four large universities and five Fachhochschulen or Universities of Applied Sciences. The Dresden University of Technology (TU Dresden), founded in 1828, is one of Germany's oldest universities. With 36,066 students as of 2010, it is the largest university in Saxony and one of the ten largest universities in Germany. It is a member of TU9, a consortium of nine leading German Institutes of Technology.
  Leipzig University is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany, founded in 1409. Famous alumni include Leibniz, Goethe, Ranke, Nietzsche, Wagner, Cai Yuanpei, Angela Merkel, Raila Odinga, Tycho Brahe, and nine Nobel laureates are associated with this university.
  Saxony is home to several Max Planck Institutes.
  
  One of the two main campuses of the German National Library is located in Leipzig.
caption: Modern 4th extension building of the National Library complex at Leipzig.
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