University of Paderborn

Paderborn University
Universität Paderborn
Motto Die Universität der Informationsgesellschaft
Motto in English
 The University of the Information Society
Type Public
Established 1614 to 1819 and Re-founded 1972
Endowment €157.3 million (annually)
President Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Wilhelm Schäfer
Administrative staff
 2,024
Students 18,500
Location Paderborn, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Campus urban
Colours Blue and White         
Affiliations
  • EUA (European University Association)
  • DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst)
  • ASIIN (Akkreditierungsagentur für Studiengänge der Ingenieurwissenschaften, der Informatik, der Naturwissenschaften und der Mathematik e.V.)
Website www.upb.de

The Paderborn University (German: Universität Paderborn) is one of the fourteen universities of higher learning in North Rhine-Westphalia state of Germany. It was founded in 1972 and over 17,421 students were enrolled at the university as of December 2011.[1] It offers 105 different degree programmes. The Paderborn University ranks high in the areas of Computer Science, Business Management and English. The number of students enrolled at the university has steadily increased in recent years, and as a result, the university is continuously expanding and updating the infrastructure.

Particularly notable is the newly established Master of Arts program in Comparative Literature in the faculty of Cultural Studies. The university houses the Paderborn Center for Parallel Computing that supports research activities in wide areas of Computational science and Engineering.

The university has several winners of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize awarded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and ERC grant recipients of the European Research Council. Furthermore, in 2002, the romanian mathematician Preda Mihăilescu proved the Catalan conjecture, a number-theoretical conjecture, formulated by the French and Belgian mathematician Eugène Charles Catalan, which had stood unresolved for 158 years.

In 2006, the computer science program was ranked among the top 3 programs in the most comprehensive and detailed ranking of German universities by the Centre for Higher Education Development (CHE)[2] and the German weekly news magazine "Die Zeit". In the same year, the university was ranked among the leading institutions in terms of gaining research funds in the areas of electrical engineering, computer science and systems engineering by the German Research Foundation.

The interdiciplinary research centers at the university include Heinz Nixdorf Institute,[3] Paderborn center for Parallel Computing,[4] Paderborn Institute for Scientific Computation,[5] Cooperative Computing and Communication Laboratory (C-Lab)[6] and Software quality lab (S-lab).[7] RailCab is a research project by the University of Paderborn. Its purpose is the examination of the use of linear engines for the propulsion of autonomous, rail mounted vehicles.

At the Paderborn University, a number of Student Groups exist and meet regularly. AStA (Allgemeiner Studierenden Ausschuss) is the board of Student Representatives, who, through their engagement, have an influence on university politics and organisation and run certain campus facilities such as the photocopiers. Student Faculty Committees (Fachschaften) protect the interests of other students in that department. The “Fachschaft” remains in constant contact with professors and other lecturers and passes on important information to students. It offers help with timetable planning and is thus an important contact for all academic matters. Eurobiz is a voluntary student group that helps international students to find their way around. They organize weekend trips and farewell parties, university parties and several other (spontaneous) events during the semester.

History

The Theological Faculty, which was founded in 1614 by Dietrich von Fürstenberg, is the oldest university in North Rhine Westphalia. A regionally significant collection of paintings, kept in the rooms of the Faculty, recalls the period of promoterism and of the Archdiocese Paderborn.

Campus

The Paderborn University has two campuses:

University of Paderborn

Main campus

The main campus is located at the Warburger Street in Paderborn. Most lectures take place here. The Paderborn University owns two student halls of residence, both of which are just off the main campus.They consists of several buildings separated by yards, providing the enough space to barbecue and play soccer during the summer. The main campus also houses the library. The university’s library also has an excellent reputation. Because of its large selection of electronic media, and its long opening hours and lending periods, it is considered to be one of the best university libraries in the state.

Uni-Line bus
Coffee cup from Paderborn Center for Parallel Computing

International Office

The international office of the Paderborn University is interconnected with over 140 partner universities worldwide and offers a large variety of exchange programs. The international office works closely with the student organization Eurobiz e.V. which looks after incoming exchange students and introduces them to Germany and the German culture.

Library at the University

Fürstenallee

The Fürstenallee campus is located 5 km from the main campus and is connected to the main campus via the 'uni-line' bus. Some academic activities of the computer science and Systems engineering departments are held at the Fürstenallee campus. Next to the Fürstenallee building is the world's biggest computer museum, the Heinz Nixdorf Museum Forum. The museum exhibits historic computing technologies used during different eras of human civilization starting from 3000 BC to world war. The Fürstenallee campus houses the research centers such as Heinz Nixdorf Institute, Cooperative Computing and Communication Laboratory (C-Lab) and Software quality lab (S-lab).

Scientific Centers of the University

The following Collaborative Research Centers of the German Research Foundation (DFG) are established at the University of Paderborn:

Winner of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize of the University of Paderborn
Year Award winners Chair
1992 Burkhard Monien and Friedhelm Meyer auf der Heide
 Theoretical computer science
2002 Frank Vollertsen Forming and cutting production engineering
2011 Christine Silberhorn Quantum Optics
Recipients of ERC grants of the University of Paderborn
Year Laureate Chair
2016 Thomas D. Kühne Theoretical Chemistry
2016 Christine Silberhorn Integrated Quantum Optics
2016 Thomas Zentgraf Ultrafast Nanophotonics

Faculties

The University of Paderborn consists of five faculties:

I Faculty of Arts and Humanities

Department of English and American Studies; Department of Educational Sciences; Department of Protestant Theology; Department of German Studies and Comparative Literary Studies, History Department; Department of Social and Human Sciences, Department of Catholic Theology, Department of Art, Music, Textiles; Department of Media Studies; Department of Romanic Languages

II Faculty of Business Administration and Economics

Department of Management; Department of Taxation, Accounting and Finance; Department of Business Information Systems; Department of Economics, Department of Business and Human Resource Education; Department of Law..They offer range of programs for International students in a convenient way.

III Faculty of Science

The faculty of Science has three departments: Department of Physics; Department of Chemistry; Department of Sports and Health. The department of Physics offers Master of Science and Doctoral degree programs in English and is fully accredited by ASIIN. The research topic specializes in fabrication, characterization, spectroscopy, and applications of semiconductor nanostructures, optical communication, quantum computing and the theoretical understanding and modeling of the underlying physical phenomena.

IV Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

Since the founding of the University of Paderborn in 1972, the university's mechanical engineering program has been continually evolving as a center for educating a new generation of high-performing engineers, as well as a hub of top-notch research; half a million Euro per professor per year in research allocations and leading participation in two collaborative research centers are just two of the most visible signs of our involvement. In addition, a variety of multifaced cooperations between Mechanical Engineering departments and local companies help to promote long-term innovation in the proud tradition of German industry.


The current research topics within the College of Mechanical Engineering are:

V Faculty of Computer Science, Electrical Engineering and Mathematics

Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology; Department of Computer Science; Department of Mathematics

Computer Science Department

The Computer Science department of the University of Paderborn has a strong international research reputation. A ranking recently published by the Association for Computing Machinery placed the department's Software Engineering the 16th best in the world, and top in Germany. The most recent German CHE ranking placed Paderborn's CS department among the top four CS departments in Germany. The Department's partnerships with locally and globally operating IT companies such as Siemens, Wincor Nixdorf, and SD&M as well as with the strong regional mechanical engineering industry in embedded systems, gives the students the unique opportunity of getting to know prospective employers even before they graduate.

Electrical Engineering Department

Typical fields of activities for graduated electrical engineers are leading and executive positions in electrical and electronic industry, computer industry, communication techniques, automation engineering, energy supply industry, automotive and aerospace industry and also in scientific.

Staff

The department of Philosophy is led by Professor Ruth Hagengruber

See also

References

  1. ↑ Student Statistics (German; retrieved 2012-07-09)
  2. ↑ "Centre for Higher Education Development".
  3. ↑ "Heinz Nixdorf Institute".
  4. ↑ "The Paderborn Center for Parallel Computing".
  5. ↑ "Paderborn Institute for Scientific Computation".
  6. ↑ "C-Lab".
  7. ↑ "s-lab".

Coordinates: 51°42′29″N 8°46′20″E / 51.70806°N 8.77222°E / 51.70806; 8.77222

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