The University of Freiburg (German Albert-Ludwigs-Universit?t Freiburg, colloquially Uni Freiburg ), sometimes referred to in English as the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
The university was founded in 1457 by the Hapsburg dynasty as the second university in Austrian-Habsburg territory after the University of Vienna. Today, Freiburg is the fifth-oldest university in Germany, with a long tradition of teaching the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. The university is made up of 11 faculties and attracts students from across Germany as well as from over one hundred and twenty other countries.
The University of Freiburg is considered one of Europe’s most prestigious universities and is amongst its top research and teaching institutions. With its long-standing reputation of excellence, the university looks both to the past, to maintain its academic and cultural heritage, and to the future, developing new methods and opportunities to meet the needs of a changing world. The University of Freiburg has been home to some of the greatest minds of the Western tradition, including such eminent figures as Johann Eck, Max Weber, Rudolf Carnap, Edmund Husserl, Friedrich Meinecke, Martin Heidegger, Hannah Arendt, Hans-Georg Gadamer and Friedrich Hayek. In addition, 19 Nobel laureates are affiliated with the University of Freiburg and 13 academics have been honored with the highest German research prize, the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, while working at the University of Freiburg.
As of 2007, the university has been designated an elite German “University of Excellence”. (more…)