Free University of Berlin

The Free University of Berlin (FU Berlin, German: Freie Universität Berlin) is the second largest of the four universities in Berlin. Research at the university is focused on humanities and social sciences and on health and natural sciences. In October 2007, it was awarded "elite university" status by the German Science Foundation for the quality of its research through the Initiative for Excellence of the German government, which will translate into additional funding.

Freie Universität Berlin is a leading research institution. It is one of nine German universities that met with success in all three funding lines in the federal and state Excellence Initiative, thereby receiving additional funding for its institutional future development strategy. Freie Universität can thus take its place as an “International Network university” in the global competition among universities. Its future development strategy is focused around three strategic centers: for cluster development, for international exchange, and for graduate studies. Development and assessment of research projects takes place within three major focus areas – area studies, humanities, and life sciences. Freie Universität has various offices abroad, e.g., in New York, Beijing, and Moscow, that provide a platform for international cooperation. The university’s performance in the Excellence Initiative has provided funding for several new graduate schools and transdisciplinary research clusters.

The Times Higher Education Supplement world rankings in Arts and Humanities of 2008 place the FU Berlin 3rd best in Europe, and 24th in the world.

History

It was founded in 1948 by students and staff who were relegated because of their political views from Humboldt University of Berlin, formerly the traditional Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität of Berlin, and at that time controlled by the authorities in the Soviet sector. In 1968, it was the center of the left-wing German student movement in parallel to that in Paris, London, and Berkeley. Activists of that time included the SDS and Rudi Dutschke. By the 1980s, it had become the largest German university with 66,000 students. With the restructuring of the Humboldt University after the German reunification, the Freie Universität Berlin was downsized to about 38,000 students in the 1990s.

• Departments
  
  The university has 12 departments, three interdisciplinary central institutes and other central service institutions:
  Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy
  Business and Economics
  Earth Sciences
  History and Cultural Studies
  Law
  Mathematics and Computer Science
  Medicine (Charité - University Medicine Berlin)
  Pedagogy and Psychology
  Philosophy and Humanities
  Physics
  Political and Social Science
  Veterinary Medicine
  
  

• Interdisciplinary Central Institutes
  John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies
  Institute for Eastern European Studies
  Institute for Latin American Studies
  Friedrich Schlegel Graduate School of Literary Studies
  
  

• Central Service Institutions
  Botanical Garden Berlin and Botanical Museum Berlin
  Center for Academic Advising, Career and Counseling Services
  Center for Continuing Studies
  Center for Recreational Sports
  Center for the Promotion of Woman's and Gender Studies
  Computer Center
  Language Center
  University Library

Free University of Berlin ranked 146th in the 2007 THES-QS World University Ranking

Free University of Berlin ranked 137th in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking

Free University of Berlin ranked 94th in the 2009 THES-QS World University Ranking

Free University of Berlin ranked 70th in the 2010 QS World University Ranking

Free University of Berlin ranked 66th in the 2011 QS World University Ranking

University of Bath

The University of Bath is a campus university located in Bath, England. It received its Royal Charter in 1966, making it one of the newest "traditional" universities in the United Kingdom. The University has established a strong reputation in teaching and research, being consistently placed as one of the top elite universities in national university league tables. With 23 out of its 26 subjects being ranked within top 10 in the UK, Bath is placed the 6th in the table of Who's in Top Ten of Their Subjects from the Complete University Guide published by the Independent in April 2008. In addition according to the Sunday Times University Guide, published in September 2008, Bath is ranked the 10th nationally.

History

Despite being granted university status only forty years ago, the University of Bath can trace its roots to a technical school established in Bristol 100 years earlier, the Bristol Trade School of 1856. In 1885 the school became part of the Society of Merchant Venturers and was renamed the Merchant Venturers' Technical College, an institution founded as a school in 1595. Meanwhile, in the neighbouring city of Bath, a pharmaceutical school, the Bath School of Pharmacy, was founded in 1907. This became part of the Technical College in 1929.

In 1949, the college came under the control of the Bristol Education Authority and was renamed the Bristol College of Technology, which was subsequently changed again, in 1960, to the Bristol College of Science and Technology when it became one of ten technical colleges under the umbrella of the Ministry of Education. The college was mainly housed in the former Muller's Orphanage at Ashley Down, Bristol, which now houses part of the City of Bristol College.

In 1963, the government completed an inquiry into the state of higher education in the United Kingdom. This was known as the Robbins Committee report. It was this report that paved the way for the college (along with a number of other institutions) to assume university status.

Although the grounds of Kingsweston House were briefly considered, the City of Bristol was unable to offer the growing college a suitable site. Following discussions between the College Principal and the Director of Education in Bath, an agreement was reached to provide the college with a new home in Claverton Down, Bath, on a greenfield site overlooking the city of Bath.

Construction of a purpose-built campus in Bath began in 1964, with the first building, now known as 1 South, completed in 1965, and the Royal Charter was granted in 1966. Over the subsequent decade, new buildings were added as the campus took shape. A campus in Oakfield, Swindon, was opened in 2000.

In November 1966, the first degree ceremony was held at the Assembly Rooms in Bath.

Discoveries from city records reveal that there were plans in the 19th Century to build a college of the University of Oxford on the very same site, which would have resulted in a university of a very different character. Such plans, however, did not come to fruition.

Study Programmes

The university's major academic strengths have been the physical sciences, mathematics, engineering and technology. Today, the university is also strong in management, humanities and the social sciences. Courses place a strong emphasis on vocational education; the university recommends students to take a one-year industry placement in the penultimate year of the course, although it there is no formal recognition of these placements on students' final degree certificates. Tuition fees are charged during these periods at half rate.

According to the latest government assessments, Bath has 15 subjects rated "excellent" (the highest on the scale). These are: Pharmacy & Pharmacology; Business & Management (AMBA accredited); Architecture & Civil Engineering; Economics; Computer Science; Electronic & Electrical Engineering; Mechanical Engineering (IMechE accredited); Mathematics, Statistics and Operational research; Education; Molecular Biosciences; Biosciences; Physics and Astronomy; Politics; Hospitality, Leisure, Recreation, Sport and Tourism; Social Policy and Administration.

University of Bath Ranked:

145th in the THES-QS 2007 World University Ranking

152nd in the THES-QS 2008 World University Ranking

144th in the THES-QS 2009 World University Ranking

144th in the QS 2010 World University Ranking

168th in the 2011 QS World University Ranking