Type Public, general Endowment € 765 million (2013) Total enrollment 30,374 (2014) Phone +31 30 253 3550 | Established 1636 Academic staff 3,316 Province Utrecht Mascot Lion | |
Motto in English Sun of Righteousness, shine upon us Rector Prof. Dr. Bert van der Zwaan Address Domplein 29, 3512 JE Utrecht, Netherlands Motto Sol Iustitiae Illustra Nos (Sun of Righteousness, shine upon us) Undergraduate tuition and fees Domestic tuition: 1,906 EUR (2014), International tuition: 6,500 EUR (2014) Notable alumni C H D Buys Ballot, Gerard 't Hooft, Pieter Harting, Frans de Waal, Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff Similar University of Amsterdam, University of Groningen, Leiden University, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Radboud University Nijmegen Profiles | ||
Master your future science at utrecht university
Utrecht University (UU; Dutch: Universiteit Utrecht, formerly Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht) is a university in Utrecht, the Netherlands. It is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. Established March 26, 1636, it had an enrollment of 30,449 students in 2012, and employed 5,295 faculty and staff. In 2011, 485 PhD degrees were awarded and 7,773 scientific articles were published. The 2013 budget of the university was €765 million.
Contents
- Master your future science at utrecht university
- Master your future at utrecht university
- History
- Description
- Notable alumni and faculty
- International rankings
- References
The university is rated as the best university in the Netherlands by the Shanghai Ranking of World Universities 2013, and ranked as the 13th best university in Europe and the 52nd best university of the world.
The university's motto is "Sol Iustitiae Illustra Nos," which means "Sun of Justice, shine upon us." This motto was gleaned from a literal Latin Bible translation of Malachi 4:2. (Rutgers University, having a historical connection with Utrecht University, uses a modified version of this motto.) Utrecht University is led by the University Board, consisting of prof. dr. Bert van der Zwaan (Rector Magnificus) and Hans Amman.
Master your future at utrecht university
History
This section incorporates text translated from the Dutch Wikipedia articleUtrecht University was founded on March 26, 1636. The influential professor of theology Gisbertus Voetius delivered the inaugural speech, and Bernardus Schotanus (professor of law and mathematics) became the university's first rector magnificus. Initially, only a few dozen students attended classes at the university. Seven professors worked in four faculties: philosophy, which offered all students an introductory education, and three higher-level faculties (theology, medicine and law).
Utrecht University flourished in the seventeenth century, despite competition with the older universities of Leiden (1575), Franeker (1585) and Groningen (1614) and the schools of Harderwijk (1599; a university from 1648) and Amsterdam (1632). Leiden, in particular, proved a strong competitor and made further improvement necessary. A botanical garden was built on the grounds of the present Sonnenborgh Observatory, and three years later the Smeetoren added an astronomical observatory. The university attracted many students from abroad (especially from Germany, England and Scotland). They witnessed the intellectual and theological battle the proponents of the new philosophy (René Descartes lived for a few years in Utrecht) fought with the proponents of the strict Reformed theologian Voetius.
In 1806 the French occupying authorities of the Netherlands downgraded Utrecht University to an école secondaire (high school), but after the establishment of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1813 it regained its former status. Leiden, Louvain, Groningen, Utrecht and Ghent were the five universities (Dutch: hoge scholen) of the new state, and Leiden received the title of eerste hoge school ("first university"). Two of the universities (Louvain and Ghent) became part of the new Belgian state after it separated from the northern Netherlands in 1830. This left Utrecht one of only three Dutch universities.
Utrecht played a prominent role in the golden age of Dutch science. Around 1850 the "Utrechtian School" of science formed, with Pieter Harting, Gerardus J. Mulder, Christophorus H. D. Buys Ballot and Franciscus Donders among the leading scientists. They introduced the educational laboratory (onderwijslaboratorium) as a practical learning place for their students. The University is represented in the Stichting Academisch Erfgoed, a foundation with the goal of preserving university collections.
Description
The university consists of seven faculties:
There are three interfaculty units:
The two large faculties of Humanities and Law are situated in the inner city of Utrecht. The other five faculties and most of the administrative services are located in De Uithof, a campus area on the outskirts of the city. University College Utrecht is situated in the former Kromhout Kazerne, which used to be a Dutch military base. University College Roosevelt is located off-campus in the city of Middelburg in the south-west of the Netherlands.
Notable alumni and faculty
Utrecht University counts a number of distinguished scholars among its alumni and faculty, including 12 Nobel Prize laureates and 13 Spinoza Prize laureates.
International rankings
On the 2015 Academic Ranking of World Universities list, the University of Utrecht was ranked 56th in the world and the highest in the Netherlands. It has been among the top 60 universities since 2003:
In the 2015/2016 QS World University Rankings, Utrecht was ranked 94th, it has been among the top 100 universities since 2006:
In the The Times Higher Education 2014–15 World University Rankings, the university is ranked 79th.