Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf (Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf) in Germany is named for the German poet and political thinker Heinrich Heine, who was born in Düsseldorf in 1797. Since 1965, it is a full-fledged university, consisting today of a faculty of law, medicine, philosophy, mathematics and natural sciences, and economics. Its current enrollment is slightly over 18,000 students. The current rector is Prof. Dr. Dr. Alfons Labisch M.A. (Soz.).

History

In 1806, Joachim Murat, Napoleon Bonaparte's brother-in-law, who had been put in charge of the Duchy of Berg, wanted to found a university in Düsseldorf. At the time, there existed only a few college-like institutions that had developed between the 16th and 18th century.

On 12 December, 1811, Napoleon issued a decree, calling for a university with five faculties to be chartered in the duchy. His conquest of Russia, however, impeded its establishment.

In 1907, a medical academy was founded in Düsseldorf, and in 1923 it started training students. In 1962, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia took over responsibility for the academy from the city of Düsseldorf.

In 1965, the state government decided to transform the medical academy into a university. On 1 January, 1966, the university constituted itself with a faculty of medicine, and a combined faculty for natural sciences and philosophy. On 14 February of the same year, there was an opening ceremony. The buildings of the central campus, located in the south of Düsseldorf, were completed in the 1970s, a fact which is self-evident in the architectural style prevailing on campus. At this point, the university was not yet named for Heinrich Heine, due to controversies that carried on for decades. Heine, who was a [communist], was not considered an appropriate figurehead, first for pragmatic, then for political reasons. Not until 20 December, 1988, did the university's senate decide to name the university for Düsseldorf's most famous son.

Honorary Degrees

• Johannes Rau, former president of the Federal Republic of Germany
• Paul Spiegel, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany
• Marcel Reich-Ranicki, literary critic

Partner Universities

• University of Nantes (France)
• University of Naples Frederico II (Italy)
• Peking University (China)
• University of Alicante (Spain)
• University of Reading (UK)
• University of California, Davis (USA)
• Pennsylvania State University (USA)
• Charles University Prague (Czech Republic)
• Keio University Tôkyô (Japan)

Numerous SOCRATES /ERASMUS -partnerships exist, too.

External Link

• Official website