University of Basel

[EduCativ]

The University opened with a mass held at Basel Minster on 4 April 1460. It has undergone dynamic development ever since its inception. During the first year following its founding, the University Register in Basel listed 226 students and lecturers. Today, the seven faculties at the University of Basel have around 13,000 students and over 350 professors. The University of Basel has an international reputation for outstanding achievements in research and teaching. Founded in 1460, the University of Basel is the oldest in Switzerland and has a history of success going back over 550 years. As a comprehensive university offering a wide range of high-quality educational opportunities, the University of Basel attracts students from Switzerland and the entire world, offering them special studying conditions as they work towards their bachelor's, masters, or Ph.D. degrees. Today, the University of Basel has around 13,000 students from over a hundred nations, including 2,700 Ph.D. students.

The University of Basel has seven faculties covering a broad spectrum of academic disciplines. At the same time, the University has positioned itself amidst the international competition in five strategic focal areas: Life Sciences, Visual Studies, Nanosciences, Sustainability, and Energy Research, and European and Global Studies. In international rankings, the University of Basel has regularly placed among the 100 top universities globally thanks to its research achievements. The University of Basel has deep roots in the economically powerful and culturally rich Basel region. The University also works closely with domestic and international partners to make relevant contributions to the sciences and society's advancement. This also means that the University of Basel pays particular attention to sustainability, equal opportunity, and knowledge transfer.

The University of Basel fosters critically thinking and tolerant individuals capable of taking the initiative and taking on responsibility. It is the aim of the University to enable these individuals to deepen their knowledge and field-specific academic training and further education. Through research and teaching, the University imparts the insights past down over the ages and produced new knowledge. It is guided by the principle of meaningfulness and purpose rather than feasibility. The University is aware of the duties arising from knowledge, fulfilling these duties through critical reflection and its services. It takes its position concerning problems facing society. The University realizes its aims by taking responsibility concerning future generations, the society that supports them, the international academic community, and the culture passed down from generation to generation.

Within the scope of official regulations, the University of Basel is autonomous in teaching, research, and services. It is responsible for its administration, and its autonomy mandates self-regulation. The University sets priorities based on meeting educational and societal needs. It delegates the most significant amount of responsibility possible to the smallest possible entity. The University promotes the preparedness of all of its members to take responsibility. It gives them the right to participate in the institution's governance. All members of the University of Basel take part in its organization and activities commensurate with their abilities and competencies.

The University educates individuals who possess the courage and ability to develop ideas on their own and express these ideas publicly. The University professes the principle of equal rights, particularly among men and women, and is committed to putting this into practice. This also pertains to admissions. The University professes the principle of achievement on all levels and places quality above quantity. It has the flexible structure necessary for achieving this and provides the requirements for developing creativity and idealism, thereby ensuring superior achievements that do not go unrewarded. The University exercises a focused development of young academics. The sports programs promote the balance and health of its members. The University maintains and takes advantage of the opportunities arising through personal contacts among its members, the overall environment of openness and trust, and uncomplicated administration, made possible by its medium size.

The University guarantees freedom in the areas of teaching, learning, and research. The University rests upon the idea of the unity of teaching and research. This enables lecturers and students to learn through research and the independent mastery of methods and knowledge. All faculties provide varying degrees of services that interact closely with teaching and research. The University of Basel has a broad range of education and training programs based on cultivating the traditional fields of knowledge and openness for ideas. The University promotes interdisciplinary teaching, learning, and research across faculty boundaries. The University guarantees the quality of its teaching through the didactic education and training provided by its professors and maintains this quality through course evaluations. The University also contributes to adult education outside university degree programs.

The University of Basel presents its work to the public in an understandable way, thereby arousing interest. It ensures a constant sharing of information among its members. Everyone who works at the University of Basel employs their specialized expertise to contribute to the body of knowledge within their respective fields. The University maintains contacts with schools that prepare students for their studies and with higher-level technical schools.

In its Strategy 2014, the University of Basel has selected five thematic focal areas for securing the University's position among the international competition. The Strategy 2014 aims to strengthen the University of Basel's position as a prominent, regionally anchored but, at the same time, internationally oriented comprehensive University. The main priority is the University of Basel's successful positioning as an academic institution closely intertwined with society, culture, and business. The two performance periods (2014 – 2017 and 2018 – 2021) of the strategy define five areas of knowledge as the thematic focus:

• Life Sciences
• Image Studies
• Nanosciences
• Sustainability and Energy Research
• European and Global Studies

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