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The University of Erfurt is a campus university with more than 100 professorships and nearly 5.715 students. The reformed University for the arts and humanities, focusing on cultural and social sciences, offers an inspiring atmosphere for studying and conducting academic work. The close ties between the Faculty of Humanities Faculty of Education Faculty of Economics, Law, and Social Sciences Faculty of Catholic Theology and the Max Weber Centre for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies help the University as a whole to forge new paths in teaching and research. Forward-looking academic programs that combine subject-specific knowledge and professionalization, modern forms of teacher training, and the interdisciplinary general education program are particular distinctions of the University of Erfurt. Our mentoring program and excellent student-faculty ratio guarantee high-quality education. Refounded in 1994, the University of Erfurt is the youngest public University in Germany and stands out for not charging tuition fees and its certified family-friendly policy. The campus is close to Erfurt's downtown area, making the University of Erfurt a lively part of the Thuringian capital with its low cost of living and its wide range of cultural and recreational activities. Research at the University of Erfurt is characterized by close ties between the four faculties and the Max Weber Center and numerous interdisciplinary projects. The university-wide areas of specialization in Religion and Education are crucial in shaping the University's diverse research profile. These areas of specialization have been intensified by the creation of graduate schools and centers. Erfurt, a city of approximately 200,000 inhabitants and the capital of the free state of Thuringia, looks back over more than 1250 years of history. Located at the crossroads of important medieval trade routes, Erfurt was the region's commercial, political, and cultural center. The biographies of many prominent thinkers, such as Meister Eckhart, Martin Luther, Ulrich von Hutten, Adam Ries, and Wilhelm von Humboldt, were closely connected to Erfurt's history. The immediate vicinity offers many cultural treasures, too. Weimar, the city of Goethe, Schiller, Herder, Nietzsche, and Liszt, and Eisenach, the birthplace of Johann Sebastian Bach, are among the famous places nearby. Erfurt is located at approx. Three hours by car from Berlin, Frankfurt/Main, Munich, and Prague, and only 5 hours away from Brussels, Paris, Amsterdam, and Warsaw. The University of Erfurt is a public university for the arts and humanities, focusing on cultural and social sciences. Founded in 1379, closed during the 19th century, and reopened in 1994 following German reunification, the school has acquired recognition due to the quantity and quality of its academic achievements in education, religion, and other vital disciplines. All curricula, including those for teacher training, have been accredited as best-practice models for implementing the Bologna system. Conveniently situated near the capital city's downtown area, the University of Erfurt encourages direct communication among all members. It facilitates educational exploration and interdisciplinary research on campus and at international partner schools. The University's mentoring system, its required general education program, and its integrated career orientation program make it a model for other schools. It offers students from Thuringia, other German states, and countries around the world a variety of degree programs at the bachelor, master, Ph.D., and post-doctoral levels. The University's curriculum, combined with many other facets of the UE experience, prepares students for success in nearly every field imaginable. The broad spectrum of degree programs at the Faculty of Education includes bachelor and master programs in education and psychology. Beyond teaching, several professional options are open to UE bachelor programs such as Early Childhood Education, Special Education, Technology, and Music Education. New beginnings for higher education on the continent in the (then) German-speaking world were the foundations of Prag/Prague/Praha (1348), Wien/Vienna (1365), and Erfurt (1379), the oldest University in Germany. The burghers of Erfurt had requested this privilege during the Western Schism (1378-1417) from Pope Clement VIII. in Avignon, not from pope Urban VI. in Rome, who confirmed the privilege ten years later. Meanwhile the universities of Heidelberg (1386) and Cologne (1388) had been founded. The 15th century was then to see the foundations of universities at Würzburg (1402), Leipzig (1409), Rostock (1419), Greifswald (1456), Freiburg (1457), Basel/Basle (1460), Ingolstadt (1472), Trier (1473), Tübingen, and Mainz (1477), to be followed by Wittenberg (1502), Königsberg/Kaliningrad (1544), and others. Academic teaching at the University of Erfurt, which was founded in 1379 (in the same year as New College Oxford) started in 1392, and it soon became one of the largest German universities. Among its students was a Martinus Luther ex Mansfeld, who matriculated in 1501 and gained his B.A. (1502), M.A. (1505), and Doctorate (1509) at Erfurt. Martin Luther later wrote: Fateor et agnostics: Mater mea Erfordiensis Universitas, Cui noncontention, sed honorem debit (Letter of 21 December 1514, WA Briefwechsel I p. 30). Erfurt is Luther's alma mater. Like other medieval universities in the German-speaking world, however, Erfurt has not had an uninterrupted institutional life. While the University of Würzburg was closed already less than a decade after its foundation (and refounded in the late 16th century), and while the University of Ingolstadt was moved to Landshut in 1800 (and on to München/Munich in 1826), the old universities of Cologne, Trier, and Mainz were closed in 1798, Wittenberg in 1813, and Erfurt in 1816. In all, more than 20 German universities were closed at that time. Prussia, to which Erfurt belonged from 1802, wanted to have only a few 'strong' and preferably new universities. Only the institutions in far-away Greifswald and Königsberg/Kaliningrad were allowed to continue, while new universities were founded at Berlin (1809/10), Breslau/Wroclaw (1811), Halle (1817), and Bonn (1818). Re-foundations of old universities can mark new beginnings: Cologne (1388-1798) was refounded after the First World War in 1919, Mainz (1477-1798) after the Second World War in 1946, Trier (1473-1798) after the events of '68 in 1970. The refounding of the University of Erfurt (1379/1392-1816) is closely connected with Germany's recent history: From 1987, Erfurt citizens in the GDR had lobbied, against many odds, for a refounding of the University, two years later, the reunification of Germany made it at least imaginable to realize their dream. The actual foundation of the University of Erfurt dates to 1994; the first students were admitted five years later. It was amalgamated with a Teacher Training College in 2001 and a Catholic Theological Faculty in 2003. Today, some 5815 students study at the University of Erfurt, many of them studying for a teachers' degree, are matriculated in its four faculties: theology, arts, 'state science' (PPE & law), and education. Among the University's neighbors are the "Fachhochschule Erfurt" for applied sciences, the Helios Hospital, and the "Fraunhofer" Research Centre for childrens' media. The University's research activities are based both in the faculties and in the "Max Weber Kolleg" (an Institute for Advanced Studies), the "Willy Brandt School for Public Policy," and the famous library and Perthes archive in neighboring Gotha. The University of Erfurt is at the same time the oldest and the youngest state university in today's Germany. View full university

The title University of Applied Sciences makes it internationally clear what the Fachhochschule Erfurt stands for: the combination of scientific training and its practical applications. The new Bachelor and Master degrees are effective and compact study programs, which provide a quick route into professional practice while opening up opportunities for further academic training. The University of Applied Sciences Erfurt was founded on 01.10.1991. Now, 22 years on, it is an established, modern, and practice-oriented university with a good reputation. Top spots in national rankings underline this (e.g., complying with minimum legal study periods), countless useful contacts with business, intensive local and regional networking, and growing international status. The excellent cooperation with a wide variety of regional and community enterprises, institutions, and organizations is particularly worth mentioning. Held annually since 1998, the business contact day ("Day of Research"), the bi-annual "in-house Heating and Sanitation Exhibition" organized as part of the course on building services and supply engineering, and the annual careers fair ("company networking forum") are outstanding examples of intensive and mutually beneficial cooperation with business. Allied with practical research, the applied teaching gives students the best possible preparation for their later careers. Training provision is rounded off by extensive opportunities to learn languages and intercultural skills and gain necessary and critical qualifications. There have been reforms to the degree system in Germany since 2000: "Bachelor" and "Master" have become part of everyday academic life outside Anglo-Saxon states, and UAS Erfurt has been involved from the start. Now 95% of all study courses leading to a Bachelor's or Master's degree, enhancing students' prospects of studying internationally. Traditional courses are supplemented by some innovative opportunities for dual training and study. Restructured committees with more extraordinary decision-making powers and effective administration support teaching and research at a central level. The university has considerable potential for research and development, which it makes available to the region. It provides students with various options to apply their newly-acquired knowledge in practical situations. A striking feature is the relatively large proportion of female students and staff. More than 37% of employees at the University of Applied Sciences Erfurt, and around 50% of current students, are women. Whereas on average just 5% of chairs are occupied by women nationally, nearly 15% of the university's professors are female. UAS Erfurt was also the first university in Thuringia to elect a woman as Rector. Between 1993 and 1997, the university was led by Professor Dr. Gisela Rauschhofer. Her successor in this office was Professor Dr.-Ing. habil. Wolfgang Storm from 1997 - 2001 and the third Rector from 2001 to 2005 was Professor Dr. Wolf Wagner. From 2005 to 2011, Prof. Dr.- Ing. Heinrich H. Kill has been Rector and afterward President of the university. Since 2012 Professor Dr. sc. a. Kerstin Wydra was President of the UAS Erfurt. Prof. Dr.- Ing. Volker Zerbe is now - since 2014 - the Rector of the University. All professors and staff at the University of Applied Sciences Erfurt are working hard to spread its good reputation. A large number of students are already from outside Thuringia. By ensuring new, innovative, and flexible development of traditional study courses, the university responds to increasingly fast-moving changes in the requirements for modern, practice-based, and contemporary training for students. Although only founded on 1st October 1991, the University of Applied Sciences Erfurt follows long-established training engineers' traditions in the city. With around 1000 new students annually and approx. Four thousand five hundred students (in the winter semester 2007/2008), the University of Applied Sciences Erfurt, one of two universities in the state capital, is a highly attended university in Thuringia. It stands out for its broadly based interdisciplinary range of courses in twelve branches of study. The original faculties of architecture, civil engineering, horticulture, supply engineering (now service and power engineering), landscape architecture, and social welfare (now social studies) were joined in 1992 by economic science, in 1994/95 by conservation and restoration as well as traffic and transportation, and in 2000 by applied computer science. The range of subjects was further supplemented by forestry and ecosystem management in 2007 and urban and spatial planning in 2008. New Bachelor's and Master's degree courses in civil engineering and applied computer science were introduced in the winter semester 2000/01, followed by further study courses. These are designed to meet the call for modern, practice-oriented training. At the same time, the provision of courses is directed at regional needs and new developments. An example is the in-service Bachelor's degree in childhood education. The study, teaching, research, and further academic education are the essential cornerstones to which the university's autonomous committees, headed up by the Senate, are dedicated. The university "lives out" strong ties with practice in its close contact with companies and institutions. Cooperative partnerships link the university with other universities worldwide. Increasing numbers of international students and lecturers are coming to Erfurt, while their German counterparts complete placements or study semesters in countries worldwide. View full university