University of Strasbourg

Public university in France From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The University of Strasbourg (French: Université de Strasbourg, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, France, with over 52000 students and 3300 researchers. Founded in the 16th century by Johannes Sturm, it was a center of intellectual life during the Age of Enlightenment.

Established1538; 488 years ago (1538)
Budget€581 million (2024)[1]
Quick facts Type, Established ...
University of Strasbourg
Université de Strasbourg
Palais Universitaire, main building of the former Imperial University of Strasbourg
TypePublic research university
Established1538; 488 years ago (1538)
FounderJohannes Sturm
Budget€581 million (2024)[1]
PresidentFrédérique Berrod
Students55004[1]
1931 (2023)[2]
Location, ,
France
AffiliationsUdice Group, LERU, Utrecht Network
AACSB, EFMD, EUCOR
Websitewww.unistra.fr
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In the 1970s, the old university was reorganized into three distinct institutions, which were consolidated in 2009. The current University of Strasbourg comprises 35 academic faculties, schools, and institutes, as well as 71 research laboratories spread across six campuses, including the historic site in the Neustadt.

Throughout its existence, Unistra alumni, faculty, or researchers have included 18 Nobel laureates, two Fields Medalists and a wide range of notable individuals in their respective fields. Among them are Goethe, statesman Robert Schuman, historian Marc Bloch and several chemists such as Louis Pasteur.

History

Johannes Sturm, founder of the university (1539)

The university emerged from the Jean Sturm Gymnasium, a gymnasium of Lutheran and humanist inspiration, founded in 1538 by Johannes Sturm in the Free Imperial City of Straßburg. It became a university in 1621 (German: Universität Straßburg) and a royal university in 1631. Among its earliest university students was Johann Scheffler (1624-1677), who studied medicine and later converted to Catholicism and became the mystic and poet Angelus Silesius.[3]

The Lutheran German university continued its activities after the annexation of the city by the French King Louis XIV in 1681 (one famous student was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in 1770/71), but mainly turned into a collection of French-speaking academies following the French Revolution at the end of the 18th century.

After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 to 1871 and the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany provoked a westwards exodus of Francophone teachers, German nationalists in the Second Reich re-founded the university as the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Universität in 1872. During the German Empire the university greatly expanded and numerous new buildings were erected: the university was intended to be a showcase of German against French culture in Alsace.[citation needed] In 1918, Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France, so a reverse exodus of Germanophone teachers took place.

During the Second World War the Axis powers occupied France from 1940 to 1945; personnel and equipment of the University of Strasbourg largely migrated to Clermont-Ferrand in 1939. Nazi Germany re-annexed Alsace in June 1940 and founded the short-lived German Reichsuniversität Straßburg in November 1941. From 1945 the French university resumed activity in Strasbourg.

In 1971, the French Ministry of National Education implemented the loi Faure [fr] and subdivided the university into three separate institutions:

Following a national reform of higher education, these universities re-merged on 1 January 2009, and the new institution became one of the first French universities to benefit from greater autonomy.[4]

Buildings

Grand hall of the University Palace, where the first session of the Council of Europe Assembly took place[5]

The university campus covers a vast part near the center of the city, located between the "Cité Administrative", "Esplanade" and "Gallia" bus-tram stations.

Modern architectural buildings include: Escarpe, the Doctoral College of Strasbourg, Supramolecular Science and Engineering Institute (ISIS), Atrium, Pangloss, PEGE (Pôle européen de gestion et d'économie) and others. The student residence building for the Doctoral College of Strasbourg was designed by London-based Nicholas Hare Architects in 2007. The structures are depicted on the main inner wall of the Esplanade university restaurant, accompanied by the names of their architects and years of establishment.

The administrative organisms, attached to the university (Prefecture; CAF, LMDE, MGEL—health insurance; SNCF—national French railway company; CTS—Strasbourg urban transportation company), are located in the "Agora" building.

International partnerships

The University of Strasbourg is a member of several European networks focused on research, student exchange, and the establishment of joint degrees:

Nobel laureates

Notable people

Rankings

Quick facts Global – Overall, ARWU World ...
University rankings
Global – Overall
ARWU World[6]101–150 (2025)
QS World[7]=420 (2026)
THE World[8]601–800 (2023)
USNWR Global[9]=277 (2023)
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See also

References

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