University of Passau

Infobox_University
name = University of Passau
native_name = Universität Passau

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what
latin_name = Alma Mater Passaviensis
motto =
mottoeng =
established = 1978
type = Public
staff = 564
rector = Walter Schweitzer
students = 8,141
city =
country = Germany
campus = Urban
colors = Orange and Gray
affiliations =
website = http://www.uni-passau.de/
footnotes = Data as of 2008

The University of Passau (German "Universität Passau") is a public research university located in Passau, Lower Bavaria, Germany. Founded in 1978, it is the youngest university in Bavaria and has therefore the most modern campus in the state. Nevertheless, it is the extension of the centuries old Institute for Catholic Studies.

Today it consists of five faculties and offers degree programs at undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral levels in 22 courses. [ [http://www.uni-passau.de/144.html?&MP=144-699 University of Passau] ] The CHE University Ranking has given it excellent ratings at different majors such as political sciences, law and informatics. [ [http://ranking.zeit.de/che9/CHE?module=Hitliste&do=show_l1&esb=28&hstyp=1 Che Ranking Political Science] ]

History

The university was founded in August 1st 1978 at the behest of the Bayerischer Landtag (Bavarias' State Congress). [ [http://www.uni-passau.de/146.html?&MP=146-700 University of Passau] ] However its history goes back to 1622 when an Institute for Catholic Studies replaced the Gymnasium founded by Fürst Leopold in 1612. The Institute grew over the years until it became a Philosophy-Theology Faculty in 1923. Already in 1969 the city council began with the necessary negotiations to found a university as a development of the old Faculty.

Campus

The campus of the University of Passau is probably unique in Germany. Except for the small Theology Faculty, which is downtown, all faculties are along the same street on the same ground. This is very advantageous for internal communication of students and staff because Passau offers many interdisciplinary courses. Hence it is possible that law courses take place on the philosophy faculty and vice versa. The campus lies on the riverside of the Inn River, which makes it an idyllic place to study. Furthermore there are many gardens and meadows that are always full of students in the summer.

The Nikolakloster is the only exemption to the college's modern architecture. Today, this old convent is the home for the languages department but it was here where the university was born. Only in 2006 the ITZ International House building was finished. It's the last one on the buildings row and it's home for many international staff offices, students clubs and language classes.

The sport facilities include a soccer and athletics field, a gym and 4 sport halls. They are available for students on their leisure time and for the sport teachers-to-be.A long list of sports is available for free for students to practice under the supervision of a teacher, among them soccer, volleyball, basketball, rowing and aerobics. [ [http://www.sportzentrum.uni-passau.de/hochschulsport.html Sportzentrum] ]

The University of Passau has a refectory with 560 places for lunch. The refectory has been awarded many times for its excellence. There are also four cafeterias on campus who offer sandwiches, sweets, coffee, soft drinks and beer.The university's kindergarten is open to children of students and staff. It is, even in Germany, not very usual that Universities have a day care, but it is very helpful for students with children to be able to leave their tots on good hands for a few hours per day at comfortable prices.

Library

The library was founded together with the university in 1978 and it opened its doors for students and citizens of Passau on the same year with one reading room. The University Library is the main library of the university, and constitutes together with the 5 libraries of the faculties and institutes, the integral university library system, headed by the director of the University Library, Dr. Steffen Wawra. The University Library's stocks exceeds today two million books and 3.050 magazines. [ [http://www.ub.uni-passau.de/bibliotheksprofil.html#c1465 University's Library] ] There's a total of 1.000 work places for students in the reading rooms, which are opened 16 hours a day.

Organization

Governance

The Rectorate is the 'executive body' of the university, headed by president Walter Schweitzer. The rectorate consists of the chancellor, Ludwig Bloch, who is the head of the central administration and responsible for the university's budgeting, and three vicepresidents, Univ.-Prof. Dr. Burkhard Freitag, Univ.-Prof. Dr. Ulrich Manthe and Univ.-Prof. Dr. Ernst Struck. [ [http://www.uni-passau.de/leitung.html Executive body of the University of Passau] ]

The Senate is the 'legislative branch' of the university. The rector and the members of the rectorate are senators ex officio, as are also the deans of the faculties, and the university's equal opportunities officer.

chools and courses

* Humanities (Philosophische Fakultät)
**Teacher Training (Lehramt), Staatsexam
** Media and Communication, Bachelor of Arts
** European Studies, Bachelor of Arts
** International Cultural and Business Studies (Kulturwirtschaft), Bachelor of Arts
** Governance and Public Policy, Bachelor of Arts
** Language and Text, Bachelor of Arts
** Realschule Teacher Training, Bachelor of Arts
** European Studies, Master of Arts
** Southeast Asian Studies, Master of Arts
** Governance and Public Policy, Master of Arts
** International Cultural and Business Studies, Master of Arts
* Economics
** Business administration and economics, Bachelor of Science
** Business Computing, Bachelor of Science
** Business administration, Master of Science
** International Economics and Business, Master of Arts
* Law
** Law
** LL.M. European Studies
** Master program in German law for foreign students
* Informatics and Mathematics
** Informatics, Bachelor of Science
** Internet Computing, Bachelor of Science
** Intelligent Technic Systems, Bachelor of Science
** Informatics, Master of Science
** Maths for teachers

* Catholic Theology
** Catholic Theology for teachers
** Master in Caritas and applied Catholic theology

Associated institutions

* Center for European Law
* Marketing and economics Institute
* European Documentation Center
* Informatics Research Campus
* Cultural Sciences Research Institute
* University's Organizational Law Research Institute
* Economical Ethic Institute
* History of Psychology Institute
* Software and Information systems Institute
* IT-Security and Security Law Institute
* Inter cultural Communication Institute
* International and foreign law Institut
* Journalism training and communications research Institute
* Agricultural and environmental law Institute
* East Bavarian Research Institute
* Private Budgeting Institute
* Applied Software systems for technical informatics Institute
* Center for education, teachers and university's staff training

Teachers and students

The university employs as 2008 more than 500 academic staff, thereof 107 hold a chair. The rest are research assistants and postgraduate students working at a chair. [ [http://www.uni-passau.de/144.html?&MP=144-699 Statistics of the University of Passau] ]

Passau enrolls a total of 8,141 students; including 681 international students. 91% of the students are Germans and the international students come from 71 different countries. Austria is represented with 103 students being the bigger foreign students group, but that's no surprise being Passau a border city. There's a total of 64 Bulgarians, 52 Russians, 48 Czechs, 46 students from the Ukraine and 38 from China. There are also Latinamericans, Africans and students from the Middle East. Passau's international students rate is above the German average.

It is interesting that 63% student body is feminine, which leads to many courses and subjects having a majority of women and even some classes where there are no men at all.

Cooperation

The University of Passau is known beyond the borders of Bavaria and Germany for its international orientation and atmosphere. The college holds cooperation agreements with 160 foreign universities [ [http://www.uni-passau.de/440.html?&MP=440-505 International Center University of Passau] ] in Latin America, USA, Europe, Asia and Australia that allow its students to study abroad during its academic career. Among the partner universities are King's College and Cardiff University in the UK, the Autonomous University of Barcelona and Autonomous University of Madrid in Spain, the Texas A&M University, the Universidad del Salvador in Argentina, the University of Santiago, Chile, the Université Laval in Canada and the Kyoto Sangyo University in Japan.

tudent life

tudent Associations

The university supports a number of student groups in various fields of interest. [ [http://www.uni-passau.de/hochschulgruppen.html Students Associations University of Passau] ] Among them are eight political groups, two drama clubs, three university orchestras, two choirs, several NGO’s groups such as Amnesty International, Unicef and AIESEC, several departments of European organizations of students in certain disciplines like AEGEE and ELSA, five clubs dedicated to fostering international relations and cultural exchange, several subject orientated groups such as [http://www.kuwi.de/ Kuwi Netzwerk] , an association of cultural studies students who has been awarded in Germany, a debate society, one student management consulting groups, and two religious student groups.

ports

Despite of the wide range of sports offered in the Sports Center of the university, there are only two teams that play at a competitive level. Here it is important to say that in Germany, unlike in the USA, university sport competitions are no tradition.
* American Football - Passau Red Wolves
* Lacrosse Passau

Fraternities

Fraternities are traditional in Germany's students life, although having a very different meaning as in the United States. Students who are member of fraternities have usually a very conservative political attitude and sometimes a traditional religious point of view. For this reason they are not accepted by everyone and the majority even avoid their members. There are five fraternities in Passau:
* Corps Budissa
* K.St.V. Boiotro im KV
* B! Hanseatia zu Passau
* Akad. B! Markomannia
* K.D.St.V. Oeno-Danubia im CV

Traditions

A nice welcome tradition for first year students in Passau, who usually are not from the Bavaria or even are for the first time there, is a welcome reception on the city hall with typical bavarian food. Leberkäse and Bavarian Pretzels (which are different from the American ones) and beer are served. The welcome speech is held by the rector and the city's mayor.

Also a traditional part of Passau's students life is the O-Woche, an integration week for all first year students. During the O-Woche the students have the possibility to take guided tours through college, libraries, the city and of course, the bars and discos.

ee also

* List of colleges and universities
* Passau

External links

* [http://www.uni-passau.de/ University of Passau Website] de icon

Notes and references