University of Potsdam
Universität Potsdam
Motto	Klein aber fein (German)
Motto in English	Small but excellent[1]
Established	1991
Type	Public university
President	Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr.phil. Sabine Kunst
Staff	233 professors
Students	19.894
Location	Potsdam, Germany
Website	www.uni-potsdam.de
Data as of 2009[update]

The New Palace campus of the University of Potsdam at the old stables

Not to be confused with the American university SUNY Potsdam In the State University of New York System

The University of Potsdam is a German university, situated across four campuses in Potsdam, Brandenburg, including the New Palace of Sanssouci and the Park Babelsberg.^[1]

[edit] Profile

Being today the largest university in Brandenburg, the University of Potsdam stretches across four campuses:^[1]

• New Palace, Sanssouci: Faculties of Philosophy, Institutes of Mathematics and Sport
• Golm: Faculties of Humanities, Mathematics and Science
• Potsdam-Babelsberg-on-Griebnitzsee: Faculties of Law, Economics and Social Studies, Institutes of Computer Science, the Hasso Plattner Institute for Software Systems Engineering
• Babelsberger Park

The University of Potsdam was formed in 1991 by the amalgamation of the Karl Liebknecht College of Education and the Brandenburg State College. As the university in large part emerged from the College of Education, emphasis today is still placed on teacher training.

At the beginning of the winter semester of the 2008/2009 academic year, 19,894 young people were studying at the University of Potsdam. The largest number of students were enrolled at the Faculty of Philosophy, 5,934 (30%), with 5,324 (27%) at the Faculty of Mathematics and Science. 58% of the students are female, and more than 2,000 are external students. 26% of the freshers come from East Germany, 14% from the West and the remaining 14% from Berlin, evaluated by the place where they obtained their entry requirements. After a comprehensive evaluation of its research performance in 2007, the University of Potsdam nominated eight areas of distinction ("Profilbereiche") and one area of excellence in the field of Cognitive Sciences ("Exzellenzbereich") ^[2] to award their international recognition and research productivity. With an interdisciplinary research agenda, the area of excellence links the departments of Psychology, Linguistics, and Sports and Health Science.

[edit] Historical buildings

Babelsberg Campus - House 1

Some parts of the university are located in historical buildings that have been named as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. The University library and the Institute of History can be found in a part of the commons in the park of Sanssouci, at the New Palace, as can the Institute of Mathematics in the former stables.

The other campuses, Babelsberg and Golm, are also of historical interest. The oldest buildings of the Golm campus were built in the 1930s to house the Luftwaffe's intelligence department. After the Second World War the College of Law of the Ministry for State Security of the GDR moved in.

The current Faculty of Law is located in Babelsberg/Griebnitzsee in the former presidial and administrative buildings of the German Red Cross (1939/40). Other lecture halls and buildings were built in the 1950s directly behind the Schloss Babelsberg for the Academy of Justice and the State of the GDR.

The most representative part of the University of Potsdam at New Palace

The lecture halls of the Hasso Plattner Institute

The Griebnitzsee student village on the Babelsberg Campus

[edit] Faculties

The university contains the following faculties and institutes:

• Faculty of Law
• Faculty of Philosophy
• Faculty of Human Science
• Faculty of Economic and Social Studies
• Faculty of Mathematics and Science
• The Language Centre offers students of all faculties the chance to learn many languages at various levels of proficiency, and holds a collegial certificate of international accreditation from UNIcert.

[edit] Points of interest

• Botanischer Garten Potsdam, the university's botanical garden

[edit] Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c} "University of Potsdam" (history in English), W3-TEAM Universität Potsdam, UniPotsdam.de webpage: UniPotsdam-History.
2. ^ http://www.uni-protokolle.de/nachrichten/id/156956/

[edit] References

• Görtemaker, Manfred (ed.), Die Universität Potsdam: Geschichte - Bauten - Umgebung, Berlin, 2001
• Much of the content of this article comes from the equivalent German-language Wikipedia article (retrieved 11 February, 2006)

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Hasso Plattner Institute
• University library
• Student Union

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Coordinates: 52°24′04″N 13°00′43″E / 52.40111°N 13.01194°E / 52.40111; 13.01194