Utrecht University (Universiteit Utrecht in Dutch) is a university in Utrecht, The Netherlands. It is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands and one of the largest in Europe. It is rated as the best university of the Netherlands,[1] 11th best university in Europe,[2] and 52nd best in the world[3] in the Academic Ranking of World Universities. Established March 26, 1636, it had an enrollment of 29,082 students in 2008, and employed 8,614 faculty and staff, 570 of which are full professors. In 2004, 358 Ph.D. degrees were awarded and 7,010 scientific articles were published. The 2008 budget of the university was €715 million.
The university's motto is "Sol Iustitiae Illustra Nos," which means "Sun of Justice, shine upon us."
Utrecht University is led by the University Board, consisting of Yvonne van Rooy (president), prof.dr. Hans Stoof (rector magnificus) and Hans Amman.
The university consists of seven faculties:
There are three interfaculty units:
The two large faculties of Humanities and Law are situated in the inner city of Utrecht. The other five faculties and most of the administrative services are located in De Uithof, a campus area in the outskirts of the city. University College is situated in the former Kromhout Kazerne, which used to be a Dutch military base.
[edit] Notable alumni and faculty
Utrecht University counts a number of distinguished scholars among its alumni and faculty, including several Nobel Prize laureates:
- C.H.D. Buys Ballot (meteorologist)
- Clarence Barlow (composer)
- Nicolaas Bloembergen (physicist, Nobel Prize laureate)
- Arend Jan Boekestein (Historian, Politician)
- Els Borst (former Dutch minister of Health)
- James Boswell (author, lawyer)
- Pieter Burmann the Younger (philologist)
- Michael Clyne (linguist)
- David Dalrymple, Lord Hailes, (author, lawyer)
- Peter Debye (physicist, Nobel Prize laureate)
- René Descartes (philosopher, mathematician)
- Frans de Waal (zoologist and ethologist)
- Christiaan Eijkman (physician, pathologist, Nobel Prize laureate)
- Willem Einthoven (physician, physicist, Nobel Prize laureate)
- Johann Georg Graevius (scholar)
- Louis Grondijs (Byzantologist, war correspondent)
- Gerardus 't Hooft (physicist, Nobel Prize laureate)
- J. H. van 't Hoff (chemist, Nobel Prize laureate)
- Jacobus Kapteyn (astronomer)
- Tjalling Charles Koopmans (mathematician, physicist, economist, Nobel Prize laureate)
- Aristid Lindenmayer (biologist)
- Jack van Lint (mathematician)
- Rudolf Magnus (pharmacologist and physiologist)
- Marcel Minnaert (astronomer)
- Heiko Oberman (historian)
- Mark Overmars (Computer Scientist)
- Abraham Pais (physicist, science historian)
- Perizonius (scholar)
- Wilhelm Röntgen (physicist, Nobel Prize laureate)
- Lavoslav Ruzicka (chemist, Nobel Prize laureate)
- Johann Jakob Scheuchzer (physician, scientist)
- Jan Hendrik Scholten (theologian)
- Boudewijn Sirks (Roman law specialist)
- J. Slauerhoff (poet, novelist) worked as an assistant at the University's clinic for Dermatology and Venereal Diseases from 1929-1930.
- Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland (statesman)
- Jan Jakob Lodewijk ten Kate (poet)
- Jan Terlouw (politician, novelist)
- Gerard Verschuuren from the former Institute of Human Biology
- Martinus J.G. Veltman (physicist, Nobel Prize laureate)
- Hugh Williamson (politician)
[edit] International acclaim
On the 2009 THE–QS World University Rankings list, the University of Utrecht was ranked inside the top 150 for the sixth consecutive year, and inside the top 100 for the fourth consecutive year.
| Year | Rank (Change) |
| 2004 | 120 |
| 2005 | 120 (▬) |
| 2006 | 95 (▲ 25) |
| 2007 | 89 (▲ 6) |
| 2008 | 67 (▲ 22) |
| 2009 | 70 (▼ 3) |
[edit] See also
- ^ "Utrecht heeft beste universiteit van het land". Elsevier. http://www.elsevier.nl/web/10206731/Nieuws/Wetenschap/Utrecht-heeft-beste-universiteit-van-het-land.htm?rss=true. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
- ^ "Academic Ranking of World Universities - 2009 - Europe". Academic Ranking of World Universities. Institute of Higher Education - Shanghai Jiao Tong University. http://www.arwu.org/Europe2009.jsp. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
- ^ "Top 500 World Universities". Academic Ranking of World Universities. Institute of Higher Education - Shanghai Jiao Tong University. http://www.arwu.org/ARWU2009.jsp. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
[edit] External links
