Free University of Berlin Information

The Free University of Berlin (FU Berlin, German: Freie Universität Berlin) is the second largest of the four universities in Berlin. Research at the university is focused on humanities and social sciences and on health and natural sciences. In October 2007, it was awarded "elite university" status by the German Science Foundation for the quality of its research through the Initiative for Excellence of the German government, which will translate into additional funding.

Freie Universität Berlin is a leading research institution. It is one of nine German universities that met with success in all three funding lines in the federal and state Excellence Initiative, thereby receiving additional funding for its institutional future development strategy. Freie Universität can thus take its place as an “International Network university” in the global competition among universities. Its future development strategy is focused around three strategic centers: for cluster development, for international exchange, and for graduate studies. Development and assessment of research projects takes place within three major focus areas – area studies, humanities, and life sciences. Freie Universität has various offices abroad, e.g., in New York, Beijing, and Moscow, that provide a platform for international cooperation. The university’s performance in the Excellence Initiative has provided funding for several new graduate schools and transdisciplinary research clusters.

The Times Higher Education Supplement world rankings in Arts and Humanities of 2008 place the FU Berlin 3rd best in Europe, and 24th in the world.

History

It was founded in 1948 by students and staff who were relegated because of their political views from Humboldt University of Berlin, formerly the traditional Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität of Berlin, and at that time controlled by the authorities in the Soviet sector. In 1968, it was the center of the left-wing German student movement in parallel to that in Paris, London, and Berkeley. Activists of that time included the SDS and Rudi Dutschke. By the 1980s, it had become the largest German university with 66,000 students. With the restructuring of the Humboldt University after the German reunification, the Freie Universität Berlin was downsized to about 38,000 students in the 1990s.

Departments

The university has 12 departments, three interdisciplinary central institutes and other central service institutions:
Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy
Business and Economics
Earth Sciences
History and Cultural Studies
Law
Mathematics and Computer Science
Medicine (Charité - University Medicine Berlin)
Pedagogy and Psychology
Philosophy and Humanities
Physics
Political and Social Science
Veterinary Medicine

Interdisciplinary Central Institutes
John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies
Institute for Eastern European Studies
Institute for Latin American Studies
Friedrich Schlegel Graduate School of Literary Studies

Central Service Institutions
Botanical Garden Berlin and Botanical Museum Berlin
Center for Academic Advising, Career and Counseling Services
Center for Continuing Studies
Center for Recreational Sports
Center for the Promotion of Woman's and Gender Studies
Computer Center
Language Center
University Library
For more information visit-http://www.fu-berlin.de/en/