Goethe University Frankfurt (German: Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main[7]) is a publicresearch university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealthy and active liberal citizenry of Frankfurt. The original name in German was Universität Frankfurt am Main.[8] In 1932, the university's name was extended in honour of one of the most famous native sons of Frankfurt, the poet, philosopher and writer/dramatist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The university currently has around 45,000 students, distributed across four major campuses within the city.
The university celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2014. The first female president of the university, Birgitta Wolff, was sworn into office in 2015,[9] and was succeeded by Enrico Schleiff in 2021.[10] 20 Nobel Prize winners have been affiliated with the university, including Max von Laue and Max Born.[11][12] The university is also affiliated with 18 winners of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize.[13]
The historical roots of the university can be traced back as far as 1484,[14] when a City Council Library was established with a bequest from the patrician Ludwig von Marburg. Merged with other collections, it was renamed City Library in 1668 and became the university library in 1914.[15] Depending on the country, the date of foundation is recorded differently. According to Anglo-American calculations, the founding date of Goethe University would be 1484. In Germany, the date on which the right to award doctorates is granted is considered the founding year of a university.
The modern history of the University of Frankfurt can be dated to 28 September 1912, when the foundation contract for the "Königliche Universität zu Frankfurt am Main" (Royal University at Frankfurt on the Main) was signed at the Römer, Frankfurt's town hall. Royal permission for the university was granted on 10 June 1914, and the first enrollment of students began on 16 October 1914. Members of Frankfurt's Jewish community, including the Speyer family, Wilhelm Ralph Merton, and the industrialists Leo Gans and Arthur von Weinberg donated two thirds of the foundation capital of the University of Frankfurt.
The university also has been influential in the natural sciences and medicine, with Nobel Prize winners including Max von Laue and Max Born, and breakthroughs such as the Stern–Gerlach experiment.
The university is involved in the Hessian Center for Artificial Intelligence [de] (hessian.AI).[18]
Campuses
Campus WestendCampus Westend
The university is located across four campuses in Frankfurt am Main:
Campus Westend:
Headquarters of the university, also housing Social sciences, Pedagogy, Psychology, Theology, Philosophy, History, Philology, Archaeology, Law, Economics and Business Administration, Human geography
Campus Bockenheim:
University library, Mathematics, Computer science, Art history, Fine Arts
Campus Riedberg:
Pharmacy, Physics, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Biology, Geosciences and Geography
Campus Niederrad:
Medical science, dentistry, university hospital
Campus Ginnheim:
Sports.
Campus Westend
"Campus Westend" of the university is dominated by the IG Farben Building by architect Hans Poelzig, an example of the modernistNew Objectivity style.[19][20] The style for the IG Farben Building was originally chosen as "a symbol for the scientific and mercantile German manpower, made out of iron and stone", as the IG Farben director at the time of construction, Baron von Schnitzler, stated in his opening speech in October 1930.
After the university took over the complex in the 1990s, new buildings were added to the campus. On 30 May 2008, the House of Finance relocated to a new building designed by the architects Kleihues+Kleihues, following the style of the IG Farben Building. The upper floors of the House of Finance building have several separate offices as well as shared office space for researchers and students. The ground floor is open to the public and welcomes visitors with a spacious, naturally lit foyer that leads to lecture halls, seminar rooms, and the information center, a 24-hour reference library. The ground floor also accommodates computer rooms and a café. The floors, walls and ceiling of the foyer are decorated with a grid design that is continued throughout the entire building. The flooring is inspired by Raphael's mural, The School of Athens.
Goethe Business School
The Goethe Business School is a graduate business school at the university, established in 2004, part of the House of Finance at the Westend Campus and the IKB building. It is a non-profit foundation under private law held by the university. Its board of directors is led by Rolf-Ernst Breuer, who was chairman of the board of Deutsche Bank until 2006.[21] The school has maintained a partnership in Executive Education with the Indian School of Business (ISB) since 2009.[22]
The Deutsche Bank Prize
The Deutsche Bank Prize in Financial Economics honors renowned researchers who have made influential contributions to the fields of finance and money and macroeconomics, and whose work has led to practical and policy-relevant results. It is awarded biannually, since 2005, by the Center for Financial Studies, in partnership with Goethe University Frankfurt. The award carries an endowment of €50,000, which is donated by the Stiftungsfonds Deutsche Bank im Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft.
Student and alumni engagement
The university management and the respective departments support numerous student university groups, student initiatives and university-affiliated and private alumni organisations:[23][24]
AIESEC
Campusradio DauerWelle
Debattierclub Goethes Faust
Erasmus Student Network Frankfurt am Main (Hermes Club)
Enactus Universität Frankfurt
Frankfurter Studenten-Zeitung Diskus
Goethe Club
Goethe Gruppe
impress!
Literaturzeitschrift Johnny
MTP – Marketing zwischen Theorie und Praxis, Geschäftsstelle Frankfurt am Main
Nightline Frankfurt
ROCK YOUR LIFE! Frankfurt e. V.
The student councils at Goethe University are legally regulated by the Hessian Higher Education Act. They are therefore not student initiatives in the traditional sense, as they are legally binding institutions without their own legal personality.
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