Universität Bern | |
 | |
| Latin:Universitas Bernensis[1] | |
| Type | Public (cantonal) |
|---|---|
| Established | 1834; 191 years ago (1834) |
| Budget | CHF 939 million (third-party funds: CHF 367 million)[2] |
| Rector | Christian Leumann[3] |
Academic staff | 529 professors |
Administrative staff | 1,874[4] |
| Students | 19,608 |
| Address | Hochschulstrasse 6 ,,,3012 , |
| Campus | Urban |
| Colours | White Red Blue |
| Affiliations | Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities,swissuniversities |
| Website | unibe.ch |
 | |
TheUniversity of Bern (German:Universität Bern,French:Université de Berne,Latin:Universitas Bernensis) is apublicresearch university in theSwiss capital ofBern. It was founded in 1834.[5][6] It is regulated and financed by thecanton of Bern. It is a comprehensive university offering a broad choice of courses and programs in eightfaculties and some 150institutes.[7] With around 19,000 students,[8] the University of Bern is the third largest university in Switzerland.[9]
The University of Bern operates at three levels: university, faculties and institutes. Other organizational units include interfaculty and general university units. The university's highest governing body is the Senate, which is responsible for issuing statutes, rules and regulations. Directly answerable to the Senate is the University Board of Directors, the governing body for university management and coordination. The board comprises the rector, the vice-rectors and the administrative director. The structures and functions of the University Board of Directors and the other organizational units are regulated by the Universities Act.[10]
The University of Bern had 19,608 students in 2024. Of these, 41 percent (8,071) were registered inbachelor programs and 25 percent (4,992) inmaster's programs, 18 percent (3,518) weredoctoral students, and another 15 percent (3,027) were enrolled in continuing education programs.[11] There were 1,667 bachelor's degree graduation, 1,603 master's degree graduations and 725 PhD student graduations in 2021.[11] For some time now, the university has had more female than male students. At the end of 2024, women accounted for 60% of students.[11]
| Academic year | Students[11] |
|---|---|
| 2014/2015 | 17,428 |
| 2015/2016 | 17,430 |
| 2016/2017 | 17,514 |
| 2017/2018 | 17,882 |
| 2018/2019 | 18,019 |
| 2019/2020 | 18,576 |
| 2020/2021 | 19,230 |
| 2021/2022 | 19,441 |
| 2022/2023 | 19,297 |
| 2023/2024 | 19,640 |
| 2024/2025 | 19,608 |
The University of Bern does not have a single largecampus on the edge of the city, but has consistently pursued the principle of a university in the city. Most institutes and clinics are still in the Länggasse, the traditional university district adjoining the city centre, within walking distance of one another. The Faculty of Theology and various institutes in the Faculty of Humanities are now housed in an old chocolate factory (theUnitobler), and in 2005 the former women's hospital was refurbished to serve as a university centre for institutes in the Faculty of Law and Department of Economics (theUniS).[12] The vonRoll site, another former factory building, is in the process of being refurbished to house the Faculty of Human Sciences and the Department of Social Sciences.[13]
The roots of the University of Bern go back to the sixteenth century, when a collegiate school was needed to train new pastors after theReformation. As part of its reorganization of higher education, the government of Bern transformed the existing theological college into anacademy with four faculties in 1805. Henceforth, it was possible to study not only theology in Bern, but alsolaw andmedicine.[5][6]
As in other countries of Europe, nineteenth-century politics in Switzerland were dominated by the struggle betweenconservative andliberal currents. The liberals gained control of the Canton of Bern in 1831 and in 1834 turned the academy into a university, with an academic staff of 45 to teach 167 students. Owing to the political situation, it was not until thepromulgation of the federal constitution in 1848 that the university was able to embark on a period of peaceful development. Between 1885 and 1900, the number of students doubled from 500 to 1,000. As a result, at the turn of the twentieth century the University of Bern was the largest university in Switzerland. This rapid growth reflected the university's attraction for foreign students, in particularGermans andRussians, who accounted for half of the total enrollment. It was also Russian female students who in the 1870s won the right for women to study.[5]
With the growing prosperity of the city of Bern, the university in the Länggasse quarter expanded at the end of the 19th century. In 1903, a new Main Building was inaugurated on the Grosse Schanze and the number of faculties increased. In 1908–09, three prominent persons put the University of Bern in the limelight. In 1908,Albert Einstein taught the first of three semesters of theoretical physics. The following year, Anna Tumarkin, a Russian philosopher, was appointed to an extraordinary professorship and thus became the first female professor at a European university entitled to examine doctoral and post-doctoral theses. Also in 1909,Theodor Kocher, a Bernese surgeon, was awarded theNobel Prize in Medicine. In the following years the university consolidated its position as a small centre of higher learning with a stable enrollment of about 2,000 students.[5]
AfterWorld War II, a growing number of voices called for the expansion of tertiary education in Switzerland. The rapid growth in the 1950s and 1960s (enrollment at the University of Bern had already reached 5,000 in 1968) – generated pressure for expansion. The completely revised University Act of 1996 transformed the University of Bern from an administrative division of the Department of Education of the Canton of Bern into an autonomous institution. a legal entity in its own right. The Act clearly defined the competencies of the university and of the state. The university passed another milestone in 1992, when its enrollment reached 10,000.[5]
TheBologna Declaration ushered in the era ofECTS credits and the bachelor's and master's degree structure. The university set strategic research priorities, such asclimate research, and promoted inter-university cooperation. At the same time, the university reorganized its faculties. With the amendment to the University Act in summer 2010, the University Board of Directors acquired the right to choose its own ordinary professors and keep its own accounts separate from the state.
The University Board of Directors formulated a strategy in 2013, whixh builds on the previous strategy of 2006, the 2012 mission statement, and the performance mandate for the university from the Cantonal Government.[14]
The University of Bern has eight faculties:
The medical faculties of the Universities of Bern and Basel have formed a strategic alliance in the fields ofcardiac surgery,neurosurgery,pathology andmicrobiology. The Vetsuisse Faculty was created in 2006 through the merger of the Faculties of veterinary medicine of the Universities of Bern andZurich. The Humanities Faculty is comparable to the arts and sciences departments of American universities and offers majors in the three areas of art and culture, archaeology and history, and languages and literature. The Faculty of Science focuses on the natural and life sciences. The Human Sciences Faculty was founded in 2005 and offers study programmes in education, sports and psychology.[15]
As a comprehensive university, Bern covers a wide range of classical university courses in some 39 bachelor, 71 master and 69 advanced study programs. The Physics Institute contributed to thefirst flight to the Moon and still carries out experiments and provides apparatus forNASA andESA space missions on a regular basis.[16][17][18]
In addition to the classical disciplines, the University of Bern has also established programmes in newer ones such assports science andtheatre studies. It is the only institution in Switzerland with a theatre studies course that enables students to major in dance in their master program.[19] The University of Bern also offers the Master in Applied Economic Analysis (MAEA), which is the only university-level program in Switzerland with focus on applied economic analysis.[20] The Graduate Schools for doctoral candidates offer further-reaching programmes that are closely linked to the university's research priorities in the fields of climate science,health care and penal law and criminology.[21]
There are six centres with specialized roles and interfaculty units maintained by the University of Bern:
The function of these general university institutions is to promote dialogue between students in different disciplines and faculties through interdisciplinary events for academic staff and students. The Centre for Continuing University Education (ZUW) focuses on scientificfurther education. The selection of topics in the ZUW programmes ranges from public administration throughdentistry tospiritual guidance. In addition, the University of Bern has also taken the lead in the German-speaking world in creating a number of novel study programmes, for instance Evaluation.[22]
The university has defined specific strategic focuses of research and established interdisciplinary centres for research and teaching. The biomedical engineering programmes of the Artificial Organ (ARTORG) Center for Biomedical Engineering Research and the Public Management and Policy programme of the Center of Competence for Public Management (CCPM).[23]
There are 10 strategic centres and interfaculty units at the University of Bern:
A number of the university's centres focus on the challenges ofsustainability. TheCentre for Development and Environment (CDE) manages research programmes in the field ofsustainable development, focusing on its particular areas of expertise in integrated regional development andnatural resource management. TheWorld Trade Institute (WTI) manages research, education, and outreach focused onglobal economic governance, including global sustainability policy. TheOeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR) is at the forefront of international research onclimate science and policy, and its researchers have participated as co-chair, coordinating lead authors or lead authors in all the assessment reports so far published by theIPCC.[24]
The Center for Regional Economic Development (CRED) is an interfaculty center for research, teaching and consulting in regional economic development. Researchers from the research units Economics, Entrepreneurship, Geography and Tourism deal with research questions regarding the following research areas: Location dynamics and regional economic policy, Tourism as well as Land use policy and real estate.[25]
The Center for Space and Habitability (CSH) leads the EuropeanCHEOPS (CHaracterising ExOPlanets Satellite) project. CHEOPS is a planned European space telescope for the study of the formation of extrasolar planets, with a launch window in October to November 2019.[citation needed]
Several of the centers offer specialized graduate programmes. For example: the biomedical engineering programmes of the Artificial Organ (ARTORG) Center for Biomedical Engineering Research; the Public Management and Policy programme of the Center of Competence for Public Management (CCPM); theWTI (offering MAS, LLM, and PhD programs in international economics and economic law);[26] and theOCCR graduate school (offersing an MSc and a PhD program in Climate Sciences, as well as a Swiss Climate Summer School).[27]
Bern Open Publishing is an onlineopen accesspeer-reviewed publishing platform launched by theuniversity library [de] in 2013.[28] Some of the journals published are:[29]
| University rankings | |
|---|---|
| Global – Overall | |
| ARWU World[30] | 101–150 (2024) |
| QS World[31] | =184 (2026) |
| THE World[32] | =116 (2024) |
| USNWR Global[33] | 111 (2024-25) |
The University of Bern has been ranked as one of the top 150 universities in the world. In theQS World University Rankings 2023, it ranked 120th.[34] The Shanghai Ranking (ARWU) 2022 ranked the University of Bern in the range 101st–150th in the world.[35] In theLeiden Ranking 2021, it ranked 180th in the world.[36] In theTimes Higher Education World University Rankings it ranked 94th in 2023.[37]
A number of professors at the University of Bern were pioneers in their field. The Russian-bornAnna Tumarkin was the first female professor in Europe with the right to examine doctoral and post-doctoral students. The physicianGabriel Gustav Valentin was the first Jewish professor to be elected to a chair at a German-speaking university. Theodor Oskar Rubeli was co-responsible for founding the first faculty of veterinary medicine in the world. Finally, theice core analyses of physicistHans Oeschger played a pioneering role in the development of climate research.Other notable academics at the University of Bern include (by faculty):[citation needed]
Eduard Herzog,Ulrich Luz,Adolf Schlatter,Lukas Vischer,Eduard Zeller
Jakob Klaesi,Emil Theodor Kocher,Hugo Kronecker,Theodor Langhans,Ludwig Lichtheim,Maurice Edmond Müller,Fritz de Quervain,Hermann Sahli,Gabriel Gustav Valentin,Esther Fischer-Homberger
Andreas Alföldi,Elisabeth Ettlinger,Carl Heinrich Wilhelm Hagen,Walther Killy,Julius Pokorny,Ignaz Paul Vitalis Troxler,Anna Tumarkin,Hermann Usener,George van Driem
Albert Einstein,Heinrich Greinacher,Hans Oeschger,Ludwig Schläfli,Bernhard Studer,Hugo von Mohl,Heinrich von Wild,Hugo Hadwiger
Theodor Oskar Rubeli,Sylvie Graf
The following prominent persons studied at the University of Bern:
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