The University of Zurich was founded on April 29, 1833,[13] when the existing colleges of theology, theCarolinum founded byHuldrych Zwingli in 1525, law and medicine were merged with a new faculty of Philosophy. It was the first university in Europe to be founded by the state rather than a monarch or church.[14] Its Latin name is reminiscent of the Roman name for the precursor settlement of the city of Zurich,Turicum.
Aerial view (1953)
In the university's early years, the 1839 appointment of the German theologianDavid Friedrich Strauss to its Chair of Theology caused a major controversy, since Strauss argued that the miracles in the ChristianNew Testament were mythical retellings of normal events as supernatural happenings.[15][16][17][18] Eventually, the authorities offered Strauss a pension before he had a chance to start his duties.
The university allowed women to attend philosophy lectures from 1847. The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine was added in 1901, the second-oldest such faculty in the world. In 1914, the university moved to new premises designed by the architectKarl Moser on Rämistrasse 71.[19]
The university admitted a Russian woman student, Maria Kniazhnina, to audit medicine classes in 1864, but she did not complete the course. Another Russian student,Nadezhda Suslova, audited medicine classes from 1865 and was allowed to become a registered student and graduate as a doctor of medicine in 1867. The first seven women who were awarded medical degrees at the university were known as the Zurich Seven. They wereNadezhda Suslova (Russia),Frances Elizabeth Morgan (England),Louisa Atkins (England),Maria Bokova (Russia),Eliza Walker (Scotland),Susan Dimock (United States), andMarie Vögtlin (Switzerland).[20]
Albert Einstein was awarded his PhD from the university in 1906. In 2022, the original certificate was returned to the university.[21]
In 2022, the university ran the first professorship for Gender Medicine in Switzerland.[22] Research included investigations into differences of symptoms of cardiac arrest between men and women.[23]
In 2024, the university announced that they would voluntarily withdraw fromTHE World University Rankings,[24] stating that the ranking "is not able to reflect the wide range of teaching and research activities undertaken at the university",[25] and that the ranking is "leading universities to concentrate on increasing the number of publications instead of improving the quality of their content".[26] Prior to the announcement, the university regularly ranked in the top 100 universities worldwide.[27]
In 2024, the university opened an investigation into an academic following potentially falsified research results[28] which "led to preventable patient deaths" atUniversity Hospital of Zurich.[29]
In 2025, the university, alongside Zurich University of Applied Sciences, received the Geospatial World Excellence Award 2025 for Environmental and Social Impact for their "Spatial Sustainable Finance" project.[30]
In April 2025, researchers from the university's Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences conducted an experiment onReddit's "Change my View" Subreddit where they attempted to identify howLarge Language Models could be used to change people's views. The experiment was widely criticised, accused of breaking community rules, as well as being called unlawful.[31] Subreddit moderators raised concerns with the university about the ethics of the research due to it being conducted without informed consent, and its impersonation of members of groups including LGBT people and sexual assault survivors.[32]
The researchers initially responded to the allegations by defending the study saying that it was "crucial to conduct a study of this kind",[33] their activities had "done little harm", and that the study was approved by the university's ethics committee.[34] Reddit's Chief Legal Officer called the study "deeply wrong on both a moral and legal level" whilst sharing that the website was unaware of the experiment and submitted "legal demands" to the university.[35] Following Reddit's demands the university backtracked by announcing that the research would not be published, and that the Ethics Committee at the faculty indented to "adopt a stricter review process".[36][37]
The university is scattered all over the city of Zurich. The main campuses are located in the city centre, Irchelpark and Oerlikon.[38] Members of the university can use several libraries, including theETH-library, and theZurich Central Library, with over 5 million volumes.[39]In 1962, the faculty of science proposed to establish theIrchelpark campus on theStrickhofareal. The first stage the construction of the university buildings was begun in 1973, and the campus was inaugurated in 1979.[40][41] The construction of the second stage lasted from 1978 to 1983.[41] The campus also houses the anthropological museumAnthropologisches Museum,[42] and the cantonalStaatsarchiv Zürich.[43]
The university included 13 museums: the Anatomical Collection, theArchaeological Collection, the Botanical Museum, the Museum of Wax Moulages, the Science Exploratorium, the Museum of Veterinary History, the Zurich Herbaria, the Museum ofAnthropology, theBotanical Garden, theEthnographic Museum, thePaleontological Museum, the Veterinary Anatomy Collection and the Zoological Museum.[44] The zoological, paleontological, anthropological and botanical museums later merged into theNatural History Museum of the University of Zurich, which opened in 2024. The Institute and Museum for the History of Medicine is also part of the university.[45]
In the fields of bioscience and finance, there is a close-knit collaboration between the University of Zurich and theETH (Federal Institute for Technology). Examples for common initiatives between the two institutions include University Medicine Zurich, the Wyss Translational Center Zurich, and Life Science Zurich (LSZ).[46][47]
Shanghai Jiao Tong University Ranking[54] (heavy emphasis on research output – citations, Nobel prizes etc.) Ranked 59th overall as well as 5th and 10th in the subdisclipines Ecology and Human Biological Sciences respectively.
QS World University Rankings[55] (heavy emphasis on peer review) 91st overall and 56th in Medicine globally making it the highest ranked University in Switzerland for Medicine according to QS.
The university's Department of Economics is especially strong and was ranked first in the German-speaking area by theHandelsblatt in 2017.[57] In 2009, the faculty of Business Administration was ranked third in the German-speaking area.[58]
Atrium CentralIrchel Campus, newer and more remotely located buildings of the University of ZurichStatue at the entrance
Bachelor courses are taught inSwiss Standard German ("Hochdeutsch"), but use of English is increasing in many faculties. The only bachelors program taught entirely in English is the "English Language and Literature" program.[59] All Master courses at the Faculty of Science are held in English. Master courses in Economics and Finance are mainly held in English, while the Master of Science in Quantitative Finance is held completely in English.[citation needed]
The university's Academic Sports Association (ASVZ) offers a wide range of sports facilities to students of the university. The student body is represented through the Verband der Studierenden der Universität Zürich VSUZH which organizes events and is involved in the university administration.[60]
Florence Kelley American economist, social and political reformer, one of the first women to hold statewide office as Chief Factory Inspector for the state of Illinois
Sam Ratulangi, Indonesian National Hero, statesman, teacher, journalist, politician, first Celebes/Sulawesi Governor, and former Indonesian guerilla warfare (Ph.D. in Math)
Ernest Douwes Dekker, Indonesian National Hero, Dutch-Indonesian Politician, and Writer
Albert Einstein, theoretical physicist who was awarded his PhD from the University of Zurich in 1905 and was appointed associate professor at the university in 1909
Anna Fischer-Dückelmann, one of the first women to receive a medical degree in a German-speaking country
^Ganz, Michael T.; Stucki, Heinzpeter (2008)."History in brief". University of Zurich. Archived fromthe original on August 21, 2010. RetrievedJanuary 31, 2010.
^Bonner, Thomas Neville (1992).To the Ends of the Earth: Women's Search for Education in Medicine. Harvard University Press. pp. 32–41.ISBN9780674893030.
