The Ruhr University Bochum (German: Ruhr-Universität Bochum, RUB) is a public research university located in the southern hills of the central Ruhr area, Bochum, Germany. It was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany after World War II. Instruction began in 1965.
The Ruhr-University Bochum is one of the largest universities in Germany and part of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the most important German research funding organization.
The University of Bochum was one of the first universities in Germany to introduce international bachelor's and master's degrees, which replaced the traditional German Diplom and Magister. Except for a few special cases, such as medicine, these degrees are offered by all faculties of the Ruhr-University. Currently, the university offers a total of 184 different study programs from all academic fields represented at the university.
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Facilities
Unlike many older German universities, the buildings of Ruhr-University are all centralized on one campus, located south of Bochum city. The Faculty of Medicine includes several university clinics that are located at different centres in Bochum and the Ruhr area. A major facility for patient care is the University Hospital/Knappschaftskrankenhaus in the district Langendreer of Bochum. Internationally renowned experts in their respective fields include professors Wolff Schmiegel in oncology and Burkhard Dick in ophthalmology. The centralized university campus architecture is comprised almost exclusively of the 1960s architecture style referred to as brutalism, consisting of 14 almost identical high-rise buildings. One striking feature of these buildings is that although their roofs are all at the same apparent height (sky level), the absolute heights of the buildings vary in accordance with their placement on the undulating landscape in which the university is located: the campus is at the edge of a green belt on high ground adjacent to the Ruhr valley.
The arrangement of the buildings and the (concrete) paths and bridges between them was originally meant to resemble a "harbour of knowledge", with the buildings symbolising vessels, by architect Helmut Hentrich.
The campus has undergone heavy modernisation and extension efforts, including the construction and refurbishment of several buildings. Some of the original 1960s buildings are to be rebuilt, instead of refurbished, due to PCB contamination. The overall campus concept envisions a modern facility and the placement of Bochum as a "knowledge city".
Organization
Ruhr-University is financed and administered by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Currently, 42,718 students are enrolled, and the university employs around 5,600 staff (411 of which are professors), making it one of the ten largest universities in Germany as of 2014. Kurt Biedenkopf, who later became prime minister of the state of Saxony, was rector of the university from 1967 to 1969.
The university is organized into twenty-one different faculties. These are:
Faculty of Protestant Theology
Faculty of Catholic Theology
Faculty of Philosophy, Education and Journalism
Faculty of History (including the departments of history, art history and archaeological sciences)
Faculty of Philology
Faculty of Law
Faculty of Economics
Faculty of Social science
Faculty of East Asian studies
Faculty of Sports science
Faculty of Psychology
Faculty of Civil and environmental engineering
Faculty of Mechanical engineering
Faculty of Electrical engineering and information technology
Faculty of Mathematics
Faculty of Physics and astronomy
Rankings
In the QS World University Rankings for 2024, the university was ranked 375th globally and 20th nationally. Meanwhile, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for 2024 positioned the university in a range between 251st and 300th worldwide, and between 25th and 31st in the national ranking. Similarly, in the 2023 ARWU list, the university placed between 301st and 400th globally and between 20th and 24th nationally.
Points of interest
Botanischer Garten der Ruhr-Universität Bochum, a botanical garden with Chinese garden
Hegel-Archiv, the archives of the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Medical historical collection of the Ruhr-University
Art collection, including Antiquity Museum of the Ruhr-University
Audimax and Klais-Organ of the Ruhr-University
Musisches Zentrum (Artistic center)
Notable alumni
Ali Atalan: Kurdish-German politician of Yazidi faith, former member of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Turkish Parliament.
Bernd Baumann: Economist and politician, serving as a member of the Bundestag from Hamburg since 2017.
Hans-Paul Bürkner: German management consultant, serving as Global Chair Emeritus of the Boston Consulting Group.
Andreas Floer: German mathematician known for his contributions to symplectic topology and the invention of Floer homology.
Daniel Jasinski: German discus thrower, Olympic bronze medalist in 2016.
Anke Kaysser-Pyzalla, CEO of German Aerospace Center, former president of the Technical University of Braunschweig.
Zdzisław Krasnodębski: Polish sociologist, philosopher, and politician, serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2014.
Andrea Kern (born 1968), professor of philosophy at Leipzig University
Norbert Lammert: Politician, served as the 12th President of the Bundestag from 2005 to 2017.
Sylvia Löhrmann: German politician of the Green Party.
Reinhard Marx: Cardinal in the Catholic Church, serving as the Archbishop of Munich and Freising.
Elmar Nass: German Catholic theologian, priest, social economist, and academic at the Cologne University of Catholic Theology (KHKT).