University of Duisburg-Essen

The University of Duisburg-Essen is a public university in Duisburg and Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and a member of the newly founded University Alliance Metropolis Ruhr. It was founded in 1654 and re-established on 1 January 2003 as a merger of the Gerhard Mercator University of Duisburg and the University of Essen. Until 1994 the name of the Gerhard Mercator University was Comprehensive University of Duisburg.With its 12 departments and more than 39,000 students, the University of Duisburg-Essen is among the 10 largest German universities. Over the past three years, research income has risen by 150 percent.HistoryOrigins; The University of Duisburg Its origins date back to the 1555 decision of Duke Wilhelm V von Jülich-Kleve-Berg to create a university for the unified duchies at the Lower Rhine. To this end, it was necessary to obtain a permission of the emperor and the pope. Although the permission of the pope was granted in 1564 and of the emperor in 1566, the university was founded about ninety years later in 1654, after the acquisition of the duchy of Kleve by Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg. It opened on 14 October 1655 by Johannes Claudberg as their first rector. The university had four faculties: Theology, Medicine, Law and Arts. During its period of activity it was one of the central and leading universities of the western provinces of Prussia.Only a few decades later the university was in competition with the much better equipped Dutch universities. Since only about one third of the population in the western provinces of Prussia were member of the reformed church, most Lutheran and Catholic citizens in the second half of the 18th century, sent their sons to other universities.