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Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (German: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; Latin: Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis), is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is Germany's oldest university and one of the world's oldest surviving universities; it was the third university established in the Holy Roman Empire after Prague (1347) and Vienna (1365). Since 1899, it has been a coeducational institution.

Heidelberg is one of the most prestigious universities in Europe. It is a German Excellence University, part of the U15, as well as a founding member of the League of European Research Universities and the Coimbra Group. The university consists of twelve faculties and offers degree programmes at undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral levels in some 100 disciplines. The language of instruction is usually German; however, a considerable number of graduate degrees are offered in English as well as some in French.

As of 2021, 57 Nobel Prize winners have been affiliated with the city of Heidelberg and 33 with the university itself. Modern scientific psychiatry, psychopharmacology, experimental psychology, psychiatric genetics, mathematical statistics, environmental physics, and modern sociology were introduced as scientific disciplines by Heidelberg students or faculty. Approximately 1,000 doctorates are completed every year, with more than one third of the doctoral students coming from abroad. International students from some 130 countries account for more than 20 percent of the entire student body.

History

Founding

The Great Schism of 1378 made it possible for Heidelberg, a relatively small city and capital of the Electorate of the Palatinate, to gain its own university. The Great Schism was initiated by the election of two popes after the death of Pope Gregory XI in the same year. One successor resided in Avignon (elected by the French) and the other in Rome (elected by the Italian cardinals). The German secular and spiritual leaders voiced their support for the successor in Rome, which had far-reaching consequences for the German students and teachers in Paris: they lost their stipends and had to leave.

Rupert I recognized the opportunity and initiated talks with the Curia, which ultimately led to a papal bull for foundation of a university. After having received, on 23 October 1385, permission from pope Urban VI to create a school of general studies (Latin: studium generale), the final decision to found the university was taken on 26 June 1386 at the behest of Rupert I, Count Palatine of the Rhine. As specified in the papal charter, the university was modelled after the University of Paris and included four faculties: philosophy, theology, jurisprudence, and medicine.

On 18 October 1386, a special Pontifical High Mass in the Heiliggeistkirche was the ceremony that established the university. On 19 October 1386 the first lecture was held, making Heidelberg the oldest university in Germany. In November 1386, Marsilius of Inghen was elected first rector of the university. The rector seal motto was semper apertus—i.e., "the book of learning is always open." The university grew quickly and in March 1390, 185 students were enrolled at the university.

Late Middle Ages

Between 1414 and 1418, theology and jurisprudence professors of the university took part in the Council of Constance and acted as counselors for Louis III, who attended this council as representative of the emperor and chief magistrate of the realm. This resulted in establishing a good reputation for the university and its professors.

Due to the influence of Marsilius, the university initially taught the nominalism or via moderna. In 1412, both realism and the teachings of John Wycliffe were forbidden at the university but later, around 1454, the university decided that realism or via antique would also be taught, thus introducing two parallel ways (ambae viae).

The transition from scholastic to humanistic culture was effected by the chancellor and bishop Johann von Dalberg in the late 15th century. Humanism was represented at Heidelberg University particularly by the founder of the older German Humanistic School Rudolph Agricola, Conrad Celtes, Jakob Wimpfeling, and Johann Reuchlin. Æneas Silvius Piccolomini was chancellor of the university in his capacity as provost of Worms, and later always favored it with his friendship and good-will as Pope Pius II. In 1482, Pope Sixtus IV permitted laymen and married men to be appointed professors in the ordinary of medicine through a papal dispensation. In 1553, Pope Julius III sanctioned the allotment of ecclesiastical benefices to secular professors.

Campuses

Heidelberg is a city with approximately 140,000 inhabitants. It is situated in the Rhine Neckar Triangle, a European metropolitan area with approximately 2.4 million people living there, comprising the neighboring cities of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Ludwigshafen, and a number of smaller towns in the perimeter. Heidelberg is known as the cradle of Romanticism, and its old town and castle are among the most frequented tourist destinations in Germany. Its pedestrian zone is a shopping and night life magnet for the surrounding area and beyond. Heidelberg is about 40 minutes by train away from Frankfurt International Airport.

Heidelberg University's facilities are, generally speaking, separated in two parts. The faculties and institutes of humanities and social sciences are embedded in the Old Town Campus. The sciences faculties and the medical school, including three large university hospitals, are located on the New Campus in the Neuenheimer Feld on the outskirts of Heidelberg.

Old Town Campus

The Old University is an baroque building located between the Hauptstrasse and the Universitätsplatz (University Square) in the old town of Heidelberg. It contains the Hall of the University, once the main assembly hall and lecture theatre of the University, as well as the Heidelberg University Museum and the old University gaol.

The New University, also situated on the Universitätsplatz, was officially opened in 1931. Its erection was largely financed by donations of wealthy American families, in line with a fundraising campaign of Jacob Gould Schurman, an alumnus of Heidelberg University and former United States Ambassador to Germany. It houses the new assembly hall, the largest lecture halls, and a number of smaller seminar rooms, mostly used by faculties of humanities and social sciences. Education in humanities and social sciences takes place to a great extent in buildings spread over the ancient part of town, though most are less than ten minutes walk from University Square. The faculties maintain their own extensive libraries and work spaces for students. Seminars and tutorials are usually held in the faculty buildings.

Neuenheimer Feld – New Campus

In the 1960s the university started building a new campus near the city district Neuenheim, called the Neuenheimer Feld. It is today the largest part of the university, and the largest campus for natural sciences and life science in Germany. Almost all science faculties and institutes, the medical school, University Hospital Heidelberg, and the science branch of the University Library are situated on the New Campus. Most of the dormitories and the athletic facilities of the university can be found there as well.

Organization

Governance

The Rectorate is the 'executive body' of the university, headed by rector Prof. Dr. Frauke Melchior. The rectorate consists of the chancellor, Holger Schroeter, who is the head of the central administration and responsible for the university's budgeting, and three pro-rectors, who are responsible for international relations, teaching and communication, and research and structure respectively.

The Senate is the 'legislative branch' of the university. The rector and the members of the rectorate are senators ex officio, as are also the deans of the faculties, as well as the medical and managing directors of the University Hospital, and the university's equal opportunities officer. Another 20 senators are elected for four-year terms, within the following quotas: eight university professors; four academic staff; four delegates of the student body; and four employees of the university administration.

The university council is the advisory board to the aforementioned entities and encompasses, among others, the former Israeli Ambassador to Germany Avi Primor, as well as CEOs of German industries.

Faculties

After a 2003 structural reformation, the university consists of 13 faculties, which in turn comprise several disciplines, departments, and institutes. As a consequence of the Bologna process, most faculties now offer Bachelor's, Master's, and Ph.D. degrees to comply with the new European degree standard. Notable exceptions are the undergraduate programs in law, medicine, dentistry and pharmacy, from which students still graduate with the State Examination, a central examination at Master's level held by the State of Baden-Württemberg.

Partnerships

The university has partnerships nationally and internationally. In particular, it maintains longstanding collaborations in research and education with the following independent research institutes located in and around Heidelberg:

Academic profile

School statistics

The university employs more than 15,000 academic staff; most of them are physicians engaged in the University Hospital. As of 2008, the faculty encompasses 4,196 full-time staff, excluding visiting professors as well as graduate research and teaching assistants. 673 faculty members have been drawn from abroad. Heidelberg University also attracts more than 500 international scholars as visiting professors each academic year. The university enrols a total of 28,949 students, including 5,276 international students. In addition there are 1,467 international exchange students at Heidelberg. 23,636 students pursue taught degrees, 4,114 of whom are international students, and 919 are international exchange students. 4,114 students pursue a doctoral degree, including 1,444 international doctoral students and 15 international exchange students. In 2007, the university awarded 994 PhD degrees.

Rankings

In the 2026 edition of the QS World University Rankings, Heidelberg ranked 80th globally and third in Germany. According to the 2025 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, the university was ranked 47th in the world and held the position as the third best university in the country. In the 2025 ARWU World Rankings, Heidelberg secured the 51st position worldwide and was ranked third nationally.

According to the funding report of the German Research Foundation (DFG) of 2018, which breaks down the grants from 2014 to 2016, the Heidelberg University ranked 2nd among German universities in the overall ranking, 7th in humanities and social sciences and 4th among German universities in the life sciences and natural sciences. The approvals were normalised to the size of the university. In a competitive selection process, the DFG selects the best research projects from researchers at universities and research institutes and finances them. The ranking is thus regarded as an indicator of the quality of research.

In the Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities (NTU ranking) 2019, which measures the research outputs of universities, Heidelberg University is ranked 1st in Germany and 5th in Continental Europe.

In the CWTS Leiden Ranking 2019 Heidelberg University is ranked 1st in Germany and 13th in Continental Europe over all sciences according to the scientific impact (number of publications in core journals). According to the indicator "Collaboration", Heidelberg University is 1st in Germany and 10th in Europe.

Ranked by the number of Nobel Laureates affiliated with the university at the time of Nobel Prize announcement, Heidelberg was placed 1st in Germany, 4th in Europe and 13th in the world by 2013.

Student life

Sports

The university offers a broad variety of athletics, such as teams in 16 different court sports from American football to volleyball, courses in 11 different martial arts, 26 courses in physical fitness and body building, 9 courses in health sports from aquapower to yoga, and groups in 12 different dance styles. Moreover, equestrian sports, sailing, rowing, skiing in the French Alps, track and field, swimming, fencing, cycling, acrobatics, gymnastics, and much more. Most of the sports are free of charge. Heidelberg's competition teams are particularly successful in soccer, volleyball, equestrian sports, judo, karate, track and field, and basketball. The University Sports Club men's basketball team, USC Heidelberg, is the championship record holder, won 13 national championships, and is the only university team playing at a professional level in the second division of Germany's national league.

Groups

Moreover, the university supports a number of student groups in various fields of interest. Among them are four drama clubs, the university orchestra Collegium Musicum, four choirs, six student media groups, six groups of international students, nine groups of political parties and NGO's, several departments of European organizations of students in certain disciplines, four clubs dedicated to fostering international relations and cultural exchange, a chess club, a literature club, two debate societies (one focused on English debating, the other focused on German debating), one student consulting group, and four religious student groups. Student unions structure themselves as "Studierendenrat" (Student body council) as well as on department level.

Media

Heidelberg's student newspaper "ruprecht" is—with editions of more than 10,000 copies—one of Germany's largest student-run newspapers. It was recently distinguished by the MLP Pro Campus Press Award as Germany's best student newspaper. The jury of journalists from major newspapers commended its "well balanced, though critical attitude" and its "simply great" layout that "suffices highest professional demands." The ruprecht is financed entirely by advertising revenues, thus retaining independence from university management. Some renowned journalists emerged from ruprecht's editorial board.

However, the critical online student newspaper UNiMUT, which is run by the joint student council of the faculties, criticized the ruprecht often for being conformed, and exceedingly layout-oriented.

Heidelberg is also home of Germany's oldest student law review Heidelberg Law Review. The journal is published quarterly, at the beginning and end of each semester break, and is circulated throughout all of Germany.

Notable alumni

Alumni and faculty of the university include many founders and pioneers of academic disciplines, and a large number of internationally acclaimed philosophers, poets, jurisprudents, theologians, natural and social scientists. 33 Nobel Laureates, at least 18 Leibniz laureates, and two "Oscar" winners have been associated with Heidelberg University. Nine Nobel laureates received the award during their tenure at Heidelberg.

Besides several federal ministers of Germany and prime ministers of German states, five chancellors of Germany have attended the university, the latest being Helmut Kohl, the "Chancellor of the Reunification". Heads of state or government of Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, Nicaragua, Serbia, Thailand, a British heir apparent, a secretary general of NATO and a director of the International Peace Bureau have also been educated at Heidelberg; among them Nobel Peace laureates Charles Albert Gobat and Auguste Beernaert. Former university affiliates in the field of religion include Pope Pius II, cardinals, bishops, and with Philipp Melanchthon and Zacharias Ursinus, two key leaders of the Protestant Reformation. Outstanding university affiliates in the legal profession include a president of the International Court of Justice, two presidents of the European Court of Human Rights, a president of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, a vice president of the International Criminal Court, an advocate general at the European Court of Justice, at least 16 justices of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, a president of the Federal Court of Justice, a president of the Federal Court of Finance, a president of the Federal Labor Court, two attorneys general of Germany, and a British law lord. In business, Heidelberg alumni and faculty notably founded, co-founded or presided over ABB; Astor corporate enterprises; BASF; BDA; Daimler AG; Deutsche Bank; EADS; Krupp AG; Siemens and Thyssen AG.

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