University of Salzburg (original) (raw)

University in Austria

University of Salzburg

Paris-Lodron-Universität Salzburg
Former names Benediktineruniversität
Type Public
Established 1622; 402 years ago (1622)1962 (re-established)
Budget € 112.8 million (2007)
Rector Hendrik Lehnert
Administrative staff 2,800 (2013)
Students 18,000 (2013/2014)
Location Salzburg, Salzburg State, Austria
Website plus.ac.at

The University of Salzburg (German: Universität Salzburg), also known as the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg (Paris-Lodron-Universität Salzburg, PLUS), is an Austrian public university in Salzburg municipality, Salzburg State, named after its founder, Prince-Archbishop Paris Lodron.

Established in 1622, the university was closed in 1810 and re-established in 1962. Nowadays, it has around 18,000 students and 2,800 employees;[_citation needed_] it is the largest educational institution in Salzburg State. It is divided into six faculties: Catholic Theology, Law and Economics, Cultural Sciences, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, Analytical and Life Sciences.

Benedictine University

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On 23 July 1622, Archbishop Paris Lodron appointed the scholar Albert Keuslin first rector of the Benedictine university. Keuslin, a graduate of the Jesuit University of Dillingen, had established the Akademisches Gymnasium, a secondary school, at Salzburg five years earlier. By resolution of Emperor Ferdinand II, issued on October 8, the Gymnasium was raised to a university. While the Thirty Years' War raged outside the Archbishopric of Salzburg, the university was built up and maintained by a federation of Benedictine abbeys from Salzburg, Switzerland, Bavaria and Austria. In its early years, courses taught were theology, divinity, philosophy, law, and medicine.[_citation needed_]

During the Napoleonic Wars, the Prince-Archbishopric was secularized as the Electorate of Salzburg in 1803. It was ruled by Archduke Ferdinand III of Austria, a brother of Emperor Francis I, who established a Faculty of Medicine. After Salzburg was annexed by the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1810, however, the university was closed on 24 December and replaced by a Lyzeum college with sections for divinity and philosophy, as well as a school for medicine and surgery. After the Napoleonic Wars, Salzburg became part of the Austrian Empire.[_citation needed_]

The divinity section was again converted to a faculty in 1850. In World War I, plans were evolved to relocate the Francis Joseph University from Czernowitz to Salzburg, though never carried out.[_citation needed_]

University of Salzburg

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Faculty of Catholic theology and Kollegienkirche

University library

University building with Hohensalzburg Fortress in the background

The University of Salzburg was not re-established until 1962, with a faculty of Catholic theology and a faculty of philosophy. Classes resumed in 1964, with a faculty of law added the following year. In 1975, a new federal law regulated the organisation of all Austrian universities. The University of Salzburg created four academic divisions: the Faculty of Catholic Theology, the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Humanities, and the Faculty of Natural Sciences. A fifth division, the Faculty of Medicine, was not realized.[_citation needed_]

In 1995, the organisation of Austrian universities was further restructured with more faculty autonomy. The university gradually incorporated new academic programs through 2004 into 32 Fachbereiche or “departments”, and again, decided not to create a Faculty of Medicine.[_citation needed_]

The University of Salzburg has no central campus, occupying several buildings in Salzburg's historic centre: parts of the Salzburg Residenz building (Toskanatrakt) and on Kapitelgasse south of Salzburg Cathedral. The university library is located between the Kollegienkirche (the University Church) and the Großes Festspielhaus; attached to it is the Große Aula, or ceremonial hall.[_citation needed_]

The traditional faculty building of Humanities (Communication Studies, Sociology and Political Science) is located by the Rudolfskai. The Faculty of Sciences is located just further south.[_citation needed_]

Completed in 2011, the Unipark Nonntal campus (replacing the old location at the Akademiestraße) is home to the departments of modern languages, and cultural and social sciences. The building is 17,000 square metres in size, with 5,500 students and 300 academic staff. There is a library and an Auditorium Maximum. Financing for the construction of the Unipark Nonntal was enabled by successful negotiations between Salzburg’s state governor Franz Schausberger and the Federal Ministry of Education.[1] Originally designed in 2002 by architects Storch Ehlers Partners, it was constructed in three years.[2][3]

Smaller university offices and institutes are scattered throughout the city, with arts and music being taught at the Mozarteum University Salzburg.[_citation needed_]

  1. ^ Robert Kriechbaumer: Umstritten und Prägend. Kultur- und Wissenschaftsbauten in der Stadt Salzburg 1986–2011. Böhlau Verlag, Wien, Köln, Weimar 2012, ISBN 978-3-205-78860-7, S. 215.
  2. ^ Salzburgwiki
  3. ^ salzburg-reiseinfo.com

47°47′50″N 13°02′53″E / 47.79722°N 13.04806°E / 47.79722; 13.04806