RWTH Aachen University [4] is a research university located in Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany with roughly 33,000 students enrolled in 101 study programs.
RWTH Aachen has achieved international recognition in several fields of engineering and science, especially mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, industrial engineering, computer science, physics, and chemistry. Two prominent German newspapers, “Handelsblatt“ and “Wirtschaftswoche“, currently rank RWTH Aachen the first place in Germany in the fields of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, industrial engineering, and computer science . In the latest ranking published by DAAD together with Centre for Higher Education Development and Die Zeit, RWTH Aachen also stands on top among other German universities in the aforementioned fields of engineering and computer science. Several scientists affiliated with RWTH Aachen have won world-wide acclamations, including Nobel Prizes in physics and chemistry. Top Study Links University Rankings 2010 ranks RWTH Aachen as the overall best university in Germany.
RWTH Aachen is a member of several prominent academic co-operations, such as TU9, DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft), Top Industrial Managers for Europe network, and IDEA League, a strategic alliance of five of Europe's leading universities of technology. In 2007, in the line of the excellence initiative, RWTH Aachen was chosen by DFG as one of nine German Universities of Excellence for its future concept RWTH 2020: Meeting Global Challenges and additionally won funding for one graduate school and three clusters of excellence.
The university maintains close links to industry and accounts for the highest amount of third-party funds of all German universities and places second in relative funds per faculty member.
The University of Freiburg, sometimes referred to in English as the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
The university was founded in 1457 by the Habsburg dynasty as the second university in Austrian-Habsburg territory after the University of Vienna. Today, Freiburg is the fifth-oldest university in Germany, with a long tradition of teaching the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. The university is made up of 11 faculties and attracts students from across Germany as well as from over one hundred and twenty other countries. Foreign students constitute about 16% of total student numbers.
The University of Freiburg is one of Europe's most prestigious universities and is amongst its top research and teaching institutions. With its long-standing reputation of excellence, the university looks both to the past, to maintain its historic academic and cultural heritage, and to the future, developing new methods and opportunities to meet the needs of a changing world. The University of Freiburg has been home to some of the greatest minds of the Western tradition, including such eminent figures as Johann Eck, Max Weber, Rudolf Carnap, Edmund Husserl, Friedrich Meinecke, Martin Heidegger, Hannah Arendt, Hans-Georg Gadamer and Friedrich Hayek. In addition, 19 Nobel laureates are affiliated with the University of Freiburg and 15 academics have been honored with the highest German research prize, the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, while working at the University of Freiburg.
The Humboldt University of Berlin is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin (Universität zu Berlin) by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose university model has strongly influenced other European and Western universities. From 1828 it was known as the Frederick William University (Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität), later (unofficially) also as the Universität unter den Linden. In 1949, it changed its name to Humboldt-Universität in honour of both its founder Wilhelm and his brother, naturalist Alexander von Humboldt.
After the unification of East and West Germany, the university was radically restructured and all professors had to reapply for their professorships. The faculty was largely replaced with West German professors, among them the historian Heinrich August Winkler. Today, Humboldt University is a state university with a large number of students (37,145 in 2003, among them more than 4,662 foreign students) after the model of West German universities, and like its counterpart Free University of Berlin. Its main building is located in the centre of Berlin at the boulevard Unter den Linden. The building was erected on order by King Frederick II for his younger brother Prince Henry of Prussia. Most institutes are located in the centre, around the main building, except the nature science institutes, which are located at Adlershof in the south of Berlin. Further, the university continues its tradition of a book sale at the university gates facing Bebelplatz. The books sold are reprints of those burnt during the Third Reich and is symbolic of the institution atoning for its participation. The university continues to serve the German community.