University of Giessen

Justus Liebig University of Giessen (JLU) is among the oldest institutions of higher education in the German-speaking world. The university is dedicated to research and teaching with a distinct profile in cultural studies and the life sciences. In the life sciences, the university offers a broad canon of interdisciplinary subjects, including human and veterinary medicine, agricultural and nutritional sciences, biology and chemistry, as well as psychology and sports science. Since 2006, the university has received funding for two international projects: the Excellence Cluster Cardio-Pulmonary System (ECCPS, in cooperation with the Max Planck Institute Bad Nauheim and Goethe University Frankfurt) as well as the International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (GCSC). Geography, mathematics, and physics, along with close ties to the Society for Heavy Ions Research, complete the areas of natural and life science at JLU. The university is working hard to increase the level of interdisciplinary study and research by expanding the competitive research focal points, at the same time improving the quality of teaching at bachelor’s and master’s level, and focusing on a research-oriented graduate education. JLU has signed cooperative programmes, partnerships and exchange agreements with more than 80 universities across the globe, with more than 700 outgoing and 350 incoming exchange students per year. Countries the university has particularly close ties with include Turkey, Russia, China, Poland and Ukraine. In addition, the university cooperates with 18 universities in North America and nine universities in Australia as part of Hesse’s state partnership programme. The university’s partner institutions include the University of Lodz, Kazan Federal University, Ege University Izmir, Kansas State University, the University of Madison – Wisconsin and the University of Milwaukee – Wisconsin. JLU has 215 Erasmus partner institutions within Europe. Due to its central location, JLU also benefits from being part of the Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region, one of the educational and economical regions of Europe and international transportation hub. The university has close ties with the city of Giessen, and maintains the Botanischer Garten Giessen, the oldest botanical garden in Germany still at its original site. The garden contains about 8,000 species of plants, primarily used for research by students of botany, agronomy, geography, medicine, and veterinary medicine.