Ressort Presse

• von Astrid Bergmeister
• 30.08.2023

20 years of success: founded in 2003, UDE has made its mark as a research institution in the German university landscape. It acts as a major driving force in the Ruhr area as an innovation region. ‘The University of Duisburg-Essen performs at a high level, covers a wide range of disciplines and can thus offer a particularly interesting selection of study programmes and, at the same time, its research is at the highest level’, says Rector Prof. Dr. Barbara Albert.

UDE takes its responsibility towards society and for the future very seriously. It stands for equity in higher education, diversity and interaction with its surrounding area. It carries out excellent research on numerous important issues that are relevant for the future, for example water research, energy materials or the handling of a plurality of views. With effect from 1 October, UDE will establish a new Faculty of Computer Science that will consolidate the successful research and teaching in the field of information science and expand this important discipline in a way that is visible at both national and international level.

UDE’s research output has grown significantly since the University was established. This can be gauged by the numbers of publications and citations, the positions in rankings and the external funding acquired. The University’s medical unit has also developed strongly over the past 20 years and works at the highest level. In 2012, for example, the new research building for the Westdeutsches Tumorzentrum was inaugurated and the tumour research conducted in Essen now has a leading role in Germany within the National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT West). Rector Prof. Dr. Barbara Albert: ‘Universities are expected to provide more than top-level research. We as UDE are strong in fundamental research, but we also aim to prove that what we do is relevant and can make an impact.’

UDE has also often acted as a pioneer in teaching and learning over the past 20 years and it will continue to develop new ideas and be willing to adapt. It offers study programmes that few other universities have in that form, such as Socioeconomics or Nanoengineering, but it also covers almost the entire spectrum of teacher training subjects. Equity in education is a particular focus at UDE. Therefore, talent scouting and mentoring are important elements in attracting and supporting UDE students, whose number is currently about 40,000.

Together with the universities in Bochum and Dortmund, UDE forms the high-performing University Alliance (UA) Ruhr. Rector Albert: ‘Within the UA Ruhr, we jointly recruit great researchers from all over the world. The ideas and incentives from the University Alliance make it even clearer how strongly research can contribute to finding solutions to the great challenges of our time.’

Editor: Astrid Bergmeister, Head of the Press Office / Press Relations Officer, phone: +49 203 37 9-2430, astrid.bergmeister@uni-due.de