Ranked as the leading university in innovation by the THE impact ranking in 2023, the public research university Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) unites history with cutting-edge research topics. Founded in 1743, FAU counts approximately 40,000 students – nearly 20% of them from abroad – spread across five faculties and two main sites in the cities of Erlangen and Nuremberg.
Recognizing its responsibility towards society, the university is passionately driven by the motto “Moving Knowledge”. This means to gain new insights that help shape the future sensibly, to exchange findings with stakeholders of science, society, economy and politics to drive prosperity, and to use new conclusions to improve the living conditions for future generations.
Studying at FAU
Students are offered a broad spectrum of courses: There are 272 degree programs of which 82 are undergraduate programs, 98 are masters and 92 are state examinations (Staatsexamen). Out of the above, 44 are international degree programs.
Teaching at FAU is closely linked to research and focuses on training students in both theory and practice, enabling them to think critically and work independently.
In recent THE subject rankings, FAU was represented in all eleven investigated subjects, making it into the top 20 with all subjects within Germany, and into the top 200 with eight subject groups worldwide. In addition, FAU subjects did particularly well in relation to the performance indicator “industry”. This is based on third-party funding from industry and the number of patents based on research conducted at FAU.
FAU Research
FAU research thrives on an agile architecture of central research institutions that allows for scientists to follow their passion while working in a climate of freedom and open-mindedness. FAU respects the cultures of all individuals, and research is valued equally whether carried out independently or collaboratively.
With the intent of addressing some of the major challenges of our current times, FAU is dedicated to following key research priorities which were just updated at the beginning of 2024:
- Targeting environmental and economic challenges
- Understanding cultural practices and social formations
- Developing future technologies
- Engineering transformative healthcare
- Exploring principles of nature
The research within this framework is done across disciplines, allowing for diverse backgrounds, experiences and perspectives to create truly innovative and sustainable solutions. Scientists are able to consolidate their expertise, exchange ideas and form strong research synergies.
Third-party funding and accolades
The university secures around 200 million euros every year (264 million euros in 2022) with the goal of implementing groundbreaking research projects. As an example, funding provided by the German Research Foundation (DFG) is awarded on the basis of very strict criteria. Accordingly, the percentage of successful applications is relatively low: From 2019 to 2022 the national percentage of applications granted by the DFG in all disciplines was between 26.9 and 36.8 percent. For the past years, FAU has been ranked among the top ten universities in Germany regarding DFG funding.
Researchers at FAU find further support through programs like the European Research Council (ERC) grant, the Emerging Talents Initiative, Alexander von Humboldt professorships, the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize and many more – and FAU goes out of its way to assist its scientists in the application process.
Full-spectrum university
FAU is a full-spectrum university with five faculties:
- The Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences and Theology is a rich source of both historical and contemporary cultural knowledge, with around 50 different disciplines from the humanities, social sciences, economics, education sciences and theology.
- Composed of the School of Law in Erlangen and the School of Business and Economics and Society in Nuremberg, the Facultiy of Business, Economics and Law contributes to FAU’s research profile through its research centers which are a part of the Major Research Area ‘Cohesion – Transformation – Innovation in Law and Economics’.
- The Faculty of Medicine and the university hospital Uniklinikum Erlangen place great importance on the links between research, teaching and healthcare, quickly putting research findings into practice to benefit patients and strengthen medical training.
- The Faculty of Sciences is home to the departments of Mathematics, Physics, Biology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, and Geography and Geology, which regularly appear at the top of a variety of rankings.
- The Faculty of Engineering was founded in 1966, making FAU the first traditional university in Germany to offer degree programs in engineering.
Innovative and international ecosystem
The university is embedded in a vibrant ecosystem of cutting-edge non-university research institutes, e.g. the Max Planck society, the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, the Helmholtz Association or the Leibniz Association, as well as leading international companies, such as Adidas, Bosch, Schaeffler and Siemens. The results are partnerships which benefit students as well as researchers, allowing them to look beyond the threshold of university life and expand their network.
Applied research at FAU also benefits innovative startups, as the university is the founder and largest partner of one of the most successful tech incubators in Germany, Zollhof, in the center of Nuremberg.
Notabilities
FAU has brought forth several well-known figures over the past centuries who have either done research or studied at the university. These include Nobel Prize winner Hermann Emil Fischer, the father of classical organic chemistry; Emmy Noether, one of the founders of modern algebra and FAU’s first female full-time student; Dixie Lee Bryant, the first woman to receive a doctoral degree at FAU in 1904; Ludwig Erhard, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1963 to 1966; Prof. Dr. Harald zur Hausen, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2008 for his research on the human papilloma virus; Dr. Heike Riel who was listed as one of the Top 100 early career scientists by MIT Technology Review in 2003 and is currently Executive Director of the IBM Research Frontiers Institute as well as the Director of IoT Technology and Solutions at IBM Research; and Markus Söder, the current Bavarian Minister President.
