Why Cologne?

Moving to a foreign city always means to take a big step in life. Some students move for academic, some for private reasons. The city of Cologne and its university has tremendous offers on both sides. Particularly for young people, it is a fantastic place to live, work and study!

 

Köln is perfect for students!

Köln is a famous student city with a cosmopolitan and multicultural atmosphere. “Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium” was founded by the Romans and can look back on a 2000 year old history of culture and architecture. The more than one million inhabitants from 180 nations form a unique and welcoming city. It is easy to get to know, to feel comfortable in and to get around (especially with a bike!).

Köln offers all advantages of a big city – culture, entertainment, good public transport, international shops and facilities, history and heritage. But you will never feel lost, because it has retained its clarity, a lot of small nice cafes, pubs and green parks to relax.

With 13 state and private Colleges and Universities, cologne is with 60,000 students one of the biggest student cities in Germany.

The University of Cologne is imbedded in a nice and save neighbourhood, not far away from the city centre.

A bit of history

Founded in 1388 by the City Council with the approval of the pope Urban lV the University was open until the French revolutionary army closed it in 1798 during their occupation of the westbank of the river rhine. When the Kingdom of Prussia took over the Rhineland after the Vienna Congress in 1815 the government saw no need for a University at Cologne with its great Catholic tradition in a kingdom headed by the protestant Hohenzollern dynasty.

However in 1919 Konrad Adenauer, major of the city of Cologne, and other renowned citizens refounded the "Universität zu Köln" which it maintained to be until 1954 when it became a State University.

Physics in Cologne

Physics at the university of cologne has a big tradition and is of great importance. Research activities and teaching are at the highest level at Cologne. Proof of this is the Leibniz award which was given to Prof. Zirnbauer in 2009, three established extra research areas as well as the success with the Bonn-Cologne Graduate School. The fields of interest for physics in Cologne are very broad and include next to nuclear physics, solid state physics and cosmology etc. also interdisciplinary cooperations in areas like biology and chemistry. On top of that the physics department profits from a range of other research institutions in the local area like the "Forschungszentrum Jülich". More information regarding the research activities and studying physics in Cologne you obviously find on the webpage of the physics department.