Seal element of the university of freiburg in the shape of a flower

Mission statement of the University of Freiburg

Our origins and our values: Fundamentals

The University of Freiburg is a high-performing research university and an attractive place to study, situated in one of Germany’s most beautiful cities and charming landscapes. It is a place where a wide variety of disciplines and people come together. Here, tradition meets forward thinking, the fundamental meets the extraordinary, and regional roots meet internationality.

Drei junge Menschen gehen die Bertoldstraße entlang. Im Hintergrund der Turm des Freiburger Münsters.
Das Siegel der Universität Freiburg

The University of Freiburg, founded in 1457, has produced outstanding and remarkable things – yet also things requiring reconsideration and reappraisal. Our long history and our future are based upon a capacity to confront societal challenges again and again and to grow from them. Our University is a place for renewal and change – nothing is good simply because it has always been that way.

Our passion and our core competence: Knowledge

Im Hintergrund sieht unscharf zwei Studierende in der Universitätsbibliothek Freiburg. Im Vordergrund zwei Regalreihen mit Büchern, die auf die beiden zulaufen,

We generate, reflect upon, convey, acquire, and communicate knowledge. For us, quality in academia means constantly developing and incessantly questioning knowledge. This enables us to address societal challenges – even those that are not yet foreseeable. Our basic research and the development of problem-solving expertise are indispensable in this endeavour. Our wide variety of academic disciplines and degree programmes is unparalleled among universities of comparable size. The University of Freiburg is shaped by interdisciplinary bridges between and within the humanities, natural sciences, life sciences, environmental sciences, and engineering.

Our strength and our potential: Togetherness

The University of Freiburg is a place shaped by knowledge and encounters. This place should be accessible to all. Freiburg was the first university in Germany to admit women formally as students. Now as then, we are proud of the diversity of all those who come to Freiburg and enrich our University community. There should be no place for exclusion and discrimination here.

Studierende der Universität Freiburg, im Hintergrund die Universitätsbibliothek Freiburg

A symbiotic relationship: The University and Freiburg

Blick auf Freiburg in der Abendämmerung.

The city and the University of Freiburg are both big enough to have a lot to offer yet small enough to have a personal atmosphere; locally rooted yet well-connected at the European and global levels. The close relationship between the two has a long tradition: The friendly city attracts a lot of students, and that was the reason for the University’s rapid growth 150 years ago. Citizens and members of the University have come together again and again to stand up for change: #mildandwild

Examples

Do you know a good story? Do you want to tell us about an achievement? Do you know someone special? Share it with us!