University of Vienna

Overview

With several campuses in Vienna, Austria, the University of Vienna is a public research university with a long tradition and rich heritage. Known as the oldest university in the German-speaking world, it was founded in 1365 by Duke Rudolph IV. It is world-renowned for its strong programs, especially in the humanities.

Notably, the university is associated with 21 Nobel Prize laureates. Nobel Prize winners who taught at the university include great figures in the scholarly world, including the likes of Erwin Schrödinger, Ludwig von Mises, Konrad Lorenz, Carl Menger, and Friedrich Hayek. Other notable scholars who taught there include Rudolf Carnap, Karl Popper, Ludwig Boltzmann, Pope Pius II, and Sigmund Freud.

Throughout history, the university is known as the home of trailblazing advances in scholarly thought. These include the development of logical empiricism in the philosophy of science and the famous Austrian School of economics.

The University of Vienna has 15 faculties and five centers. These include its famed Faculty of Mathematics, Faculty of Philosophy and Education, Faculty of Life Sciences, Faculty of Physics, Center for Sport Science and University Sports, and the Center for Molecular Biology. The faculties are the ones responsible for research and teaching activities. On the other hand, the centers work on specific tasks and mostly act as research or teaching institutions.

The institution offers 175+ degree programs, including 55 bachelor programs, 110 master programs, and 13 doctoral programs. It also offers master’s programs in English. These include East Asian Economy and Society, Environmental Sciences, Economics, Mathematics, and Quantitative Economics, Management, and Finances.

Over 60 advanced postgraduate programs are likewise being offered in the university, including certificate courses in Health and Natural Sciences, Communication, Media and Law, Education and Social Care, and International Affairs and Business. Moreover, there are also part-time programs to better accommodate working students’ needs.

The University of Vienna is also world-renowned for its music programs. Spearheading the charge is the renowned Vienna University Philharmonic. It is made up of nine choirs and two orchestras. The University Philharmonic, one of the largest music communities in the world, has more than 1,000 members and singers of different age groups and musical levels. With a wide repertoire from classical music to jazz, it holds 40+ concerts in Austria and abroad.

The university also houses more than 7.1 million books with over 2.7 million found in the Main Library. The oldest book among its collections is Pliny the Elder’s Historia Naturalis from 1469.