Christian Albrecht University of Kiel is a state university and the only comprehensive university in Schleswig-Holstein. Its eight colleges, the Faculties of Theology, Law, Economics and Social Sciences, Medicine, Philosophy, Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Agriculture and Nutrition Science, and the Faculty of Technology, are distinguished by excellence in teaching and research. The University’s forward-looking strategy promotes interdisciplinary cooperation both internally among its faculties as well as externally with partners in science and industry, which makes CAU an outstanding environment for education and research. Its distinction as a family-friendly university, which it received for the first time in 2002, represents the University’s welcoming of and deep commitment to the modern demand for integration of family and educational or professional pursuits on the part of its staff and students.
Today CAU is one of the largest employers in Schleswig-Holstein. The University and the University Clinic in Kiel together currently employ approximately 8,200 people, of whom approximately 3,200 work at the University. The number of people employed by the University has grown steadily in recent years, due to a series of successful grant applications. Between 2004 and 2009 alone, funding from grants doubled to approximately €100 million; today about 750 jobs at CAU are financed through grants.
The lasting success of CAU as a state university and important regional employer is the continuation of a 350-year tradition. Christian Albrecht, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, created the University on October 5th, 1665 with four colleges, the Faculties of Theology, Law, Medicine and Philosophy. By virtue of these, Albrecht’s foundation, whose origins lay in the monastic school of Bordesholm, possessed from the outset all the faculties essential to a comprehensive university. Its creation was intended to strengthen the economies of the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein on a long-term basis. Since its creation as a comprehensive university in the 17th Century, CAU has been among the leading universities in northern Europe. Today, it continues to actively promote a culture of interconnected research.
Christian Albrecht University of Kiel will continue to stand out as a modern university whose networks include strong connections to its regional scientific, business and social communities, and to its outstanding international partners. CAU is thus on its way to maintaining/consolidating its status as a leading university in northern Europe.