University of Potsdam

Institution Info

The University of Potsdam was formed in 1991 by the amalgamation of the Karl Liebknecht College of Education and the Brandenburg State College. As the university in large part emerged from the College of Education, emphasis today is still placed on teacher training. At the beginning of the winter semester of the 2008/2009 academic year, 19,894 young people were studying at the University of Potsdam. The largest number of students were enrolled at the Faculty of Philosophy, 5,934 (30%), with 5,324 (27%) at the Faculty of Mathematics and Science. 58% of the students are female, and more than 2,000 are external students. 26% of the freshers come from East Germany, 14% from the West and the remaining 14% from Berlin, evaluated by the place where they obtained their entry requirements. After a comprehensive evaluation of its research performance in 2007, the University of Potsdam nominated eight areas of distinction ("Profilbereiche") and one area of excellence in the field of Cognitive Sciences ("Exzellenzbereich") to award their international recognition and research productivity. With an interdisciplinary research agenda, the area of excellence links the departments of Psychology, Linguistics, and Sports and Health Science.