With around 38,000 students from more than 120 countries, the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) is one of the largest and most diverse universities in Germany. This unites almost all the academic disciplines under the same campus that is very close to the city center, which is, in turn, the place where students research and live.
History
The Archbishop of Mainz creates the first university of Mainz, Adolf II of Nassau. Because at that time to create a university the approval of the Pope was required, a process that Adolfo II initiated during his tenure. But, the university would not be opened until 1477 by Adolph’s successor, Diether von Isenburg.
The university opened its doors in 1784 also to Protestants and Jews. It would soon become one of the largest Catholic universities in Europe, with 10 chairs just for the study of Theology. With the establishment of the Republic of Mainz in 1792 and its subsequent reconquest by the Prussians, academic activity came to a halt until in 1798 the university re-emerged under French rule with classes in the department of medicine until 1823.
The theological faculty was the only one that continued teaching during the 19th century, if only as a theological seminary (since 1877 “College of Philosophyand Theology”). In this period the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz was refounded in 1946 by the French occupation. In a decree of March 1 the French military government determined that the University of Mainz should continue. The continuation of academic activity between the old university and the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, despite more than 100 years of interruption. In 1972, as a result of the German Student Movement of 1968, the university underwent a restructuring. The faculties were dismantled and the university was reorganized in wider areas (Fachbereiche).Finally, in 1974 Peter Schneider was elected the first president of what is a “constituted university group” of higher education.
In 1990 Jürgen Zöllner became president of the university after a single year had elapsed since he held the position of “Science and Advanced Education” in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz has approximately 38,000 students and has more than 150 institutions and clinics.
The fields of study are varied, although I do not have some technical studies such as veterinary science and nutrition science. On the other hand, it offers studies such as History of Books, Sports, Music, Visual Arts, Theater and Cinematography.
Organization
The University of Mainz is one of the few campus-based universities in Germany. Almost all institutions and facilities are located in the southwest of the city. The university’s medical center is located off campus. The same goes for the department of Applied Linguistics and Cultural Sciences, which was integrated into the university in 1949 and is located in Germersheim.
Near the university campus are the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and the Institute for Polymer Research, as well as the MAMI electron accelerator, the TRIGA research reactor, the botanical garden, a sports stadium. Something unique in the higher education landscape is the integration of the Rhineland-Palatinate Conservatory, the Academy of Visual Arts and the College of Athletics into one university. Since 2007, the university started broadcasting a television program that also shows videos in English.
It owns the Botanical Garden of the University of Mainz, also known as Botanischer Garten Mainz, is an arboretum and botanical garden of about 10 hectares managed by this university, which is located on its campus, in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The garden was created between 1946 and 1955 on land previously used as farmland and a military training area. Some 3,500 individual growing beds for each plant were created in those years; an alpinum was added in the mid-1950s, and in 1986 other sections such as the one devoted to steppe plants and the one on the regional flora of Mainz. The first greenhouseit was built in 1948 with two more in 1952, which formed the basis of an extensive greenhouse complex. Currently the botanical garden houses some 8,500 species representing a wide spectrum of plants from different climates. The number of plant accessions is 10,000, and the number of taxa in cultivation is 8,000.
Personalities
- Rainer Brüderle, Federal Minister for Economics and Technology
- Franz Josef Jung, former federal minister for labor and social affairs
- Béla Réthy, sportscaster
Curiosities
- It is recognized worldwide as a Research Driven University.
- It has an indoor pool.
- It is named after the city’s best-known figure, Johannes Gutenberg: the inventor of themovable-type printing press and the printing press.
- Students have free Internet access(computer, printer and scanner included) both on campus and in the residence
- As in all universities in Germanythe best grade is 1.0. So to pass an exam you have to achieve at least a grade of 4.0.
