Heidelberg University

Founded in 1386, Heidelberg University – also known as Ruperto Carola – is the oldest university in present-day Germany and one of Europe’s most research-intensive institutions. Its successes in all the funding rounds of the Excellence Competitions and in internationally recognised rankings are evidence of Heidelberg University’s leading role and excellent reputation in the academic landscape. Heidelberg University sees itself as a comprehensive research university, whose subjects range from the humanities, social sciences and law, to the natural, engineering and life sciences through to medicine.

The largest foreign branch of Ruperto Carola, the Heidelberg Center Latin America (HCLA) in Santiago de Chile, is Heidelberg University’s centre for postgraduate and continuing education as well as its offshore campus in Latin America. The HCLA is funded as a DAAD Centre of Excellence and enables a wide range of degree programmes and courses in cooperation with the local Chilean partner universities. The HCLA coordinates all the university’s activities in Latin America and, together with the Center for Ibero-American Studies (HCIAS) in Heidelberg, forms a platform for academic cooperation. Heidelberg University is tied into a worldwide network of cooperation arrangements on research and teaching. Exchange programmes with approximately 490 universities all over the world, 27 institutional partnerships and four foreign branch offices document the strong international connections of Ruperto Carola.

Heidelberg University seeks to develop outstanding individual disciplines, strengthen dialogue and cooperation across traditional subject lines in view of complex challenges, and carry its research findings into society.