Johannes Kepler University Linz (JKU Linz, or just JKU -- the full German name is Johannes-Kepler-Universität Linz, the short version is Universität Linz, University of Linz in English; its Latin name is alma mater Kepleriana) is an institution of higher education in Linz, the capital of Upper Austria, offering bachelor's, diploma, master's, and doctoral degrees in business, engineering, law, science, and the social sciences.

JKU was founded as the "College for Social and Economic Sciences Linz" (Hochschule für Sozial- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften Linz) in 1966. Three years later, the science and engineering school opened. The law school and university status arrived in 1975 when the college also adopted its present name, in honour of the famous astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) who wrote his magnum opus harmonices mundi ("The Harmony of the world") in Linz during the early 17th century.

Today, 11,000 students study at JKU's 90-acre campus in the north of Linz, with 1 in 11 being from abroad. In Austria, the university is well-known for its modern approach, combining a solid theoretical base with practical applications. Most of the campus has been wireless for several years now, the university was the first to introduce an electronic student ID in 1998, and has been offering a very successful distance law degree with lecture notes on DVD.

The university's has an international reputation for technical mathematics and is now also home of the Johann Radon Institute for Computational and Applied Mathematics (RICAM) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Other noted specialties include applied economics, business law, European law, and mechatronics.

There are also three other universities in Linz, a public one for arts and industrial design (University of Arts Linz, c. 800 students) and two private ones, one for music (Bruckner University, c. 800 students) and one for catholic theology (Catholic-Theological Private University Linz, c. 400 students), a Papal faculty since 1978.

External links (main)

• Official website of JKU (http://www.jku.at) (German only)
• Information for prospective international students (http://www.jku.edu) (in English)
• English version of the old JKU website (http://www.jku.at/index_e.htm) (still online, but not being updated anymore)
• Third-party information about JKU (http://www.haardt.net/jku.htm) (in English)

External links (other)

• University of Arts and Industrial Design Linz (http://www.khs-linz.ac.at)
• Anton Bruckner Private University for Music, Drama, and Dance (http://www.bruckneruni.at) (German only)
• Catholic-Theological Private University Linz (http://www.ktu-linz.ac.at) (German only)
• Study in Austria: A Guide (http://www.haardt.net/studyinat.htm)