European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) (German Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)) is a university located in Frankfurt an der Oder in the land of Brandenburg, close to the Oder river, which at this point marks the border between Germany and Poland.

The present university is founded in 1991, but is conceived as a revival of the first university of Frankfurt an der Oder, which existed in the city from 1506 until 1811, when it was moved to Breslau. The word Viadrina means "belonging to, or situated at the Oder river", derived from Viadra, the Latin name of the Oder (the city of Frankfurt an der Oder being known in Latin as Francofortum ad Viadrum. The modern university was established for structural and political reasons, as the area is poor and as the city sits right at the border to Poland, cooperation with which is a top priority of the German government.

One of Germany's smallest state universities (probably the second-smallest one after the University of Erfurt), the Viadrina has some 3,000 students, of which almost 1,000 come from Poland, and some 160 teaching staff.

Historical Viadrina

The Alma Mater Viadrina was founded 1506 by the Prince of Brandenburg, Joachim I, as the main university of Brandenburg. It was organized in four faculties: law, theology, philosophy, and medicine. The university enjoyed a high reputation in Brandenburg and the surrounding regions, and people graduated from here had access to high positions in administration, politics, law, and the church.

In 1811 Viadrina university was moved to Breslau (now Wroclaw) and merged with the University of Breslau, the Leopoldina, in order to keep competition from the newly founded University of Berlin (now Humboldt University). However, some of the Viadrina professors were offered a position in Berlin.

The old university building in Frankfurt an der Oder was destroyed in World War II and finally removed in the 1960s. Only the arch of the main entrance has been kept up as a monument.

Famous students of the historical Viadrina were the brothers Alexander and Wilhelm von Humboldt, the philosopher Ulrich von Hutten, the musician Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, the theologist and political leader Thomas Müntzer, and the poet Heinrich von Kleist.

New Viadrina

In 1991 the university was re-established as Viadrina European University. It currently consists of three faculties: Economics and Business Studies, Law, and Cultural Studies. Main focus of the educational program is to attract students from throughout Europe in order to create a multi-national student community. Currently about 40 per cent of the students are foreigners (mostly Polish), this is a quite remarkable figure compared with other German universities.

Viadrina European University has a close cooperation with Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan (Poland). Both universities together run the Collegium Polonicum, located just opposite the Viadrina on the Polish side of the Oder river.

Among the various research acitivities at Viadrina university the Frankfurt Institute of Transformational Studies (FIT) should be mentioned. The institute is a significant contributor to the research on economies in transition.

The current president of the university, professor Gesine Schwan, ran for the office of the President of Germany in 2004, but was narrowly defeated by Horst Köhler.

External links

• Viadrina European University (http://www.euv-frankfurt-o.de/)
• Collegium Polonicum (http://www.cp.euv-frankfurt-o.de/)
• Frankfurt Institute of Transformational Studies (http://fit.euv-frankfurt-o.de/)
• Adam Mickiewicz University (http://www.amu.edu.pl/)