History of the University of Münster
The university’s history reaches back 250 years. The idea of establishing a university in Münster was first put forward in the 15th century. However, it wasn’t until the 17th century that concrete plans were presented, and those plans could not be realised for financial reasons and the effects of the Thirty Years’ War. A further attempt was made at setting up a university in the 18th century – and this, finally, bore fruit. Franz von Fürstenberg, Minister to Prince-Bishop Maximilian Friedrich von Königsegg-Rothenfels, succeeded in founding the university. Teaching activities began in 1773 and (provisional) inauguration followed in 1780.
The 18th century
However, the first University of Münster was not destined to have a long life. Münster came under Prussian rule in 1803, and was annexed a few years later by the French and the Duchy of Berg, only to be returned to Prussian control in 1813. The Prussian government decided that the western provinces only needed one university, and Bonn was awarded that honour in 1818. The universities of Cologne and Paderborn were dissolved in that same year, and Münster was downgraded to an “academic institution”.
However, efforts to reopen the university began immediately. It wasn’t long before some partial successes could be reported. In 1832, the Faculty of Theology was granted the right to award doctoral and post-doctoral degrees. In 1843, the academic institution was renamed a “royal academy”. A year later, the Faculty of Philosophy was also granted the right to award doctoral degrees, however this did not apply for the Natural Sciences. In 1880, a new main building was constructed for the academy on Domplatz. Other university buildings – including ones for the faculties of Chemistry, Botany and Physics – followed before the century’s end, powerfully illustrating the rise of the Natural Sciences.
Early 20th century
Despite this, decades would pass before the university was re-established. In March 1902, the Prussian parliament approved a Faculty of Law for Münster, the establishment of which moved Emperor Wilhelm II to elevate the academy back to the status of university on 1 July 1902. This “new” university continued to develop: the university library was built in 1906, and a new lecture hall and seminar building was constructed in 1913. The range of courses also expanded with the founding of the Faculty of Protestant Theology in 1914, and the Faculty of Medicine in 1925. And the university also continued to expand in terms of physical size. Both the Natural Sciences and the hospitals required new buildings. This period saw innovations that also had a huge impact on developments. In 1908, the first General Students’ Committee was founded. In the same year, Prussia issued a decree permitting women to enrol on courses of study as regular students, not simply as guest students.
The National Socialists’ seizure of power
The National Socialists’ seizure of power in 1933 resulted in drastic changes for the University of Münster. Significant restrictions were placed on the university’s academic and administrative independence, and the Rector was now appointed by the Ministry of Education. Some members of the university’s staff, including a number of professors, were dismissed for “racial” or political reasons. Students were forced to abandon their studies or prevented from starting in the first place. Some of the ousted professors who were not able to emigrate in time did not survive the National Socialist era. The pharmacologist Hermann Freund and the theologian Joseph Schmidlin, for example, were murdered in concentration camps. The Second World War also left its mark. The city of Münster was subjected to heavy air attacks that caused such extensive damage to a number of university buildings that the university was forced to move some of its departments to other towns, primarily Bad Salzuflen. Teaching was effectively abandoned in winter semester 1944/45.
Post-war period
After some initial doubt over whether the occupation forces would allow university operations to resume, the university reopened on 3 November 1945. Schloss Münster, which had previously been the official residence of the President of Westphalia, became the university’s main building. The reconstruction of old buildings and the construction of new buildings led to a significant expansion of the university, which was driven by growing student numbers. In 1948, the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences was separated from the Faculty of Philosophy. A departmental structure was introduced in 1970. The university expanded further in 1980 with the integration of the Münster department of the Westfalen-Lippe Teacher Training College, and the integration of the Münster department of the Detmold University of Music in 2004.
Development into a major university
By the 1960s, the University of Münster had developed into a major university, and today it is one of Germany’s largest higher education institutions. That involved intense building activity in the 1960s and 1970s, as part of which the Centre for Natural Sciences and the Main University Hospital were constructed. Today, with its specialist research centres and excellence clusters, the university boasts a strong research record and regularly achieves high placings in university rankings.