History of the University of Münster
The beginnings of the University
The University’s history stretches 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, but 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.
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 to 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 turn of the century, powerfully illustrating the rise of the natural sciences.
Early 20th century
Despite these promising developments, 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.
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 the University's development. In 1908, the first General Students’ Committee was founded. In the same year, Prussia issued a decree permitting women to enrol in courses of study as regular students, not simply as guest students.
The National Socialists seize power
The seizure of power by the National Socialists 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 Nazi era. The pharmacologist Hermann Freund and the theologian Joseph Schmidlin, for example, were murdered in concentration camps. The Second World War also resulted in massive destruction throughout the city. Münster was subjected to heavy air attacks that caused such extensive damage to a number of campus buildings that the University was forced to move some of its departments to other towns, primarily Bad Salzuflen. All classroom instruction was effectively cancelled in the winter semester 1944/45.
Post-war period
After some initial doubt over whether the occupation forces would allow operations to resume, the University reopened on 3 November 1945. The Münster Schloss, 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.
Development into a major university
By the 1960s, if not earlier, the University of Münster had mushroomed into what is now one of the largest universities in Germany. This resulted in a burst of new construction projects across the city during the 1960s and 1970s when the Centre for Natural Sciences and the Central Medical Clinic were built. The University was expanded further in 1980 with the integration of the Westphalia-Lippe Teacher Training College, Münster Department, and in 2004, with the Detmold College of Music, Münster Department. In both cases, the institutions’ respective buildings were integrated into the University’s facility portfolio. The expansion process continued in the 1990s with the creation of the Leonard Campus Mitte, which also includes parts of the Münster University of Applied Sciences and the University of Fine Arts Münster. In cooperation with the Münster University of Applied Sciences, work is continuing apace on the new Hüffer Campus which will serve as the shared location for all the theological disciplines at the University of Münster.
Research
As home to a number of collaborative research centres (SFBs) and Clusters of Excellence, the University of Münster is distinguished by its strong research profile and regularly places at the top of university rankings in the field of research. The first collaborative research centre (SFB 7 – Medieval Studies) was established in 1968, making it one of the DFG’s oldest collaborative research centres. The University of Münster also manages two Clusters of Excellence, the earliest of which, “Religion and Politics”, commenced in 2007. A number of institutions have been established at the University of Münster in recent decades and are meanwhile regarded as beacons in their respective fields of research, for example, the Bible Museum, established in 1979, the MEET Battery Research Center, which commenced operation in September 2009, and the Centre for Islamic Theology (CIT) which officially opened on 30 October 2012.