University of Groningen

Ubbo Emmius was the first rector magnificus of the University of Groningen

The institution was founded as a college in 1614 in an initiative taken by the Regional Assembly of the city of Groningen and the Ommelanden, or surrounding region. There were four faculties – Theology, Law, Medicine, and Philosophy.[15][16][17]

The coat of arms of the university was confirmed by The Estates of the City and County of Groningen in 1615. It consists of the provincial arms, charged with an open book inscribed with the abbreviated words VER/BVM/DNI LV/CER/NA, short for Verbum Domini Lucerna Pedibus Nostris. The shield is surmounted by a golden crown of five leaves and four pearls.

The first 75 years of its existence were very fruitful for the University with about 100 students enrolling every year. Almost half of the students and lecturers came from outside the Netherlands – the first rector magnificus, Ubbo Emmius, came from East Frisia in modern-day Germany, for instance – but at the same time there was already a close relationship between the University and the city and the surrounding region.

The development of the University came to a standstill at the end of the seventeenth and during the eighteenth century because of theological differences of opinion, a difficult relationship with the Regional Assembly and political problems that included the siege of the city by ‘Bommen Berend’ in 1672. On average two to three hundred students were registered with the University at any one time during this period. Petrus Camper, though, was a shining academic example during the second half of the eighteenth century and was famous far beyond the city limits as an anatomist, a fighter against rinderpest and the founder of the first outpatient's clinic for surgical medicine.

The 19th-century main building in 1858

Opportunities and threats followed each other during the nineteenth century. During the French occupation between 1775 and 1814 the University of Groningen was administrated by the Imperial University of Paris. Unlike Leiden University, it was not shut down and the institute was renamed Imperial University of Groningen (Keizerlijke Universiteit Groningen). During this time period, it remained the only open University in the Kingdom of Holland.[18] In 1815 after the Napoleonic Wars, at the same time as Leiden and Utrecht, the University gained recognition as a national college of higher education, but this was followed by discussions about closure. The situation improved markedly when a new main university building, the Academiegebouw, was constructed in 1850, a building that was largely financed by the people of Groningen. This made the fire that completely destroyed this building in 1906 even more poignant.

In the meantime, the Higher Education Act of 1876 had radically improved the position of the University, which was renamed the "Rijksuniversiteit Groningen" (RUG). Teaching took place in Dutch and Latin and the University was given a research as well as an educational duty.

The 20th-century main building in 2009

The University of Groningen developed apace during the first decades of the twentieth century. The number of faculties and courses grew steadily while the number of students showed an explosive growth. When the University celebrated its first 300 years in 1914 there were 611 registered students; this had already grown to 1000 by 1924. After a drop back during the Depression, and in particular during the Second World War, the number of students grew rapidly from 1945 to reach 20,000 in 1994. At the present time there are about 32,700 students registered at the University of Groningen with the number of foreign students again growing steadily, and following the tradition set by the first Rector Magnificus, the number of German students and researchers has grown strongly in recent years.

In March 2015, the RUG signed an agreement with the China Agricultural University to establish a campus in the Chinese city of Yantai. This would have made the RUG the first Dutch university to open a campus in China.[19] The plan was heavily criticised, mainly due to worries about the restriction of academic freedom caused by censorship in China.[20] In January 2018, the plans were cancelled by the Executive Board of the UG, based on the "insufficient support for the project".[21]

In 2016 the Dutch chemist Ben Feringa, who has spent most of his career at the University of Groningen, won the Nobel prize for his work on molecular motors.[22]

Key facts and figures about the University of Groningen are:[3]

• The university, as of October 2019, has 33,500 students enrolled in various programs from the undergraduate level up to doctorate students. This includes 9,100 international students.
• The university currently has 6,100 individuals in its academic staff. The UMCG included, a third of the academic staff is international.
• 400 full professors (of which 23% female professors), 280 associate professors, 92 professors by special appointment (including University Medical Center Groningen, UMCG)
• 45 bachelor's degree programmes (35 bachelor's degree programmes are taught in English)
• 120 master's degree programmes (90+ master's degree programmes are taught in English)
• 16 research master's programmes
• 11 faculties (1 in the Frisian capital of Leeuwarden), 9 graduate schools
• 135,000 alumni
• 120+ nationalities
• 800 million euro annual turnover
• 9,000 research publications
• 3,200 PhD candidates (of which 58% internationals), and 550 PhD theses
• 900 million EUR budget
• 144 million euro research contract (2018)
• 13 Veni Grants and 3 Vidi Grants awarded in 2019
• 3 ERC Starting Grants, 2 Consolidator Grants, and 2 Proof of Concept Grants awarded in 2019
• 18 patent applications in 2019

Students numbers

The University of Groningen is in the top 3 of European research universities in the fields of Ecology, Material Sciences, Chemistry and Astronomy. Other strong research groups are in Nanoscience, Physics, Molecular Biology, Microbiology, Medical Sciences, Neurosciences, Sociology, Philosophy, Theology, Archaeology and Arts.

The university operates under the BSA system, under which a first year undergraduate (bachelor) student must achieve a certain number of ECTS in order to progress to the second year. This varies from 30 ECTS to 45 ECTS among various degrees.[26]

The University of Groningen is a member of the so-called Excellence Group of the best universities in Europe. The Excellence Group has 56 members, which is 1.3 percent of the approximately 4,500 European institutions of higher education.[27]

• The University of Groningen belongs to the top 100 large comprehensive research universities in the world.[28]
• On the 2020 ranking list, the University of Groningen ranked 73rd place in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.[29]
• According to the 2019 U.S. News & World Report the Faculty of Economics and Business ranks as 3rd in The Netherlands, 10th in Europe and 32nd in the world for Economics and Business.[30]
• The University ranked 65 in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) in 2019. ARWU is a global Top 500 published annually by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University.[31] In addition to this overall score, the University falls within the global top 100 for several specific fields and subjects: Psychology (28), Clinical Medicine (51-75), Business Administration (32), Ecology (51-75) and Sociology (50). Automation and Control at the University of Groningen is number one in the Netherlands, 5th in Europe and 29th worldwide (2017).
• The University was ranked 73rd in the world in 2019 by the National Taiwan University that publishes the Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities.[32]
• The University currently holds the 14th position in the European ranking (85 worldwide) of Webometrics.[33]
• The University was ranked 8th place in the UI GreenMetric World University Ranking in 2019, which includes 780 universities. UI GreenMetric World University Rankings was launched by Universitas Indonesia (UI) to focus awareness on sustainability in university policy-making. Universities are ranked in the basis of self-reported data in the areas of Setting and Infrastructure, Energy and Climate Change, Waste, Water, Transportation, and Education and Research.[34]
• From 2019 to 2020, the University was ranked 91st place in the Centre for World University Rankings (CWUR).[35]
• In 2019, Times Higher Education introduced a new ranking: the Europe Teaching Rankings. The University was ranked 26th place, which includes more than 200 universities. This new ranking focusses on higher education institutions' teaching quality and learning environments for students.[36]
• The University was ranked 1st in The Netherlands by U-Multirank (UMR)in 2019. UMR was developed by a consortium consisting of the Centre for Higher Education Policy Studies (CHEPS) in Twente, the Centre for Higher Education (CHE) in Germany and the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) in Leiden. The University achieved the highest score on 16 indicators that include International Orientation dimension, Research and Knowledge Transfer.[37]
• The Faculty of Economics and Business is accredited by both AACSB and EQUIS.[38]
• The RUG has its own newspaper: the Universiteitskrant.[39]

The university's Center for Information Technology (CIT) houses an IBM Blue Gene/L supercomputer and data center of Target used by the LOFAR project as well as a Virtual Reality and 3D-visualisation center.[40]

Duisenberg building (Faculty of Economics and Business)

Harmonie building of the Faculty of Arts and Law

Faculty of Medical Sciences

Linnaeusborg (Faculty of Science and Engineering)

Bernoulliborg (Faculty of Science and Engineering)

Faculty of Science and Engineering

Smitsborg (Donald Smits Centre of Information Technology, CIT)

Kapteynborg (Astronomy)

KVI-CART Research institute

The University of Groningen is organized in eleven faculties that offer programmes and courses in the fields of humanities, social sciences, law, economics and business, spatial sciences, life sciences, and natural sciences and technology. Each faculty (cf., College in the USA or School in Europe) is a formal grouping of academic degree programmes, schools and institutes, discipline areas, research centres, and/or any combination of these drawn together for educational purposes. Each faculty offers Bachelor's, Master's, PhD, and Exchange programmes, while some also offer short certificate courses.

Since 2014, the RUG also has a partly independent liberal arts college, University College Groningen (UCG).[41][42]

• Faculty of Economics and Business
• Faculty of Arts
• Faculty of Law
• Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies
• Faculty of Philosophy
• Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences
• Faculty of Medical Sciences
• Faculty of Science and Engineering
• Faculty of Spatial Sciences
• University College Groningen
• Campus Fryslân

The various faculties are housed around the city. Most of the faculties- including the faculties of Law, Arts and Philosophy are located in and around the city center. The university's original building, which acts as the main administrative building, lies exactly in the center of the city at the Broerstraat. The faculty of medical sciences is located close by at the University Medical Center Groningen(UMCG). The Faculties of Economics and Business, Spatial Sciences, and Science and Engineering are housed in the northern outskirts of the city, at the Zernike Campus, named after Nobel Prize winner Frits Zernike. The Zernike campus is also shared by the Hanze University of Applied Sciences, the other big university in the city, making the total number of students studying there around 40,000.[43]

The university has libraries in three locations: the main one at the city center, one in the Duisenberg building in Zernike Campus, and one in the faculty of medicine, that includes a vast array of books and online material for students. The library at the city center also has a Starbucks on its premises. The university has also recently opened another campus in Leeuwarden, Friesland, referred to as "Campus Fryslan", that offers multiple disciplines in both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.[44]

The city of Groningen boasts a remarkable student life, and is known as the student city of the Netherlands; around one-third of the city's residents are students at either The University of Groningen or at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences. The city is tailored around students, and is known to be very welcoming. The university, through ACLO,[45] offers a wide range of sporting activities, and courses. Almost each sport has its own association, and offers the use of its facilities at discount rates for students.[46]

The university also has multiple student societies that organize social events for its members, as well as student and study associations, that are mostly concerned with specific faculties and courses.

The use of bicycles as the means for transport is particularly prevalent for locals and students alike, and has integrated, labelled bike paths from the city center to Zernike. The city is popularly referred to as "The World Cycling City" because of this.[47]

Notable alumni of the University of Groningen include:[66]

• Johann Heinrich Alting, theologian
• Gerbrand Bakker, early 19th century physician
• Johann Bernoulli, mathematician
• Bart Bok, astronomer
• Corina Brussaard, Antarctic researcher in viral ecology and phytoplankton
• Anita Buma, Antarctic researcher in marine ecophysiology
• Turtle Bunbury, Irish historian and author
• James Burnett
• Job Cohen, former mayor of Amsterdam and former leader of the Dutch Labour Party
• Willem de Sitter, astronomer
• Wim Duisenberg, first president of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt studied at UG and obtained his PhD on the economics of disarmament
• Ubbo Emmius, founder of the University of Groningen and first rector magnificus
• Ben Feringa, Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2016 for his work on molecular motors, professor of Chemistry
• Pim Fortuyn, lecturer, later politician and founder of the Pim Fortuyn List (and assassinated in 2002)
• Willem Frederik Hermans, lecturer and writer
• Niccolò Invidia, member of parliament Italy
• Gerardus Heymans, philosopher and psychologist
• Pieter Hofstede Crull, jurist, attorney-general of Suriname and acting governor
• Peter Hofstee, professor of theoretical physics, joined IBM in 1996, currently the chief architect of the Synergistic Processor Element (SPE) of the Cell microprocessor
• Johan Huizinga, historian
• Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever
• Marc Bolland, former CEO of Marks & Spencer
• Epke Zonderland, 2012 Olympics gold medalist
• Aletta Jacobs, first woman in the Netherlands to receive an MD
• Ashin Jinarakkhita, Indonesian Buddhist monk
• Klaas Knot, current President of the Dutch central bank De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB)[67]
• Jaap Kunst, ethnomusicologist (studied law)
• Maarten van den Bergh, former Chairman of Lloyds TSB, named the most powerful businessman in Great Britain in 2005 by The Times
• Hans Wijers, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of ING, former CEO of AkzoNobel
• Wei Ji Ma, professor of psychology and neuroscience
• Prince Maurits van Oranje Nassau, first cousin of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands
• John Nerbonne, professor of humanities computing, expert in dialectology, member of the Dutch Royal Academy of Science
• Wubbo Ockels, first Dutch astronaut, received a PhD degree in physics and mathematics, 1973
• Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his experiments on the properties of matter at low temperatures which made the production of liquid helium possible
• Roel de Vries, Global Head of Marketing at Nissan Motor Corporation
• Dolf van den Brink, CEO of Heineken USA
• Jan Oort, astronomer
• Johannes Jacobus Poortman, philosopher, psychologist
• Dagmar Reichardt, professor of Cultural Industry at University of Latvia
• James Renwick (Covenanter) James Renwick (15 February 1662 – 17 February 1688) Scottish Covenanter
• Edgars Rinkevics, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia
• Henk G. Sol, Professor Business Engineering and ICT
• Dirk Stikker, Secretary General of NATO
• Pieter Jelles Troelstra, lawyer, politician (early 20th century)
• Hans van Abeelen, first Dutch behavior geneticist
• Johan van Benthem, logician
• Wietse Venema, programmer and physicist
• Clemens von Bönninghausen, lawyer, botanist, homeopathic physician
• Jacques Wallage, former mayor of Groningen
• Paramanga Ernest Yonli, Prime Minister of Burkina Faso (2000–2007), studied Economics
• Frits Zernike, professor of theoretical physics, received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his invention of the phase-contrast optical microscope in 1953. The university campus in the northern part of Groningen is named in his honour.
• Bart Becht, former CEO of Reckitt Benckiser
• Lex van Dam, hedge fund manager, featured on Million Dollar Traders on BBC2
• Chris Vogelzang, CEO of Danske Bank
• Fionn Ferreira, Inventor [68]

• Mineke Bosch, historian
• Cornelis de Bot, linguist
• Marijn van Dijk, developmental psychologist
• Caroline van Eck, art historian
• Paul van Geert, developmental psychologist
• Wander Lowie, linguist
• Erik Scherder
• Diederik Stapel, professor of social psychology known for fabrication of research data[69]
• Wolfgang Stroebe, social psychologist
• Albert Szent-Györgyi, biochemist, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1937
• Marjolijn Verspoor, linguist
• Angus Maddison, British economist
• Bart van Wees. applied physics
• Ben Feringa, synthetic organic chemist, awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2016
• Pauline Kleingeld , professor of Ethics and its history
• Amina Helmi, an Argentine astronomer, and a professor of dynamics, structure and formation of the milky way
• Lodi Nauta , professor of the History of Philosophy
• Cisca Wijmenga, a Dutch professor of Human Genetics
• Theunis Piersma, a Dutch professor of Global Flyway Ecology
• Linda Steg , a professor of environmental psychology, and a pioneer and world leader in the field of environmental psychology

• Education in the Netherlands
• Energy Delta Institute
• List of early modern universities in Europe

• (in Dutch) Klaas van Berkel: Universiteit van het Noorden. Vier eeuwen academisch leven in Groningen. Part 1 De oude universiteit 1614-1876. Hilversum, Verloren, 2014. ISBN 978-90-8704-466-4

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.

• Official website
• University of Groningen Datasets