The University of Tübingen was founded in 1477, making it one of Europe’s oldest universities. More than 500 years later, the University continues to make history in Medicine, the Sciences and Humanities, combining excellent teaching with cutting-edge research. Researchers in Tübingen are breaking new ground in many fields – neuroscience, plant molecular biology, pharmaceuticals, cell biochemistry, environmental geoscience, elementary particle physics, educational research, archaeology and linguistics, to name just a few. The University encourages interdisciplinary research to broaden academic and scientific horizons and to promote creativity. The University of Tübingen is continually developing new fields of research that encompass both basic research and application-oriented approaches. The University also offers advice on patents and start-ups to graduates whose ideas have commercial potential. Outstanding achievement in basic research, whether in individual projects of collaborative research schemes, is a distinguishing feature at Tübingen. This is true of the whole range of subjects, from the Social Sciences (including Political Science and Education) to Mathematics and the Cognitive Sciences (which combine cognitive processes at human and machine level, including psychology and information technology), as well as applied research which probes the interplay of materials and sensors with living systems. The latest rankings place Tübingen among the top universities in Germany and in Europe. In the Humanities and Natural Sciences in particular, it was rated in the top range by the Centre for Higher Education Development (CHE). The broad range of externally funded projects also underscores the quality of Tübingen’s research work. One of the most important sources here is the German Research Foundation (DFG), which primarily fosters high-level basic research and outstanding young researchers. It does so by way of different programs (such as local and trans-regional Collaborative Research Centers, “Excellence Clusters”, Research Training Groups and sponsored research groups). Currently, nine Collaborative Research Centers are in place at the University of Tübingen, along with ten Research Training Groups, across many specialist areas. All of these research projects – some of them in cooperation with partner institutions in Germany or other countries - are aimed at boosting broad-based multidisciplinary research. The University and its top research areas have attracted a number of non-University research institutions that have set up branches in Tübingen, e.g. Max-Planck-Institute and research centers of the Helmholtz-Association. The compactness of the town means distances within Tübingen are relatively short. Teaching at the University reflects its strong research profile in the natural sciences and humanities. Over 280 courses are offered by its seven Faculties. Innovative new options are constantly being added, such as International Economics, Medical Technology, Geoecology, Bioinformatics and Media Informatics. Students can choose from several different target qualifications, including Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, the German Staatsexamen or PhD programs. Like research, teaching at Tübingen has become increasingly international. Agreements with foreign universities make it possible to acquire a dual degree in selected fields of study, for example, such as Economics and Business Administration, History, Physics, Mathematics and Literature, with students spending one or more semesters at foreign universities. International Master’s courses held in English are a further option. These are already well established in applied Environmental and Geosciences, Neurology and Behavioral Research, Computer Linguistics and International Economics and Finance. The University’s international outreach is also impressive: some 13 percent of the student population comes from outside Germany, and every year 800 students from Tübingen participate in exchange programs with foreign research institutions and universities. Tradition and innovation complement each other at the University of Tübingen. The University's history began in the late fifteenth century, when Count Eberhard the Bearded of Württemberg was given permission from the Pope to establish a place of learning. In Tübingen’s historical center there is hardly a building or a square that is not linked to a renowned scholar. Hegel, Hölderlin and Schelling, Mörike, Uhland and Kepler are among Tübingen's notables. Over the centuries, Tübingen’s scientific research has repeatedly earned it the esteem of the global academic community. As early as 1863, Germany’s first independent Faculty of Natural Sciences was established here. Its teaching staff included Felix Hoppe-Seyler (1825-1895), who gave the blood pigment hemoglobin its name and is considered the father of modern biochemistry. One of his pupils, Friedrich Miescher (1844-1895), isolated a substance that he called “nucleic acid” while working on white blood cells in his laboratory in Hohentübingen Castle. Based on its chemical composition, it was later renamed deoxyribonucleic acid – DNA – the bearer of hereditary information. It has, of course, since become the focus of intensive research in Tübingen and around the world. Along with Biochemistry, Medicine is among Tübingen’s strengths. Earlier than at other universities, the study of Medicine in Tübingen was geared towards investigating diseases in patients, rather than being restricted to the acquisition of theoretical knowledge. For the first time, patients were able to benefit directly from new discoveries. Germany’s first university hospital, founded in Tübingen in 1805, was part of this new approach. Tübingen today remains a place of research and teaching. In addition to the nearly 85,000 inhabitants, there are 27,000 German and international students. Some 400 professors and more than 4000 other academic staff teach at the University’s seven Faculties.