The University of Düsseldorf, also known as Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU), is a public university in the western German city of Düsseldorf and was founded in 1965.
The university can trace its beginnings back to the Düsseldorf Medical Academy, which was founded in 1907. Once the faculties of arts and humanities and natural sciences were combined with the Düsseldorf Medical Academy in 1965, the city gained its first ever university. Since this initial combining of the schools, the university has continued to grow.
The university’s main campus can be found in the south east of the city of Düsseldorf’s Bilk district. Within the campus is the university and state library, ULB Düsseldorf. This library is one of three owned by the state in the region of North Rhine-Westphalia and reputedly one of the best in the field of innovation. It boasts a vast array of collections and in its dual role as both university and state library it archives and looks after scientific resources and regional literature.
In addition to the state library the University of Düsseldorf also houses The Botanical Garden of Düsseldorf, which contains over 6,000 species of plants found all over the planet. This is open to public visitors all year around.
Since 1993 the university has been divided into five faculties: medicine; arts and humanities; mathematics and natural sciences; business administration and economics; and law.
The university boasts an extensive list of politicians among its alumni. Some of the notable former students of HHU are German-Turkish actress Fahriye Evcen; politician Annette Schavan; scientist Karl Lauterbach; and the Austrian Neuroscientist Melly Oitzl.
