University of Geneva
The University of Geneva is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by French theologian John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th century, when it became a center for enlightenment scholarship. Today, it is the third largest university in Switzerland by number of students.
In 1873, it dropped its religious affiliations and became officially secular. In 2009, the University of Geneva celebrated the 450th anniversary of its founding. Almost 40% of the students come from over 150 foreign countries.
The university holds and actively pursues teaching, research, and community service as its primary objectives. The University of Geneva is a member of the League of European Research Universities, 4EU+ Alliance, Coimbra Group, International Forum of Public Universities, and European University Association. It is also home to numerous research centers and institutes, including the Global Studies Institute, and the Institute of Global Health.
History
The university was founded in 1559 as the Academy of Geneva by French theologian John Calvin, as a seminary administered by the Company of Pastors, to be the center of public education in Protestant Geneva. With the goal of educating not only pastors but also magistrates for the republic, in 1565 the academy began the teaching of Law.During the French annexation of Geneva, the school was reorganized into a more universal format, with the introduction of degrees and its division in faculties. This process of modernization continued into the period of national Restoration.
In 1964, Sophie Kanza became the first Congolese woman to graduate from a university when she received her diploma from the University of Geneva with a degree in sociology.
Location
The University of Geneva is located in several districts in the eastern part of the city and in the nearby city of Carouge, and the different buildings are sometimes very distant from each other. The oldest building is the Collège Calvin, and is no longer a university building. Lectures are given in six different main locations, Les Bastions, Uni Dufour, Sciences ''I, II and III, Uni Mail and Uni Pignon, Centre Médical Universitaire, and Battelle''; as well as in other less important locations.Uni Bastions
Built between 1868 and 1871, Uni Bastions is the symbol of Geneva's academic life. It is located in the middle of a park and is host to the faculty of Protestant Theology and to the Faculty of Arts.Uni Dufour
Its architecture was inspired by Le Corbusier. It hosts the Rectorat and the administration of the university.Uni Mail
It is Switzerland's biggest building dedicated to social sciences. It currently hosts the Faculty of Law, of Economics and Management, of Psychology and Education and the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting.Organisation
The University of Geneva is structured in various faculties and interfaculty centers which are representing teaching, research and service to society in the various disciplines.Faculties
The university is composed of nine faculties:- Faculty of Sciences
- Faculty of Medicine
- Faculty of Humanities
- Geneva School of Economics and Management
- Geneva School of Social Sciences
- Geneva Law School
- Faculty of Theology
- Faculty of Psychology and Education
- Faculty of Translation and Interpreting
Interfaculty centers
- Swiss Center for Affective Sciences
Associated institutions
- Bossey Ecumenical Institute of the World Council of Churches
- Wyss Center for Bio- and Neuro-engineering
- Swiss National Supercomputing Centre
Finances
The University of Geneva had a budget of roughly 760 million CHF for the year 2016. It mostly comes from the cantonal subventions, the other notable contributors being the federal state and the tuition fees.Awards
Nessim-Habif World Prize given since 1963, granted to academics "who illustrate, through particularly original and in-depth thinking and work, a field of exact, medical or human sciences", by the Faculty of Sciences, during its Dies academicus ceremony, in Geneva.Libraries and press
Libraries
UNIGE's library facilities are spread across four sites.- Uni Arve is host to seven libraries: Bibliothèque Ernst & Lucie Schmidheiny, Bibliothèque d'Anthropologie, Bibliothèque du Centre universitaire d'informatique, Bibliothèque Georges de Rham, Bibliothèque de l'Institut des Sciences de l'environnement, Bibliothèque de l'Observatoire and the Bibliothèque des Sciences de la Terre et de l'environnement.
- Uni Bastions hosts the language libraries, as well as the university's libraries focused on history and musicology.
- Uni CMU is home to an extensive collection of medical issues. Besides, it is also hosts the Centre de documentation en santé and the Bibliothèque de l'nstitut de la médecine et de la santé et de l'Institut d'éthique biomédicale.
- Uni Mail's collection is focused on the following themes: Economics and social sciences, Law, Psychology and Learning Sciences, Translation and Interpreting, European studies, French as a foreign language and Musicology. Besides, it also hosts UNIGE's multimedia library.
Press
Campus is released monthly with the objective to ease communication between the scientific community and the citizens and to be a "bridge between science and city".
Academics
Admission and fees
To be enrolled in a bachelor programme, one must hold a Swiss maturity diploma or a secondary diploma considered by the University of Geneva to be equivalent. If the degree was not pursued in French, applicants must pass an eliminatory French language test at the beginning of September, which consists of an oral and a written comprehension test and of a piece of argumentative writing. Tuition fees are of CHF 500 per semester.Academic year
UNIGE's academic year runs from mid-September to mid-June. It is divided in two semesters, each one being concluded by an examination session, held respectively at the beginning of January and at the beginning of June. An examination session is held at the end of August and beginning of September as a retake for students who failed their January or June examinations.During the three days before the start of the new academic year, the Journées d'accueil are organized by the university to introduce the new students to the city and the facilities, tips are also given on how to succeed at university. A second chapter including city tours, outdoor concerts and animations is also organized by the student association UniAccueil to celebrate the new academic year.
Teaching and degrees
Before 2005, the university applied various very different models, depending on Faculties, and sometimes even on Departments. Some Faculties applied the French education model of granting academic degrees, with some minor differences: demi-licence, trois-quarts de licence, licence, diplôme d'études approfondies and diplôme d'études superieures spécialisées , and doctorate.The university now follows the requirements of the Bologna process: bachelor's, master's, in some departments or sections Master of Advanced Studies, doctorate.
UNIGE offers more than 240 types of diplomas: about 30 bachelor's degrees, 70 masters and 78 doctorates. It also provides more than 200 programmes of continuing education in various sectors.
International partnerships
Students at UNIGE have the possibility to study abroad for a semester or a year during their degree. Partner universities include Free University of Berlin, Harvard Law School, École Normale Supérieure, Trinity College Dublin, Erasmus University of Rotterdam, Université Libre de Bruxelles, King's College London, McGill University, HEC Montreal, University of Ottawa, University of Oxford, Uppsala University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Michigan, UCLA, University of Southampton, University of Sydney, University of Tokyo.Research
The key sectors of research at the University of Geneva are sciences, elementary physics, astrophysics, economics, social sciences, psychology, chemistry, biochemistry and biophysics.UNIGE is home to six national research centers: in genetics, in material sciences, in study of emotions, in chemical biology, in study of mental illness, in study of life path. UNIGE also carries research in international studies since the creation in 2013 of the Global Studies Institute, in finance with the Geneva Finance Research Institute, and in environmental studies, with the creation in 2009 of the Institut des sciences de l'environnement.
Famous discoveries have been made by researcher working at UNIGE including the discoveries of extrasolar planets by Michel Mayor, and of quantum teleportation by Nicolas Gisin.