University of Zurich explained

University of Zurich
Native Name:Universität Zürich
Latin Name:Universitas Turicensis[1] [2] [3]
Budget:1.578 billion Swiss francs[4]
President:Michael Schaepman
Students:25,732[5]
Faculty:3,702 (Full-time equivalent)[6]
Administrative Staff:2,051 (Full-time equivalent)
Country:Switzerland
Colours:Black, white, blue, grey and ochre[7] [8]

The University of Zurich (UZH, de|Universität Zürich) is a public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland,[9] with its 28,000 enrolled students.[10] It was founded in 1833[11] from the existing colleges of theology, law, medicine which go back to 1525, and a new faculty of philosophy.

Currently, the university has seven schools: Philosophy, Human Medicine, Economic Sciences, Law, Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Theology and Veterinary Medicine. The university offers the widest range of subjects and courses of any Swiss higher education institution.[12]

History

1833–2000

The University of Zurich was founded on April 29, 1833,[13] when the existing colleges of theology, the Carolinum founded by Huldrych Zwingli in 1525, law and medicine were merged with a new faculty of Philosophy. It was the first university in Europe to be founded by the state rather than a monarch or church.[14] Its Latin name is reminiscent of the Roman name for the precursor settlement of the city of Zurich, Turicum.

In the university's early years, the 1839 appointment of the German theologian David Friedrich Strauss to its Chair of Theology caused a major controversy, since Strauss argued that the miracles in the Christian New Testament were mythical retellings of normal events as supernatural happenings.[15] [16] [17] [18] Eventually, the authorities offered Strauss a pension before he had a chance to start his duties.

The university allowed women to attend philosophy lectures from 1847. The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine was added in 1901, the second-oldest such faculty in the world. In 1914, the university moved to new premises designed by the architect Karl Moser on Rämistrasse 71.[19]

The university admitted a Russian woman student, Maria Kniazhnina, to audit medicine classes in 1864, but she did not complete the course. Another Russian student, Nadezhda Suslova, audited medicine classes from 1865 and was allowed to become a registered student and graduate as a doctor of medicine in 1867. The first seven women who were awarded medical degrees at the university were known as the Zurich Seven. They were Nadezhda Suslova (Russia), Frances Elizabeth Morgan (England), Louisa Atkins (England), Maria Bokova (Russia), Eliza Walker (Scotland), Susan Dimock (United States), and Marie Vögtlin (Switzerland).[20]

Albert Einstein was awarded his PhD from the university in 1906. In 2022, the original certificate was returned to the university.[21]

2000–present

In 2022, the university ran the first professorship for Gender Medicine in Switzerland.[22] Research included investigations into differences of symptoms of cardiac arrest between men and women.[23]

In 2024, the university announced that they would voluntarily withdraw from THE World University Rankings,[24] stating that the ranking "is not able to reflect the wide range of teaching and research activities undertaken at the university",[25] and that the ranking is "leading universities to concentrate on increasing the number of publications instead of improving the quality of their content".[26] Prior to the announcement, the university regularly ranked in the top 100 universities worldwide.[27]

In 2024, the university opened an investigation into an academic following potentially falsified research results[28] which "led to preventable patient deaths" at University Hospital of Zurich.[29]

In 2025, the university, alongside Zurich University of Applied Sciences, received the Geospatial World Excellence Award 2025 for Environmental and Social Impact for their "Spatial Sustainable Finance" project.[30]

Reddit LLM Research

In April 2025, researchers from the university's Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences conducted an experiment on Reddit's "Change my View" Subreddit where they attempted to identify how Large Language Models could be used to change people's views. The experiment was widely criticised, accused of breaking community rules, as well as being called unlawful.[31] Subreddit moderators raised concerns with the university about the ethics of the research due to it being conducted without informed consent, and its impersonation of members of groups including LGBT people and sexual assault survivors.[32]

The researchers initially responded to the allegations by defending the study saying that it was "crucial to conduct a study of this kind",[33] their activities had "done little harm", and that the study was approved by the university's ethics committee.[34] Reddit's Chief Legal Officer called the study "deeply wrong on both a moral and legal level" whilst sharing that the website was unaware of the experiment and submitted "legal demands" to the university.[35] Following Reddit's demands the university backtracked by announcing that the research would not be published, and that the Ethics Committee at the faculty intended to "adopt a stricter review process".[36] [37]

Campus

The university is scattered all over the city of Zurich. The main campuses are located in the city centre, Irchelpark and Oerlikon.[38] Members of the university can use several libraries, including the ETH-library, and the Zurich Central Library, with over 5 million volumes.[39] In 1962, the faculty of science proposed to establish the Irchelpark campus on the Strickhofareal. The first stage the construction of the university buildings was begun in 1973, and the campus was inaugurated in 1979.[40] The construction of the second stage lasted from 1978 to 1983.[41] The campus also houses the anthropological museum Anthropologisches Museum,[42] and the cantonal Staatsarchiv Zürich.[43]

Museums

The university included 13 museums: the Anatomical Collection, the Archaeological Collection, the Botanical Museum, the Museum of Wax Moulages, the Science Exploratorium, the Museum of Veterinary History, the Zurich Herbaria, the Museum of Anthropology, the Botanical Garden, the Ethnographic Museum, the Paleontological Museum, the Veterinary Anatomy Collection and the Zoological Museum.[44] The zoological, paleontological, anthropological and botanical museums later merged into the Natural History Museum of the University of Zurich, which opened in 2024. The Institute and Museum for the History of Medicine is also part of the university.[45]

Academics

In the fields of bioscience and finance, there is a close-knit collaboration between the University of Zurich and the ETH (Federal Institute for Technology). Examples for common initiatives between the two institutions include University Medicine Zurich, the Wyss Translational Center Zurich, and Life Science Zurich (LSZ).[46] [47]

Rankings

Arwu W:59
Arwu W Year:2023
Arwu W Ref:[48]
The W:80
The W Year:2024
The W Ref:[49]
Qs W:100
Qs W Year:2026
Qs W Ref:[50]
Usnwr W:59
Usnwr W Year:2025-2026
Usnwr W Ref:[51]
Cwur W:62
Cwur W Ref:[52]
Cwur W Year:2025
Reuters W:51
Reuters W Ref:[53]
Reuters W Year:2019

The university's Department of Economics is especially strong and was ranked first in the German-speaking area by the Handelsblatt in 2017.[57] In 2009, the faculty of Business Administration was ranked third in the German-speaking area.[58]

Language policy

Bachelor courses are taught in Swiss Standard German ("Hochdeutsch"), but use of English is increasing in many faculties. The only bachelors program taught entirely in English is the "English Language and Literature" program.[59] All Master courses at the Faculty of Science are held in English. Master courses in Economics and Finance are mainly held in English, while the Master of Science in Quantitative Finance is held completely in English.

Student life

The university's Academic Sports Association (ASVZ) offers a wide range of sports facilities to students of the university. The student body is represented through the Verband der Studierenden der Universität Zürich VSUZH which organizes events and is involved in the university administration.[60]

Notable alumni and faculty

Science

Philosophy and theology

Arts and music

Nobel Prize laureates

Associated with the university are 12 Nobel Prize recipients, primarily in Physics and Chemistry.

YearFieldLaureate
1901PhysicsWilhelm Conrad Röntgen
1902LiteratureTheodor Mommsen
1913ChemistryAlfred Werner
1914PhysicsMax von Laue
1921PhysicsAlbert Einstein
1933PhysicsErwin Schrödinger
1936ChemistryPeter Debye
1937ChemistryPaul Karrer
1939ChemistryLavoslav Ružička
1949MedicineWalter Rudolf Hess
1987PhysicsKarl Alex Müller
1996MedicineRolf M. Zinkernagel

Associated institutions

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Record of the Jubilee Celebrations of the University of Sydney . 1903 . William Brooks and Co. . 9781112213304 . . en-AU .
  2. Book: Anderson, Peter John . Peter John Anderson . Record of the Celebration of the Quatercentenary of the University of Aberdeen: From 25th to 28th September, 1906 . 1907 . Aberdeen University Press (University of Aberdeen) . 9781363625079 . . en-GB .
  3. Book: Actes du Jubilé de 1909 . 1910 . Georg Keck & Cie . 9781360078335 . . fr-CH .
  4. Web site: Annual Report 2022 . University of Zurich . 2022.
  5. Web site: Annual Report 2018 . University of Zurich . 2018 . May 23, 2019 . November 7, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151107013503/https://www.uzh.ch/en/about/portrait/annualreport.html#3-8 . dead .
  6. Web site: Facts and Figures 2015 . Executive Board of the University of Zurich . 2015 . May 23, 2019 . October 28, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161028015915/https://issuu.com/uzhch/docs/uzh_factsfigures_2015/ . dead .
  7. https://www.cd.uzh.ch/de/grundlagen/grundelemente/farben.html Die Hausfarben der Universität Zürich
  8. https://www.cd.uzh.ch/dam/jcr:00000000-1f73-28ca-ffff-ffff9377064f/UZH_CDManual_Basiselemente.pdf CD-Manual: Basiselemente
  9. Web site: University of Zurich . Coursera . May 6, 2017.
  10. Web site: The University of Zurich – At a Glance . September 18, 2020 . 2020 . University of Zurich . March 31, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190331180112/https://www.uzh.ch/cmsssl/en/about/portrait/portrait.html . dead .
  11. University of Zurich. Times Higher Education . May 6, 2017.
  12. Web site: 2021. Faculties of the University of Zurich. December 2, 2021. University of Zurich. March 5, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230305215615/https://www.uzh.ch/cmsssl/en/about/faculties.html. dead.
  13. Web site: Dies academicus . University of Zurich . August 26, 2009 . May 6, 2017 . August 27, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200827093342/https://www.uzh.ch/en/about/portrait/dies.html . dead .
  14. Web site: Lorenzo Käser . Illustrierte Geschichte des Züricher Cantonsspitals und der medizinischen Poliklinik . 2019-04-11 .
  15. The Life of Jesus, Critically Examined by David Friedrich Strauss 2010 pages 39–43 and 87–91
  16. The Making of the New Spirituality by James A. Herrick 2003 pages 58–65
  17. Familiar Stranger: An Introduction to Jesus of Nazareth by Michael J. McClymond (March 22, 2004) page 82
  18. See
  19. Web site: Ganz . Michael T. . Stucki . Heinzpeter . History in brief . University of Zurich . 2008 . January 31, 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100821055517/http://www.uzh.ch/about/portrait/history_en.html . August 21, 2010.
  20. Book: Bonner . Thomas Neville . To the Ends of the Earth: Women's Search for Education in Medicine . 1992 . Harvard University Press . 9780674893030 . 32–41.
  21. Web site: swissinfo.ch . S. W. I. . 2022-09-02 . Albert Einstein's doctoral certificate returns to Zurich . 2025-06-28 . SWI swissinfo.ch . en.
  22. Web site: 2022-11-01 . First Professorship for Gender Medicine in Switzerland . 2025-06-28 . www.uzhfoundation.ch . en-US.
  23. Web site: swissinfo.ch . S. W. I. . 2025-05-15 . University of Zurich's first gender medicine professor sparks interest . 2025-06-28 . SWI swissinfo.ch . en.
  24. Web site: swissinfo.ch . S. W. I. . 2024-03-13 . University of Zurich withdraws from international university ranking . 2025-06-28 . SWI swissinfo.ch . en.
  25. Web site: 2024-04-04 . The University of Zurich, where Einstein also lectured, voluntarily withdraws from the world ranking of universities . 2025-06-28 . Telegrafi . en.
  26. Web site: 2024-03-13 . UZH to No Longer Provide Data for THE Ranking . 2025-06-28 . www.news.uzh.ch . en.
  27. Web site: 2024-10-09 . Utrecht, Zurich universities to publish joint criticism of university rankings NL Times . 2025-06-28 . nltimes.nl . en.
  28. Web site: Allegedly falsified research results at the University of Zurich . 2025-06-28 . blue News . en.
  29. Web site: Scandal at Zurich Hospital: Top Cardiologist Linked to 150 Preventable Deaths in Shocking Cover-Up . 2025-06-28 . www.ctol.digital . en.
  30. Web site: Chaurasia . Palak . 2025-04-26 . Geospatial World Excellence Awards 2025 Celebrate Global Achievements in Technology, Application & Policy Innovation . 2025-06-28 . Geospatial World . en-US.
  31. Web site: Researchers used Reddit to conduct undisclosed AI-based study News . 2025-06-28 . Research Live . en.
  32. Web site: 2025-04-29 . Researchers secretly infiltrated a popular Reddit forum with AI bots, causing outrage . 2025-06-28 . NBC News . en.
  33. Web site: 2025-04-29 . University of Zurich Manipulates Reddit Users With AI Bots, But Say They Did It To Save The World Science 2.0 . 2025-06-28 . www.science20.com . en.
  34. Web site: 'Unethical' AI research on Reddit under fire . 2025-06-28 . www.science.org . en.
  35. Web site: Koebler · . Jason . 2025-04-29 . Reddit Issuing 'Formal Legal Demands' Against Researchers Who Conducted Secret AI Experiment on Users . 2025-06-28 . 404 Media . en.
  36. Web site: 2025-04-29 . Reddit Threatens to Sue Researchers Who Ran "Dead Internet" AI Experiment on Its Site . 2025-06-28 . Futurism.
  37. Web site: Travis . Kate . 2025-04-29 . AI-Reddit study leader gets warning as ethics committee moves to 'stricter review process' . 2025-06-28 . Retraction Watch . en-US.
  38. Web site: Campuses. 2021-12-02. www.uzh.ch. en. November 27, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20211127043827/https://www.uzh.ch/en/about/info/sites.html. dead.
  39. University of Zurich . Stadt Zürich . April 4, 2006 . 1:1000 . January 31, 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120127032717/http://www.plaene.uzh.ch/lageplaene/index.html#ankermap . January 27, 2012 . mdy-all.
  40. Web site: Irchelpark. Universität Zürich. de. December 20, 2014. June 5, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180605041826/http://www.uzh.ch/about/portrait/history.html. dead.
  41. Web site: Irchelpark. Grün Stadt Zürich. de. December 20, 2014.
  42. Web site: Anthropologisches Museum. Universität Zürich. de. December 20, 2014. July 26, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200726143235/https://www.uzh.ch/de/outreach/museums/anthropologisches-museum.html. dead.
  43. Web site: Kleine Zürcher Verfassungsgeschichte 1218–2000. Staatsarchiv Zürich. de. December 20, 2014.
  44. Web site: Museums and Collections. 2021-12-02. www.uzh.ch. en. December 2, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20211202230803/https://www.uzh.ch/en/outreach/museums.html. dead.
  45. Web site: UZH - Universität Zürich. Mhiz.uzh.ch. January 14, 2018.
  46. Web site: Google Maps. Google Maps. January 14, 2018.
  47. Web site: Partnerships. December 14, 2023. December 14, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231214181406/https://www.uzh.ch/en/explore/portrait/basics/partnerships.html. dead.
  48. Web site: Academic Ranking of World Universities 2023. 14 December 2023. Shanghai Ranking Consultancy.
  49. Web site: World University Rankings 2024. December 14, 2023. 25 February 2021.
  50. Web site: University of Zurich . 21 June 2025 .
  51. Web site: https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/university-of-zurich-505287. 26 June 2025.
  52. Web site: | Global 2000 List | CWUR .
  53. Web site: Reuters Top 100 The World's Most Innovative Universities 2019 . 29 August 2024. Reuters.
  54. Web site: Academic Ranking of World Universities - 2023. December 14, 2023.
  55. Web site: QS World University Rankings 2024. QS World University Rankings. December 14, 2023.
  56. Web site: THE World University Rankings 2024. December 14, 2023. December 14, 2023.
  57. News: Handelsblatt Ranking. Handelsblatt. September 8, 2018. June 10, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200610153409/https://www.econ.uzh.ch/en/department/rankings/handelsblatt.html. dead.
  58. News: Handelsblatt Ranking Betriebswirtschaftslehre 2009 . Handelsblatt . November 11, 2013 . July 1, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200701175205/https://tool.handelsblatt.com/tabelle/?id=29 . dead .
  59. Web site: Studying. Degrees.uzh.ch. January 14, 2018.
  60. Web site: VSUZH - Verband der Studierenden der Universität Zürich . 2022-12-07 . VSUZH . de.

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