Founded in 1780, the WWU (Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität) Münster is a university with tradition. It boasts 250 courses of study, 15 departments in seven faculties, 37,000 students, 5,500 graduates every year, a staff of 5,000 including 565 professors, and 400 partnership agreements with universities and other academic institutions all over the world. But at our university it is not numbers but people - their knowledge, their research, their curiosity - that count.

The University of Münster: a film portrait

Top-level research

WWU Münster has developed a strong research profile in natural sciences, the humanities, medicine, law and business administration. It targets top-level research in high-performance areas for and combines this with promoting first-class young researchers. At the same time, by ensuring that broad research can be carried out, it creates a secure basis on which excellence can thrive. 

Achieving excellence

For WWU Münster, promoting excellence is a dynamic process involving new academic and social challenges.

• WWU’s central tasks include not only achieving outstanding research results, but also promoting new fields of research which take up and master social and academic challenges.
• Successful work in many fields of research today requires cooperation in large groups of researchers. WWU aims at a comprehensive use of the potential set out in its profile to start single-discipline and cross-discipline groups of researchers providing the critical mass necessary for excellent research work.
• WWU promotes broad research on a wide range of subjects as a basis for the continual creation of new focuses of top-level research.

High-quality teaching

WWU Münster’s aims in the field of research are closely linked with its own commitment to provide high-quality courses of study covering a wide range of subjects. It has taken a pioneering lead in changing teacher training to a double bachelor degree. The second step – a bottom-up process – will involve masters courses. The development of programmes for structured doctoral courses represents the third step in the realisation of the objectives set out in the Bologna process. WWU thus provides the best possible teaching on the basis of high-quality broad and top-level research.

Promoting young researchers

The WWU Münster organises the promotion of outstanding academic junior researchers in graduate schools which provide structured doctoral courses. Moreover the university creates an environment conducive to top-level research carried out by postdocs. It also supports the setting up of groups of young researchers and the creation of junior professorships in order to strengthen the links between postgraduate education and research.

Gender mainstreaming

WWU Münster values gender equity and aims to empower women to combine an academic career and family interests. It is in combination with the high quality of life offered by the Münster region that the university hopes to reap benefits in recruiting brilliant researchers in the future. WWU’s second strategic objective in the field of gender mainstreaming is to apply suitable measures to strengthen women’s social qualifications in pursuing academic careers. To help reach these goals, WWU subjects its gender mainstreaming policies to an external “family-friendly university audit”.

Current measures include:

• an internal gender equity programme run since 2000 with an annual budget of €200,000 to support women in academic activities
• a training programme tailored to support young women researchers with respect to their academic careers
• the setting up of facilities to provide all-day care to the children of academic staff, with special focus on children under three. WWU will also be offering a flexible and speedy childcare service, for example in cases of weekend seminars or in emergencies. Assistance is planned in supervising schoolchildren while they do their homework.

More about WWU Münster