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University of Zurich

Public university in Switzerland, founded 1833 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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The University of Zurich (UZH, German: 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.

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Currently, the university has seven faculties: 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]

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History

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For pre-1833 history, see Carolinum, Zurich.

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.

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Aerial view (1953)

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 indented to "adopt a stricter review process".[36][37]

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Campus

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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][41] 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]

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Academics

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Main building by Karl Moser as seen from the south

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.[46][47]

Rankings

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  • Shanghai Jiao Tong University Ranking[54] (heavy emphasis on research output – citations, Nobel prizes etc.) Ranked 59th overall as well as 5th and 10th in the subdisclipines Ecology an Human Biological Sciences respectively.
  • QS World University Rankings[55] (heavy emphasis on peer review) 91st overall and 56th in Medicine globally making it the highest ranked University in Switzerland for Medicine according to QS.
  • THE World University Rankings 2024[56] 80th overall and ranked 42nd in the subdiscipline business & economics.

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

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Atrium Central
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Irchel Campus, newer and more remotely located buildings of the University of Zurich
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Statue at the entrance

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.[citation needed]

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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

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Politics, law and society

Economics, business and management

Science

Philosophy and theology

Arts and music

Nobel Prize laureates

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

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Albert Einstein
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Associated institutions

See also

Notes and references

External links

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