University of Basel

University of Basel, institution of higher learning, and the oldest university in Switzerland, founded in 1460. Located in Basel, its founding as a full-faculty university was by a papal bull of Pope Pius II (1458-1464). The university was subsequently reorganized during the religious revolution in the 16th century known as the Reformation.

The university's originally established Faculty of Arts, which prepared students to read theology, law, or medicine, later developed into the present Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Humanities. In 1971 the School of Biological Science was founded and incorporated into the Faculty of Science. Likewise in 1988, the School of Economics was founded and incorporated into the Faculty of Humanities.

The university is situated on the joint French, German, and Swiss borders and helped found EUCOR, a confederation of universities located on the upper Rhine River, to promote regional cooperation in research and teaching. The university is under the jurisdiction of the local department of education of the Canton Basel-Stadt; the department provides the majority of the university's funding.

Depending on the field of study, the university awards either a Lizentiate degree or a Diploma (both equivalent to a master's degree in the United States) after a successful four-year course of study. The Ph.D. degree is awarded in postgraduate studies. Among the notable persons who have taught at the University of Basel are Sebastian Brant, German poet and humanist and author of the well-known satirical poem Das Narrenschiff (The Ship of Fools, 1494); and the German philosopher, poet, and classical philologist Friedrich Nietzsche.

Reviewed by: University of Basel