University of Bonn

University of Bonn, autonomous institution of higher learning, in Bonn, Germany. The university is under the jurisdiction of the ministry of education and is financed by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen). The institution was founded as an academy in 1777 by Prince Maximilian Frederick von Konigsegg-Rothenfels, archbishop of Cologne (1761-84). In 1786 Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II made the academy a university. The institution was suppressed by the French after 1797, during the French revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. In 1818 the university was reorganized under the auspices of King Frederick William III of Prussia as Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität. The physical plant of the university was almost totally destroyed during World War II. The modern university comprises faculties of Protestant and Roman Catholic theology, law and economics, philosophy, mathematics and natural sciences, medicine, agriculture, and education. After 4 to 5 years of study a Diplom or the degree of Doktor is awarded, the equivalent of a U.S. master's degree.