Helke Hillebrand

University of Heidelberg

Heidelberg University is one of the top-ranking locations in the world of international science and scholarship. As Germany's oldest seat of higher learning it can look back on a tradition for which it is envied by many other universities, not only in Germany. But while its six-hundred-year history is a source of justified pride, it would be foolish indeed to rest on the laurels of the past. Accordingly, the University is intent on playing an active role in shaping the future, both by engaging in innovative research and by educating the decision-makers of tomorrow. In the competition between the best universities our position could hardly be more favourable. In many fields Heidelberg's prominence is uncontested, both nationally and internationally. With its broad range of subjects it is a classic embodiment of the original ideal of universitas. As such, it scores over many of its rivals with an asset that has become indispensable for today 's research-oriented universities if they want to compete at an international level. The name of that asset is interdisciplinary collaboration. In Heidelberg the pooling of creative potential across traditional faculty boundaries was instituted at an early stage, notably by the creation of interdisciplinary research centres that have developed into veritable islands of excellence in a short space of time. On the international plane, the name of Heidelberg has long been synonymous with academic excellence, a reputation it enjoys all over the world. The regard in which the University is held by scholars, scientists and students from other countries is immense. Here in the Heidelberg Area they encounter an inordinately stimulating intellectual climate that lives on in the memory and forms a basis for lifelong friendships.