University of Hagen

The University of Hagen (German: FernUniversität in Hagen, informally often referred to as FU Hagen) is a public research university that is primarily focused on distance teaching. While its main campus is located in Hagen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the university maintains more than 50 study and research centers in Germany and throughout Europe. According to the Federal Statistical Office of Germany it is Germany's largest university. The university was founded in 1974 as a public research university by the state Nordrhein-Westfalen and began its research and teaching activities in 1975. It was founded following the idea of UK's Open University to provide higher and continuing education opportunities through a distance education system in Germany. The university awards the same qualifications as other German on-campus universities and maintains the same high requirements. Initially, the university had only three faculties with 1,304 full and part-time students, but today the university has developed into Germany's leading institution for distance education and is the only full university in that field with a student body of 83,536 students in the summer term of 2013 and 86,889 students in the winter term 2013/14. Besides the substantial number of off-campus students, a considerable number of full-time postgraduate research students as well as more than 1,800 members of academic and research staff are based on the University of Hagen's main campus in Hagen. The faculties of the University of Hagen award undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral degrees (bachelor's, master's, doctorate degrees (Ph.Ds) and enable habilitation). All the degrees awarded by the University of Hagen are equivalent to those awarded by traditional German universities and uphold rigorous academic standards. The University of Hagen is awarding degrees and is doing research in the fields of Business Administration and Economics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Law, Psychology, Cultural Sciences and Political Science. The University has produced many notable alumni in the fields of law, economics, business and politics, among them two Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize winners, 1 Gossen Prize laureate,[10] at least 25 university professors and numerous members of the German parliament and the former Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor of Germany, Guido Westerwelle.