Founded in 1460, the University of Basel is the oldest school in Switzerland. It self-consciously directs its research towards the life sciences and culture.
The University of Basel’s endowment is an impressive SFr538.9 million and 11,300 students, of which 7,600 are undergrads and 3,700 are graduates. This makes Basel a small school when compared to most of its competitors.
Nevertheless, Basel maintains a very high proportion of graduate students. These students—in conjunction with the school’s 3,500-member faculty—keep the school at the forefront of scientific achievement. The University Library of Basel, with over three million books, is the largest library in Switzerland.
Basel was one of the founding schools in EUCOR, the multinational coalition of the five Upper Rhine universities which united two decades ago. Famous Basel alumni include the theologian Huldrych Zwingli, the great mathematicians Leonhard Euler and Jacob and Daniel Bernoulli, the historian Jacob Burckhardt, and the psychologist Carl Jung.
