Kiel University, officially the Christian Albrecht University of Kiel, (German: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a public research university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in 1665 as the Academia Holsatorum Chiloniensis by Christian Albert, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp and has approximately 27,000 students today. It is the largest, oldest, and most prestigious university in the state of Schleswig-Holstein.

Until 1866, it was not only the northernmost university in Germany but at the same time the 2nd largest university of Denmark. Faculty, alumni, and researchers of Kiel University have won 12 Nobel Prizes. Kiel University has been a member of the German Universities Excellence Initiative since 2006. The Cluster of Excellence The Future Ocean, which was established in cooperation with the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel in 2006, is internationally recognized. The second Cluster of Excellence "Inflammation at Interfaces" deals with chronic inflammatory diseases. The Kiel Institute for the World Economy is also affiliated with Kiel University. The university has a great reputation for its focus on public international law. The oldest public international law institution in Germany and Europe – the Walther Schuecking Institute for International Law – is based in Kiel.

The origins of the university in Kiel trace back to the increasing need for well-educated priests during the Reformation. Additionally, the growing involvement of citizens in significant administrative roles contributed to the idea of establishing a university in the duchies. However, wars in the early 17th century and political conflicts between dukes and the king initially delayed these plans. Eventually, Duke Friedrich III commissioned his son, Christian Albrecht, to advance the founding of the university. In 1660, Christian Albrecht succeeded in realizing these plans and selected Kiel as the university's location. On October 5, 1665, the university was inaugurated under the name Christiana Albertina in a former Franciscan monastery with four lecture halls and a library. At that time, 17 professors taught theology, medicine, law, and the liberal arts.

A significant growth period for the university occurred a century later under Russian Empress Catherine the Great, from whom it received its colors, purple and white. Following the unification of the duchies in 1773, the university continued to flourish as the northernmost German and southernmost Scandinavian university. Nearly 100 years later, the university's development stagnated, particularly after Schleswig-Holstein became part of Prussia. From 1870, student numbers began to rise again, and 38 years later, women were also admitted.

During the Nazi regime starting in 1933, the university experienced Gleichschaltung, the expulsion of Jewish professors, and the persecution of dissenters. In World War II, many buildings were destroyed by Allied air raids, including the university library in 1942.

With the support of the British, teaching resumed as early as November 1945, initially on ships. In the 1960s, a new campus was developed on the Kiel Westring. The student protests of the late 1960s led to a modernization of the university's structure. The campus was expanded in 1972 with buildings on Olshausenstraße and new sports facilities, and in 1991, the Faculty of Engineering opened in Kiel-Gaarden. The number of students steadily increased and now stands at about 25,000 to 30,000. The Christian-Albrecht University has not only become an internationally respected university but also one of the largest employers in Kiel.

Christian-Albrechts-Universität currently consists of the following eight faculties:

• Faculty of Theology
• Faculty of Law
• Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences
• Faculty of Medicine
• Faculty of Arts and Humanities
• Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences
• Faculty of Agricultural Science and Nutrition
• Faculty of Engineering

See also Category:University of Kiel alumni

• Franz Boas (1858–1942), anthropologist
• Alice Bota (born 1979), journalist
• Georg von Dadelsen (1918–2007), musicologist, Neue Bach-Ausgabe
• Matthias von Davier, psychometrician, academic, inventor, and author
• Gerhard Domagk, bacteriologist, Nobel laureate
• Andre Franke, geneticist
• Maren Gaulke (born 1955), herpetologist
• Johanna Hellman (1889–1982), surgeon
• Mareile Höppner, television presenter
• Doris König, current judge of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany
• Wolfgang Kubicki, politician, vice chairman of the FDP in Germany, from 1992 to 1993 and since 1996 he is faction leader of the FDP in the Landtag, the parliament of Schleswig-Holstein, member of the Bundestag
• Oswald Pohl (1892–1951), Nazi SS officer executed for war crimes
• Viktoria Schmidt-Linsenhoff (1944–2013), German art historian and professor
• Gerhard Stoltenberg, politician, former prime minister of Schleswig-Holstein, former finance minister of Germany
• Peer Steinbrück, politician, former prime minister of North Rhine Westphalia, former finance minister of Germany
• Erich Walter Sternberg, composer
• Sibylle Kessal-Wulf, current judge of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, Germany's highest court
• Surya Hermawan, lecturer at Petra Christian University, Indonesia

Walter Anderson Robert Alexy Jochen Bleicken Hartmut Boockmann Friedrich Blume Hans Gerhard Creutzfeldt Paul Deussen Wilhelm Dilthey Johann Gustav Droysen Jakob Christoph Rudolf Eckermann Karl-Dietrich Erdmann [de] Friedrich von Esmarch Johan Christian Fabricius

Paul Johann Anselm Ritter von Feuerbach Hans Geiger Herbert Giersch Wilhelm Griesinger Bernhard Harms Heinrich Hertz Alfred Heuß Felix Jacoby Otto Jahn Mojib Latif August Leskien Daniel Georg Morhof Theodor Mommsen

Daniel Pauly Max Planck Erwin Rohde Erich Schneider Albert Hänel Walther Schücking Fritz Stein Ferdinand Tönnies Heinrich von Treitschke Friedrich Wegener Otto Werner Gustav Radbruch Richard Sorge Philip Rosenstiel

Laureate	born	deceased	CAU period	CAU function	Nobel Prize
Theodor Mommsen	1817 Garding	1903 Charlottenburg	1838–1844	Law student, Dr. jur.	Literature, 1902
Philipp Lenard	1862 Bratislava	1947 Messelhausen	1898–1907	Ordinarius, Physics	Physics, 1905
Eduard Buchner	1860 Munich	1917 Focsani	1893–1896	Privatdozent, Biochemistry	Chemistry, 1907
Max Planck	1858 Kiel	1947 Göttingen	1885–1889	associate professor, theoretical physics	Physics, 1918
Otto Meyerhof	1884 Hannover	1951 Philadelphia	1912–1924	Postdoc, a.o. Prof., Physiology	Medicine 1⁄2, 1922
Gerhard Domagk	1895 Lagow	1964 Burgberg	1914–1921	Study of medicine with degree in Kiel	Medicine, 1939
Walter Rudolf Hess	1881 Frauenfeld, CH	1973 Muralto, CH		Student of Medicine	Medicine, 1949
Otto Diels	1876 Hamburg	1954 Kiel	1916–1945	Ordinarius, Organic Chemistry	Chemistry 1⁄2, 1950
Kurt Alder	1902 Königshütte	1958 Cologne	1924–1936	Associate Professor, Organic Chemistry	Chemistry 1⁄2, 1950
Wassily Leontief	1905 Munich	1999 New York, USA	1927–1928	Scientific Assistant, Economics	Economics, 1973
Wolfgang Paul	1913 Lorenzkirch	1993 Bonn	1937–1942	Scientific Assistant, Physics	Physics 1⁄3, 1989
Günter Blobel	1936 Waltersdorf	2018 New York, USA		Student of Medicine	Medicine, 1999

University rankings
Overall – Global & National
QS World 2024 530 33 THE World 2024 301–350 32–33 ARWU World 2023 201–300 10–19 QS Europe QS Employability THE Employability

Kiel University is recognized in several university ranking systems. According to the 2024 QS World University Rankings, the institution is globally positioned at 530 and holds the 33rd place nationally. In the 2024 THE World University Rankings, it is placed within the 301–350 bracket worldwide and ranks between 32nd and 33rd nationally. The ARWU World Rankings for 2023 presents the university within the global 201–300 range, while its national rank is within the 10th to 19th positions.

• The Ethnographisch-Archaeologische Zeitschrift (EAZ) is an interdisciplinary journal dedicated to the study of human societies from prehistory to the present day by bridging archaeology, anthropology, and philosophy and addressing topics like social inequality, climate change, and indigenous sovereignty. The EAZ was founded in 1960 as the successor to the publication series Ethnographisch-Archäologische Forschungen, which was published from 1953 to 1959. First published at Humboldt University Berlin in 1960, the EAZ later moved to Leipzig in 2010, and since 2023 it is published at Kiel University.

• Botanischer Garten der Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, the university's botanical garden

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  "Some shine when you read them" - Aerial photograph of the University Library of the CAU on Leibniz Street
• 
  The Leibniz Institute for the Education in Natural Sciences and Mathematics at Olshausenstraße
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  The Center for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ZMB) of the CAU at the Botanical Garden
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  Leibniz-Straße-based institutes, the cafeteria and the university library
• 
  The Otto-Hahn-Platz and the Max-Eyth-Straße with the various chemical institutes and the Anatomical Institute
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  The sports facilities and the Institute of Sports Science of the CAU
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  The grounds of the botanical garden of the CAU Kiel
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  The greenhouses of the Botanical Garden of the CAU

CAU's most renowned award is the Holstein Study Award (Holsteiner Studienpreis), which is awarded to the university's top three students each year since 2001. The award's criteria include extraordinary academic achievements, a broad intellectual horizon and political or social involvement. It is endowed with a prize money of €500 for the 2nd and 3rd prize and €1000 for the 1st prize. The Holstein Study Award is funded by the association 'Iuventus Academiae Holsatorum'. The award's expert jury includes professors of various faculties and the prizes are awarded by the university's president or vice-president in a formal ceremony in the top floor of the skyscraper on campus.

• List of early modern universities in Europe
• Lists of universities and colleges

• Official website (in English and German)
• Kiel University International Affairs
• Students' Association at Kiel University (in German)