University of Kaiserslautern

University of Kaiserslautern provides an excellent research environment with the central campus and renowned affiliated institutes associated: It is a research-oriented academic institution with one Collaborative Research Center (SFB 926 "Microscale Morphology of Component Surfaces"), two TRR-SFBs (SFB 49 "Condensed Matter Systems with Variable Many-Body Interactions"; SFB 88 "Kooperative Effekte in homo- und heterometallischen Komplexen"), an associated Fraunhofer Institutes on Experimental Software Engineering (IESE) and Industrial Mathematics (ITWM).

The University has moreover a strong focus on excellent graduate education: several RTGs and IRTGs, including the allocated project "Excellence in Teaching" with the mission "students as partners" (http://www.exzellente-lehre.de), document the lively integration of research and education.

The University of Kaiserslautern has set research on membrane transport into its scientific focus. This is illustrated by the establishment of the central Research Unit "Membrane Transport" (http://www.uni-kl.de/wcms/rimb.html) annually supported with about 250.000,- € as one of only five research units established with the help of the Federal State Rhineland-Palatinate.

The University's Center for Distance and Independent Studies (DISC) is Germany's second largest provider of graduate distance education and provides the IRTG access to a first-class eTeaching Service Center (ETSC). The International School for Graduate Studies (ISGS) offers an outstanding university-wide infrastructure fostering training in soft skills and additionally, provides a broad range of services well suited to host graduate students from abroad. In order to further promote structured doctorial studies, the establishment of a university-wide PhD Programme is currently in preparation. The latter will comprise all elements fostering the university's strategy of internationalisation and the additional teaching of key qualifications.