With its more than 525 years, the University of Copenhagen is one of the oldest universities in Northern Europe. Being the largest institution of education and research in Denmark, the University has gone through numerous changes through the ages. The University of Copenhagen was inaugurated on June 1st 1479, after King Christian I was granted approval for its establishment by Pope Sixtus IV. Based on a German model, the university consisted of four faculties: Theology, Law, Medicine and Philosophy. With over 37,000 students and more than 7,000 employees, the University of Copenhagen is the largest institution of research and education in Denmark. The purpose of the University – to quote the University Statute – is to ’conduct research and provide further education to the highest academic level’. Approximately one hundred different institutes, departments, laboratories, centres, museums, etc., form the nucleus of the University, where professors, lecturers and other academic staff, as well as most of the technical and administrative personnel, carry out their daily work, and where teaching takes place. These activities take place in various environments ranging from the plant world of the Botanical Gardens, through high-technology laboratories and auditoriums, to the historic buildings and lecture rooms of Frue Plads and other locations. On 1 January 2007, the University merged with The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University and The Danish University of Pharmaceutical Sciences. The two universities are now faculties at the University of Copenhagen.
