GKR – The university in miniature

Porträt von Prof. Dr. Rose Marie Beck, Dekanesprecherin

WELCOME TO THE faculty

GKR - The university in miniature with a view to the global whole. The Faculty of history, arts and area studies is one of the most diverse faculties at the University of Leipzig.

Who we are

DIVERSITY HAS A TRADITION WITH US

The diversity of the subjects is our faculty's motto.

Strichzeichnung: ein Gebäude mit vier senkrechten Strichen, die auf einem waagerechten Strich stehen und darüber sind zwei schräge Striche als Dach angeordnet.

13

institutes

3000

students

40

professors

44

study courses

5

museums and collections

188

employees

AT A GLANCE

  • Variety of subjects
  • Pillar structure
  • Unity of teaching and research
  • Part of teacher training
  • Transfer as a key competence

VARIETY OF SUBJECTS

The Faculty of History, Arts and Area Studies (GKR) is probably the most diverse faculty at the University of Leipzig. It includes a total of 13 institutes and 3 museums (Egyptian Museum-Georg Steindorff, Museum of Antiquities and Museum of Musical Instruments), some of which have a long tradition within the University of Leipzig. With its broad orientation, the GKR lives the diversity that is traditional for Leipzig University.

PILLAR STRUCTURE

The GKR can be divided into three "pillars": the Department of History, the Art Column (art history, art education, musicology and theatre studies) and the Regional Sciences (Egyptology, Institute of Ancient Oriental Studies, Institute of African Studies, Institute of Ethnology, Institute of Indology and Central Asian Studies, Oriental Institute, East Asian Institute and the Institute of Religious Studies). Since 1995, there have also been two associated institutes: the Geisteswissenschaftlich Zentrum für Geschichte und Kultur Ostmitteleuropas e.V. and the Simon Dubnow Institute for Jewish History and Culture.

TEACHING AND RESEARCH

In research and teaching we question, review and update established focal points and develop innovative topics, approaches and methods in the context of globalisation and digitisation. The specific combination of the disciplines assembled at the GKR, the wide-ranging historical basic research and the development of heterogeneous knowledge stocks, also and especially in non-European languages, contribute substantially to a critical knowledge of globalynamics in the present and the past. On the basis of systematically reflected questions and synoptic, historically based overall concepts, it develops methodological and theoretical perspectives of future significance. In this way, digitality and its implications for the transformation of textual, symbolic, cultural and artistic practices, knowledge systems, social formations and historical structures are also taken into account.

With its historical and artistic education the faculty is also involved in teaching.

Transfer

Ein besonderes Potential der GKR sind die intensiven Aktivitäten im Transfer, vor allem bei der Wissensvermittlung, künstlerischen Bildung, Expertise, bei Ausgründungen und Start-Ups, etc. Zu diesem Transfer in die Zivilgesellschaft tragen auch die der Fakultät zugeordneten Einrichtungen von überregionaler Bedeutung und Wirkung bei: das Musikinstrumentenmuseum, das Ägyptische Museum, das Antikenmuseum, das Tanzarchiv und weitere kleinere Sammlungen, sowie das CCT (Centre of Competence for Theatre).

THE FACULTY IN NUMBERS AND PRIORITIES

The faculty has 13 institutes, 40 professors (incl. JunProfs), 53.75 academic staff (20 of whom are on fixed-term contracts) and 29.5 non-scientific staff. 13.25 jobs have been cut since 2014.

More than 3,000 students study at the faculty in 44 study courses.

The Faculty is responsible for the Museum of Musical Instruments, the Egyptian Museum, the Museum of Antiquities, the Dance Archive and other smaller collections, as well as the CCT (Centre for Competence of Theatre). The faculty is also institutionally linked to the Leibniz Institutes GWZO, Simon Dubnow Institute, the MPI for Ethnology in Halle (from 2020),

the HMT (Musicology) and the Confucius Institute (Sinology) through joint appointments or cooperation agreements.

The faculty's third-party funding (DFG/BMBF, SAW, foundations, industry) is high at around €14 million. As a result, the number of employees* has almost doubled (48.25).

The faculty is very well networked and visible at the university, in the city and state, nationally and internationally. It participates in the important alliances. Almost all professorships are involved in the research profiles "Global Connections and Comparisons" and "Humanities in a Digital Age" at the University of Leipzig: with the SFB 1199 Spatialisation Processes under Conditions of Globalisation, the Multiple Secularities Research Group, prestigious long-term projects (SAW), Digital Humanities with international impact (eAQUA, online corpora from Ancient Oriental Studies and Egyptology, TASTEN am MIMUL).

In addition, the Faculty's involvement in the Unibund Leipzig-Halle-Jena, the Forum for the Study of the Global Condition and the last Excellence Initiative should also be mentioned.  The Faculty conducts intensive research in both individual and collaborative projects; new projects and project proposals are constantly emerging.

The promotion of young researchers takes place in various contexts and forms. Currently, there is an Emmy Noether junior research group (theatre studies), a Heisenberg professorship (theatre studies), a Heisenberg professorship (religious studies). The RAL Graduate Schools (GSGAS) are being expanded and extended to include postdocs and their needs.

Accredited quality management is perceived at all institutes as a development task in order to improve teaching with regard to the attractiveness of the study programmes.  All study programmes are integrated in the faculty's own and thus in the university-accredited quality management and are continuously adapted to new didactic, content and personnel conditions. Overall, the student numbers correspond to the 2018-2019 target agreements, although there are marked differences in the loads between and, in some cases, within the institutes. The burden is particularly high in teacher training and contemporary study programmes. Teaching in the faculty is well integrated, flexible and socially committed.

It follows from the AG Transfer that the GKR has a high transfer performance on the one hand, but that its transfer potential should be better bundled or made visible. Further information can be found in the GKR's transfer strategy.

With regard to equality and internationalisation, the faculty exceeds the required goals with a gender ratio of 34:66 for professors, 50:50 for mid-level staff and 60:40 for students.

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