Founded in 1558, the Friedrich Schiller University Jena is one of the oldest universities in Germany. Once the centre of German philosophical thought, it has become a broad-based, research-intensive institution with a global reach and a thriving international community of more than 18,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students from over 110 countries worldwide. With its partners in high-tech industry and top-level non-university research institutions, the University builds a strong network of regional, national and global cooperation and forms the centre of an internationally recognized, vibrant, and productive scientific and economic region in Central Germany. The University of Jena pools its interdisciplinary research into three focal research areas: Light, Life, and Liberty. - Jena’s research in optics and photonics within the focal research area Light is among the world's leading research sites. Light also comprises material and energy research combining these with cutting-edge research in bioscience and medicine. - The focal research area Life includes excellent basic and applied research in microbiology and biodiversity, with a strong emphasis on microbial communication processes and ecosystem research. Life also examines infection, inflammation, and ageing. - The focal research area Liberty combines humanities research on the Enlightenment and idealism, on romanticism, contemporary history, and social change. The University also has a long history of excellence in learning and teaching. It has been rated as one Germany’s best universities for the education and the support it provides to students from all backgrounds. This support has helped them become some of the much sought-after experts in a wide range of disciplines: in theology, law, economics and business administration, arts, social and behavioural sciences, mathematics and computer science, physics and astronomy, chemistry and earth sciences, biological sciences, and in medicine.