Leipzig: A lighthouse in eastern Germany

Almost a thousand years old, sitting at the juncture of three rivers — the Pleiße, White Elster and Parthe — Leipzig is rich in history and natural beauty; not to mention jobs. Home to universities and research centers, plenty of culture and nightlife, the world’s oldest trade fair and a growing local economy — Leipzig stands out in eastern Germany.

Leipzig by night pixelio user luutze78

City profile

Leipzig is eastern Germany’s most populated city, with 510,000 inhabitants. Situated in the northwest of Saxony, just a short train or car ride from other interesting cities including Dresden and Berlin, Leipzig impresses with its beautifully renovated historical city center, complete with picturesque alleys and larger pedestrian areas lined with fashionable shops and cafés. The city also boasts a long tradition of business and learning: The Leipzig Trade Fair, which began in the Middle Ages, is the oldest trade fair in the world, and the University of Leipzig, founded in 1409, is one of the oldest universities in Europe. Leipzig is also home to three Max-Planck Institutes (for anthropology, neuroscience and mathematics) as well as the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology and the Fraunhofer Center for Central and Eastern Europe. 

After Germany’s reunification, Leipzig became an automobile and industrial hub, with giants like BMW, Porsche and Siemens opening facilities there. Moreover, DHL, Deutsche Post’s logistics daughter, is in the process of transferring the bulk of its European air operations to nearby Leipzig/HalleHalle
die Halle, -n: sehr großer Raum mit viel Platz (z.B. für Ausstellungen)  Airport.

Overview of universities

University of Leipzig 
(Ritterstraße 26, 04109 Leipzig)
http://www.uni-leipzig.de/english/index.html 

Whether it’s the Olympics, its questionable human rights record or its swift economic ascent — China is the country the world is talking about. What drives China’s tremendous economic growth? Who profits, who loses? What does China’s society look like? At the University of Leipzig, students are encouraged to find answers to these questions with the help of top-notch Asia experts: On April 9, 2008, the University of Leipzig opened the first Confucius Institute in eastern Germany, a cooperation program with a Beijing university that enables German students to learn more about the Chinese language and culture.

The Confucius Institute is only one of several recent developments at the school. In 2009, when the university will celebrate its 600th anniversary, officials want to be finished reconstructing the historic inner-city campus for roughly €140 million, a project that was launched in the summer of 2005.

Some 29,000 students currently attend the 14 departments at the University of Leipzig; among its alumni are such famous names as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. The school is well-known for its expertise in natural science: Nobel Prize winners in the fields of physics and chemistry have taught here, and the psychology department is one of the most renowned in Germany. The media departments have made quite a name for themselves, as well, with prominent public relations and journalism programs. The university offers bachelors, masters, doctoral and post-doctoral programs.

Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig (HGB)
 (Wächterstr. 11, 04107 Leipzig)
http://www.hgb-leipzig.de/index.php?a=aktuell&js=2 

With roots dating back to 1764, this Leipzig arts school is one of the most renowned in Germany. In the late 1990s, one of its alumni, Neo Rauch, became the poster boy of the New Leipzig School. The work of artists from the New Leipzig School varies in content, style and quality, but the painters “share a technical skill, a devotion to figurative art and a predilection for dry-eyed, melancholy subject matter,” the New York Times wrote about the phenomenon. Rauch's works are displayed in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and were on show in solo exhibitions all over the world, including one at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art that made Rauch one of the world’s most famous modern painters. Rauch has been teaching courses at the HGB since 2005 and international art dealers flock to Leipzig to find the next hot artist to emerge from the school.

University of Music and Theatre “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy”
 (Grassistraße 8, 04107 Leipzig)
http://www.hmt-leipzig.de/index.php?english 

Founded in 1843, the University of Music and Theatre “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” was the first music school in Germany. Today, it has some 900 students, with foreign students from 45 countries — one of the highest rates of any institute of higher education in Saxony. Students can enroll in artistic and teacher training in all orchestral instruments; classes teach piano chamber music, orchestral conducting, composition, jazz, pop, church music and more.