The University of Luxembourg can be highly satisfied with the performance of its students and researchers. That is the conclusion drawn by the 2011 annual balance sheet that University management has now presented.

"Many of the ambitious goals the government set for us by the end of 2013 have already been achieved at this point. Accordingly, the strategic direction in research and teaching is correct. We can look to the future with optimism", President Rolf Tarrach stressed.

A reason for this, for example, lies in external finding for research projects: Here, the university last year recruited almost 19 million euro in external research funds, compared with 15 million the year before. Just under two million of this came from European Union research funds, where the selection criteria are very stringent. "The funds granted are proof of the quality of our researchers," the president declared.

From the University's perspective, last year featured the dynamic development of the two research centres SnT and LCSB as well as the opening of the House of Biomedicine in Belval. The number of scientific publications also increased. Last year researchers published a total of about 760 articles in peer-reviewed publications or symposium reports. With that, the University has already attained the government set goal of two publications per researcher per year, two years earlier than expected.

New: Doctoral schools for excellent young researchers

58 young researchers successfully completed their doctoral studies last year and may now bear the title of doctor. To optimally promote future generations of high-quality researchers and to improve their career prospects in academia and the private sector, the university has now officially launched its first five doctoral schools. The latter constitute tailor-made programmes for doctoral students in the fields of systems and molecular biomedicine, business and finance, educational science, law and computer science.

Altogether about 800 bachelor and master's students received their university diplomas last year.  The number of diplomas granted (up 4.4 per cent) has developed according to plan, as have the overall number of students at the university (up 9.8 per cent) and the share of international students as well. The performance specification agreement with the government specifies that about one-fifth of all students should not be from Luxembourg or the three neighbouring countries by the end of 2013. This goal has now already been attained and highlights the international character of the university which now counts people from a hundred countries amongst its students.

The number of Portuguese-descended immigrants in the student body did not, on the other hand, increase and has stayed at around five per cent. Student accommodations are to be further expanded beyond last year's 470 rooms and should be up to 600 rooms by the end of next year.

In 2011, the University had a total of 1,090 staff, including doctoral students with employment contracts. The Annual Report as well as the Report on Contract Fulfilment, which is the implementation report for the performance specification agreement with the government, can be downloaded here or ordered free by e-mail from communication@uni.lu.