Heidelberg University, founded in 1386, is Germany's oldest university and one of the strongest research universities in Europe. Its successes in both rounds of the Excellence Initiative, a competition to promote top-level research, and in international rankings prove Heidelberg's excellent reputation and leading role in the scientific community. In terms of educating students and promoting promising young academics, Heidelberg relies on research-based teaching and an outstanding, well-structured training for doctoral candidates.Heidelberg University is a comprehensive university, offering the full spectrum of disciplines in the humanities, law and the social sciences alongside the natural and life sciences, including medicine. It aims to strengthen the individual disciplines, to further interdisciplinary cooperation and to carry research results over into society and industry.Research at the university is focused on four interdisciplinary fields, the "molecular and cellular basis of life", "structure and pattern formation in the material world", "cultural dynamics in globalised worlds" and "self-regulation and regulation: individuals and organisations". Heidelberg University also draws its strength from its cooperation with numerous local non-university research institutionsHeidelberg University has over 30,000 students enrolled at twelve faculties. With over 170 degree programmes, it offers a spectrum of subject combinations nearly unparalleled in Germany. Almost 20 percent of the university's students and a third of the enrolled doctoral candidates come from abroad, one in five researchers is of foreign origin. The university is tied into a worldwide network of research and teaching collaborations. Exchange programmes with more than 400 universities worldwide and 23 university partnerships give evidence to Heidelberg's marked global interconnectedness.