STRASBOURG I, II, AND III, UNIVERSITIES OF

French Universits De Strasbourg I, Ii, And Iii, autonomous state-financed institutions of higher learning in Strasbourg, Fr., established in 1970 under France's 1968 Orientation Act, reforming higher education, as successors to the former University of Strasbourg. The original university was founded by Protestants in 1537 as a German gymnasium (secondary school for the study of the classics) when Strasbourg was under German rule. The gymnasium became an academy in 1566 and a university in 1621. The school was influenced from its beginning by the Protestant Reformation and subsequently by the continuing struggle between France and Germany for control of the province of Alsace. Along with Strasbourg itself, the university passed into French hands in 1681. It was suppressed in 1792 during the French Revolution and was succeeded in the early 19th century by various schools and faculties that were loosely consolidated into a new university. After the Franco-German War ended in 1871, France ceded Strasbourg to Germany and the university was reorganized, becoming the Emperor William University of Strasbourg (18721918). In 1919 the city again came under French control and the university was reestablished as an autonomous French university. From 1939 to 1945, during the German occupation of World War II, the school's faculties were moved to Clermont Ferrand University in central France, then back to Strasbourg in 1945. Johannes Sturm (150789), the principal founder, directed the Strasbourg Gymnasium for more than 40 years. His method of graded courses of studies shaped secondary school programs throughout Europe. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe completed law studies at Strasbourg in 1771, and Louis Pasteur was a professor of chemistry there. Albert Schweitzer studied medicine there from 1905 to 1913. The modern universities are composed of a number of teaching and research units, each having administrative and academic independence. Louis Pasteur University (Strasbourg I) is the school of medicine and sciences, with related research centres and an observatory. The University of Human Sciences (Strasbourg II) has units of languages and letters, philosophy and theology (both Roman Catholic and Protestant), and supplementary research centres. Strasbourg III is the University of Juridical, Political, and Social Sciences.