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UNIVERSITY 213 sists of the deans of the faculties and several other officers, and has the general government of the university. Three degrees are conferred : baccalaureate, licentiate, and doctor. The old- est universities of central Europe, including Germany, are those of Austria, that of Prague having been founded in 1348, of Cracow in 1364, and of Vienna in 1365. The statistics of these and of the other Austro-Hungarian universities are given in the table. In their general organization they are similar to the universities of the German empire, having the four regular faculties; those of theology and philosophy bear the usual designation, but that of law includes political science, and that of medicine is called the medical and surgical faculty. The medical faculty is generally the most prominent, that in the university of Vi- enna being especially celebrated; but of late years the number of students of law has some- times exceeded those of medicine. The Eng- lish rather than the German system of exami- nations prevails. In 1872 a new university was established in Klausenburg, Transylvania, where one was founded in 1580 ; and in 1876 one was founded at Czernowitz. Of Austro- Hungarian universities not now existing, that of Tyrnau (founded in 1635) was removed to Buda in 1777, and finally merged in that of Pesth in 1784; that of Trieste (1454) was abolished in 1797; that of Olmiitz (1581) was removed to Brunn in 1778, restored to Olmiitz in 1827, and abolished in 1853; and that of Salzburg (1620) was abolished in 1810. The school of Linz is not reckoned as a university because it has less than the four faculties. The present condition of the universities t>f the German empire is shown in the accompanying table. The governments have supreme con- trol over all of these institutions, the ministers of public instruction having the immediate control ; and all are dependent on state appro- priations, excepting Leipsic, Heidelberg, and Greifswald, which have property of their own. The government is represented in each by a curator, who is charged with the enforcement of the official regulations and laws; by the professors ; and by a qusestor, who collects and pays over the fees due from students. All these officials are appointed by the ministers of public instruction. The professors choose an- nually the other officers, viz. : a rector, who is the actual head of the university ; a pro-rec- tor, who acts as an assistant to the rector in the Austrian universities, but is found in the German universities only when the sovereign is nominal rector, when he performs all the duties of rector; a judge (Universitatsrichter) or chancellor (Kamler), who assists the rector in the decision of judicial matters; and the deans (Dekanen) of the faculties, who preside over all questions belonging to faculty jurisdic- tion. The senatus academicus, composed of all these officers and several of the ordinary professors, is the legislative body and executive council of the university, but is seldom con- vened excepting in important cases, the rector and the judge who constitute the university court having jurisdiction over all ordinary matters. All the universities have the four ordinary faculties, to which some add a faculty of political economy (staatswirthschaflliche) and of natural science (naturwissenschaftliche). Each faculty regulates its own internal affairs through its professors and its dean, subject to the general regulations of the university. Each faculty includes all who teach in its department of instruction, and consists of or- dinary or full professors (ordentliche) ; extra- ordinary professors (ausserordentliche), who, though inferior in rank to the ordinary pro- fessors, are not necessarily assistants or sub- ordinates ; and private lecturers (Prnatdocen- ten). In the Austrian universities are also in- structors (Lehrer) and assistants (Assistenten). Entrance into the German universities is to be effected only through the gymnasium, or preparatory school, excepting in the case of foreigners, who are admitted without exam- ination. The examination at the close of the gymnasium couree, which is very thorough, is called Abiturienten-Examen (leaving examina- tion); the successful student receives a cer- tificate of maturity (Maturitatszeugniss), which enables him to enroll himself, after paying a small matriculation fee, as a member of any of the universities, when he registers in which- ever faculty he chooses. The course of study is usually four years, but in some of the uni- versities five years are required in the medical faculty. Students are not obliged to remain at one university, but can study at several with- out loss of standing ; they board and lodge where they please, and enjoy much social lib- erty. Dismission from one university is no bar to entrance at another, but expulsion (Relega- tion) from one is expulsion from all. The prin- cipal degree conferred in each faculty is the doctorate, that of philosophy (Ph. D.) corre- sponding to the English and American A. M. To attain it, an oral examination is required, and a dissertation written in German or Latin. The tendency of the present system of univer- sity education in Germany is shown by the great decrease of the number of students in the theological faculties. The Prussian uni- versities (exclusive of those in the territories annexed in 1866), which in 1831 had 2,203 theological students, had but 740 in 1873 ; Marburg, which had 124 in 1831, had but 46 in 1873; and Giessen, which had 80 in 1850, had only 10 in 1873. The following is a list of German universities which are now ex- tinct, with the dates of their foundation and abolition: Cologne, 1388-1801; Erfurt, 1392- 1816; Ingolstadt, 1472, removed to Landshut in 1800, and thence to Munich in 1826; Mentz, 1477-1798 ; Wittenberg, 1502, merged with Halle in 1815; Frankfort- on-the-Oder, 1506, merged with Breslau in 1810 ; Dillingen, 1549- 1804; Helmstedt, 1575-1809 ; Herborn, 1584- 1817; Paderborn, 1614-1819; Einteln, 1621-