About Goethe University Frankfurt
An excellent international university in the digital age – delivering knowledge for development, sustainability and equity in the 21st century
Our Mission Statement
At the heart of Europe and open to the world, Goethe University Frankfurt is a workshop for the future. Founded by and for citizens in 1914, it resumed this tradition in 2008 as an autonomous foundation university.
Marc Jaquemin
Our Mission
- Conduct high-level RESEARCH on solutions for society, business and science aimed at overcoming the challenges of the 21st century
- Provide professional TEACHING and strengthen ACTIVE LEARNING among students from Germany and abroad to qualify future leaders
- Deliver social development IMPULSES for society, politics and business
Goethe University Mission Statements
Goethe University Frankfurt is a place of argumentative debate; research and teaching have a social responsibility.
Our Strategy
Goethe University's strategy sets the framework required for it to meet its mission as outlined in its vision and guiding principles. The University Development Plan contains details on its strategic goals and a road map for their implementation.
Katrin Binner
Goethe University's Strategic Documents
Key central issues are explored in greater depth in subject-specific strategies. They have been, and continue to be, developed jointly with numerous university stakeholders and committees.
Explore Our Campuses
Goethe University is one of Germany's largest universities. Its five campuses are embedded throughout the European financial metropolis of Frankfurt.
Westend Campus
Marc Jaquemin
Research at Goethe University Frankfurt
Since its foundation, Goethe University Frankfurt has provided an open space for progressive approaches, experiments and thoughts. Learn more about our research and our research profile.
Regional & International Networks
Together with its regional, national and international partners, Goethe University strives to further develop the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main metropolitan region as an integrated science hub and competitive research location.
Organization and Structure
The basis of a dynamic, future-oriented university is an efficient and transparent organizational structure. It forms the backbone of Goethe University and promotes cooperation in research, teaching, and transfer.
Uwe Dettmar
Organizational Structures
Goethe University's History
Founded in 1914 as a foundation university emerging from Frankfurt’s civic community, Goethe University quickly gained recognition for its innovative teaching methods and pioneering faculty structures. Esteemed Nobel laureates such as Paul Ehrlich, Max Born, and Otto Stern taught and conducted research here. In the postwar period, the “Frankfurt School,” co-founded by Max Horkheimer and later Theodor W. Adorno, significantly shaped the social sciences in Germany. Scholars from subsequent generations of the Frankfurt School and Critical Theory, including Jürgen Habermas, who taught philosophy in Frankfurt, have been influential in public debates in Germany for decades. Today, Goethe University remains one of Germany’s largest and most diverse institutions of higher education.