The University of Potsdam was founded in 1991 as the successor institution to the Brandenburg State University of Applied Sciences Potsdam with a focus on education. Today, the university is the largest in the state of Brandenburg with a total of 170 degree programs and about 22,000 students. Over the years, the educational focus has been joined by the Faculty of Law, as well as the Faculties of Human Sciences, Philosophy, Mathematics and Natural Sciences, and Economics and Social Sciences. These are spread over three different locations as well as several buildings in the city. The University of Potsdam has also gradually gained in scientific importance. In the mid-1990s, for example, a graduate college was established to promote young scientists by the German Research Foundation (DFG).
