The Cologne Personnel and Lecture Directories

The present University of Cologne, one of the largest German universities, has not existed in this form for a century, but can look at a tradition that goes back much further. Founded in 1388 as the fourth university of the Holy Roman Empire (after Heidelberg, Prague and Vienna), the medieval University of Cologne was abolished in 1798, but was replaced by a central school (école centrale), which did not survive French rule. The modern university, founded about a century later in 1919, was based on three predecessor universities, the Commercial College (1901) with the College for Municipal and Social Administration (1912), the Academy for Practical Medicine (1904) and the Association for Further Education in Law and Political Science (1906). IIn 1980, the Cologne Department of the then German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology began its work.
 In 1980, the Cologne Department of the then University of Education Rheinland was incorporated as the fourth university.

Since the 17th century, printed overviews of the courses offered by many universities have been developed. Later, these lists were expanded to include lecturers and lists of the individual seminars and institutes. The lecture directories of the modern university, which were published under changing titles, were the central publication of each university for a long time. Therefore, they constitute the core of the university-related literature, which shall be digitized step by step. Cologne University began publishing such directories in the late 18th century. These directories, as well as those of the predecessor institutions, are now being digitized and placed on the Internet. Since 2010, the course catalogue has no longer appeared in print. These issues will be archived as pdf files on the Cologne University Publication Server (KUPS) starting with the summer term 2010. The staff and institute directory will still appear in print every two years.