Osnabrück University (German: Universität Osnabrück) is a public research university located in the city of Osnabrück in Lower Saxony, Germany, Universität Osnabrück urkunde. In 2011 it was attended by 11,034 students; the staff of 1,858 consisted of 209 professors, 936 additional academic personnel (lecturers without professorships, post-doctoral researchers and post-graduate assistants) and 713 non-academic personnel. The university is known for its many interdisciplinary degree programmes, some of them rare or even unique among German universities, including European Studies, Migration Research, Applied Systems Science and Cognitive Science. Notably, the university is well known for its research in cognitive science, peace and conflict studies, democratic governance, European Studies, Migration studies among many others.

In addition, the university, through its Master of Arts in Democratic Governance and Civil Society graduate program, Germany urkunde, is also part of the highly prestigious DAAD Public Policy and Good Governance Scholarships for Developing Countries, along with other reputable institutions in political science and public policy such as the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin and the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy in Erfurt. The program attracts people from Asia, Latin America, and Africa to study in selected German universities for a policy-oriented Master’s program.

Most faculty buildings are scattered in close vicinity of the castle. Sport stadium and gymnasium are a bit farther away; the mathematical and natural-scientific faculties as well as the botanical garden are located in the western part of the city in the borough “Westerberg” (the “Western Mountain”, which is rather a hill than a mountain). The campus at Westerberg is in parts shared with the neighbouring University of Applied Sciences. The distance between castle and the Westerberg campus is about 1.2 miles.