Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

Known as the Fridericiana after the grand duke who set it up in 1825, the university was a computer pioneer by the mid-1960s: in 1984, it received Germany's first email. In 2009, the institution amalgamated with the city's nuclear research centre to form KIT. Today, 8,000 staff in 11 faculties and research centres cater for 18,000 students.