Information in simple language

This is a picture taken from above the University of Konstanz.

Who are we?

The University of Konstanz
is one of 11 Universities of Excellence in Germany.

The name "University of Excellence" means
this university
received an award for:

• research that is especially good
• teaching that is especially good

What is research?

Research is working
to find out more about a topic.
Or to invent something.

What is teaching?

At a university, teaching is when:
Researchers
tell students all about a topic
Researchers show students
how to do research

What are Clusters of Excellence?

The name "Cluster of Excellence" has 2 main words.

1. "Excellent" means that
   something is especially good
   or uncommonly good.
   At the University of Konstanz, this means that
   research in these areas
   is really uncommonly good.
2. "Cluster" means that
   something is made of
   many different things.
   At the University of Konstanz, this means that
   staff do research
   in many different areas of this topic.

At the University of Konstanz's Clusters of Excellence,
there is an especially large amount of staff.
They are especially good at their work,
and they come from around the world.

The University of Konstanz has 2 Clusters of Excellence:

1. Inequality research
Researchers study
why different people in society
are not all equal.
They also look at
why people are not all treated equally.

2. Collective behaviour of animals
Researchers study
how animals behave in a group.

Where is the University of Konstanz?

The University of Konstanz is in the city of Konstanz
in the southern part of Germany.
The city of Konstanz is located by Lake Constance.
There are many activities
people can do in their free time there.

The city of Konstanz is directly on the border to Switzerland.
Countries like Austria, France and Italy
are close by.