The Schröder Professor of German plays a leading role in enhancing public understanding of German in the English-speaking world.
The post was originally created in 1909 thanks to a benefaction from J. Henry Schröder & Co., the London merchant bank, now known as Schroders plc.
The current Schröder Professor of German, Professor Nicholas Boyle (pictured), was elected in 2006. Before that he was Professor of German Literary and Intellectual History, and he has taught German in Cambridge since he was a student.
He has a particular interest in German literature and thought of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and especially in Goethe, and in the relations between religion and literature.
Speaking of the re-endowment he said: “The Schröder Professorship is the historic core of German teaching inCambridge, and its prestige underwrites the future ability of Cambridge German to attract the best staff, researchers and students from around the world.
“To understand German literature, philosophy, and culture is not only to understand our often unacknowledged intellectual and cultural debt to them.
It is also to understand how our own lives are bound up with the complex history of the German-speaking peoples.”
His Head of Department, Professor Andrew Webber, said: “Over the last century, the Schröder Professors have demonstrated the pivotal role played by the German-speaking world and the Professorship represents the pinnacle of the achievements of German studies at Cambridge.
“This generous benefaction means the Schröder Professorship is probably the most attractive job in German Studies in the world. For generations to come, the Schröder Professor will set the agenda in this key area of cultural enquiry.”
The trustees of The Schroder Foundation said: “At a time when the Arts and Humanities face substantial challenges in funding, we are delighted to re-endow this distinguished Professorship at Cambridge.”
The Schroder Foundation was formally admitted to the Guild of Cambridge Benefactors in recognition of its gift on Wednesday 21 March 2012. The trustees were represented by Mr Bruno Schroder, a grandson of Baron Bruno Schröder who initiated the original endowment of the Schröder Professorship.
The Schroder Foundation was set up in 2005. The trustees currently have a policy of supporting a broad range of activities within education, arts and heritage, the environment, medical science and relief of need.
The Department of German and Dutch at Cambridge is a leading institution in the field of German Studies and has always achieved excellent results in successive national research assessment exercises, as well as sharing in the outstanding rating awarded to the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages in the last Teaching Quality Assessment.
The Department currently admits between 60 and 70 new undergraduates each year, and has a postgraduate community of around 20 students.
Image: Nicholas-Boyle
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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