The University of Cologne (German: Universität zu Köln) is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was the sixth university to be established in Central Europe and, although it closed in 1798 before being re-established in 1919, it is now one of the largest universities in Germany with more than 48,000 students. The University of Cologne is a German Excellence University, and as of 2017 it ranks 145th globally according to Times Higher Education'.'