The University of Bern, based in the Swiss capital, was officially founded in 1834 - although it can trace its roots back to the 16th century, when it became compulsory for monks to be educated in a higher education institution.It was in the 1800s, however, that the university was officially founded, growing in size throughout the 19th and 20th centuries in line with the city of Bern’s own booming fortunes.The university has some prestigious former faculty members. Albert Einstein taught theoretical physics at Bern in 1908, and the following year the Russian philiospher Anna Tumarkin became a professor (and the first European lecturer to accept PhD students).