Bundeswehr University Munich (German: Universität der Bundeswehr München, UniBw München) is one of only two federal research universities in Germany that both were founded in 1973 as part of the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr). Originally called Hochschule der Bundeswehr München the institution was supposed to offer civilian academic education for military officers. Today, the university has an increasing number of civilian and international students. The academic year at the university is structured in trimesters and not the usual semesters, to offer intensive studies with more credit points per year. Very capable students can therefore achieve a Bachelor's and a Master's degree within less than four years, while this would usually require five years. Universität der Bundeswehr München has well-established scientific research and forms part of two excellence clusters of the German government's university excellence initiative.