The Hanseatic University (HU) in Rostock-Warnemünde was a private university in Rostock, Germany. Founded in 2007, it was the second private institution of higher education in Germany to be granted university status by the government. In August 2008, when it had three students, it ceased activities, and it finally closed down March 2009. In 2002, the two business consultants Peter L. Pedersen and Knut Einfeldt took part in a business plan contest by the government of the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, presented a plan for setting up a private university operated as a business institution, and won the first and third prize. In 2003, the decision was made to establish the private university in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, which was then narrowed down to the city of Rostock in 2004. The company set to run the university was formed in September 2004. In spring of 2007, Educationtrend AG, a holding from Hamburg, bought 97.8% of the shares in the Hanseatic University and, at the same time, increased its share capital. The institution was then granted university status by the state ministry of education in July 2007.