History
Bielefeld University was founded in 1969 with an explicit research assignment and a mission to provide high-quality teaching.
Education
It encompasses 13 faculties covering a broad spectrum of disciplines in the humanities, natural sciences, social sciences, and technology. Research and teaching are characterized by a highly networked interdisciplinary profile: A transparent course structure with great permeability between subjects, flexibility of study combinations, and elective elements allow students to create their individual profile that paves the way to an excellent career in new occupational and research fields.
Research
Five main research fields are committed to research and the promotion of young academics on a top international level within the framework of first-class interdisciplinary collaborative research projects, central academic institutes, and systematic individual funding. The university’s strong research performance is underlined in a host of ways by, for example, the Excellence Initiative (Cluster, Graduate School), Collaborative Research Centres (SFB), DFG Research Units, ERC grants, Heisenberg Professorships, and participation in the German Federal Ministry of Research and Education's ‘It’s owl’ technology network..
Career
Career Service: provides numerous services, such as seminars, trainings, meetings with employers, helping you to start your career.
Short Courses
University Ranking
Academic Ranking of World Universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong University
2023
701
2022
701 -100
2021
601
ARWU World University rankings is the first world university ranking. It ranks the world's top 1000 colleges and universities based on objective indicator. They look at the number of award-winning (Fields Medals and Nobel Prize) scientists who are located there, how much of their research is cited and referenced around the world, and how much they've contributed to different academic fields. After calculating and comparing these criteria, ARWU ranks the universities accordingly.
QS World University Rankings by TopUniversities
2024
951 50
2023
1001 -200
2022
801
QS World University Rankings is one of the top international rankings measuring the popularity and performance of universities all over the world. They measure university reputation based on the impressions of higher education experts, companies who hire graduates, and teaching quality. QS also considers the ratio of international teachers and students present at universities, as well as the times research papers were mentioned by researchers. After calculating and comparing these criteria, QS ranks the universities accordingly.
World University Rankings by Times Higher Education
2024
-
2023
201 -35
2022
166
World University Rankings is a vital resource that provides the definitive list of the world's best universities. They look at how often they're producing new ideas, what their reputation is around the world, and how much they're contributing to science and academic fields. After calculating and comparing these criteria, THE ranks the universities accordingly.
Best Global Universities Rankings by U.S. News & World Report
2024
-
2023
487 -23
2022
464
Best Global Universities Rankings by U.S. News & World Report presents all the top universities from the U.S. and 60 other countries around the world. They measure the rate of students going to their second year of studies, as well as the rate of students who graduate. It also asks university representatives on the performance of universities, and evaluates university resources, teacher salaries, graduation rates, student academic achievements and satisfaction. After calculating and comparing these criteria, U.S. News ranks the top international universities accordingly.
Student services
- International Office helps all international students with adjusting to the new environment and provides continuing support that enhances their learning. It offers assistance on arrival, with accomodation, diverse administrative issues and integration. A varied programme of leisure time activities is organized and a bicycle rental service is also available.
- Brother-Sister programme is a personal tutoring programme for all foreign freshmen and participants of the German language courses, local students support people new to Bielefeld during their first semester.
- PunktUm: Counselling and Training for International Students
Housing services
Welcome Center:
A pivotal service at the university for international researchers and their families provides information on a wide range of non-academic issues such as visa and residence requirements, health insurance, accommodation, language courses, family matters, as well as general information about Bielefeld University and the Bielefeld area.Library services
Print jobs can be sent from every PC in the library, from your private laptop or USB flash drive.Printing is possible at any of the provided copy machines in the library. You can find them in the departmental libraries in C, D, T, U, V and in building X. The amounts are debited to your UniCard (Student ID card), Servicecard (Mensakarte) or Guest Card.
ICT services
In the university computing centre (Hochschulrechenzentrum-HRZ) terminals with internet access are available to the students. Every semester the HRZ offers introductory and training course. Apart from this, every faculty has its own computers, which are connected with the HRZ.
Campus life
As the architectural expression of its interdisciplinarity, the unique university campus unites almost all faculties and services under one roof which creates a great atmosphere for interfaculty networking, cooperation and new friendships.
Bielefeld is a lively and diverse university city, with numerous parks and some little lakes here and there. The "Sparrenburg", a castle from the 13th century and the Teutoburger forest are great places for relaxing or hiking after lessons, the city center offers lots of shopping opportunities together with large number of bars, cafés, clubs, restaurants and seasonal cultural and international events in parks and plazas, all this at an easily accessible distance from campus.
Sports facilities
University Sports Service: offers more than 60 different kinds of sports on Campus - a service ranked among the Top5 worldwide in the International Student Barometer 2011.
Doing sports is free of charge for students and you can join all kinds of sports groups - football, basketball, lacrosse, tennis, various dancing styles, martial arts, swimming, ballet, fitness etc.If you prefer going to the gym, you can join the UNIFIT on campus.
Student clubs
- International Student Association
- AIESEC
- Enactus Bielefeld: Fresh!
- Amnesty International
All international programmes are accredited by internationally recognized accreditation agencies.