Teaching Activities
Landscape architecture is one of the many subjects that can be studied in Berlin.
Image Credit: Philipp Arnold
An academic degree program is more than merely imparting knowledge in a specific discipline. At Freie Universität, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Charité, their joint medical school, forging connections between teaching activities and research is fundamental. Technische Universität Berlin has also embraced a mission of providing universal education since it was founded in 1946. The goal is for students at all of Berlin’s universities to receive the best possible education. Their studies should enable them, later in their lives, to tackle new social challenges that cannot yet be foreseen – whether in academia and the research sector or in a different professional setting.
With their rich academic resources, the universities in Berlin offer an ideal environment for curious students. Right from the start, they can become familiar with top-caliber research in major collaborative projects, and they are encouraged to write a bachelor’s or master’s thesis in an innovative research field. New research topics from the clusters of excellence and other alliance projects are addressed in seminars and lectures, for example, and prominent figures come to Berlin as visiting scholars, scientists, and researchers. Joint degree programs offered by the universities allow students to take courses at different institutions, thereby expanding on their exploration of the subject through additional, complementary offerings.
Berlin’s universities host guests from a variety of fields – not just science, academia, and research, but also the arts and the political sphere. Every summer semester students from all disciplines and all higher education institutions are invited to participate in a writers’ group at Freie Universität, discussing their own literary texts with prominent German-language authors, such as Reinald Götz, Feridan Zaimoglu, and Herta Müller, Nobel laureate in literature.
The universities in Berlin and Charité – Universitätsmedizin help refugees embark on a study program by offering language classes and preparatory seminars. The higher education institutions have made it a bedrock principle to take the growing diversity of the student body into account in their course and program offerings.
Alongside joint degree programs, Freie Universität, Humboldt-Universität, and Technische Universität Berlin work together in particular in educating those who plan to impart knowledge to future generations themselves later on: teachers. Schools face a whole host of new tasks, from digitization to integrating children who have been forced to flee their home countries. Working together is the best way to give students enrolled in teaching credential programs comprehensive preparation for these challenges.