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View from the Top: the Humbolt University of Berlin
Located in the east of a resurgent Berlin, The Humboldt University of Berlin, founded in 1810, has been regarded as one of the top universities in the world for more than 150 years. With the city of Berlin continuing to emerge as one of Europe’s leading intellectual, cultural and innovative capitals, Humboldt University is enjoying something of a renaissance amongst German and international students. Professor Uwe Jens Nagel from Humboldt speaks to View from the Top on the changes underway at his university.
“The University has long enjoyed an international outlook – it is part of our culture and some of the traditions we have developed persist today,” Professor Nagel begins as he introduces the institution he has been involved with for more than 15 years. “For example, we have educated Bulgarian students for more than one hundred years and they still study here. What has developed more recently, however, is a greater consciousness of the status of international students so ensuring that they are supported through their studies and are part of the University community.”
Humboldt university's alumni include Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and Albert Einstein
Humboldt, one of Berlin’s oldest universities, has a tradition of great scholarship and leading research that has attracted international students for more than a century. Its location on Berlin’s signature grand boulevard, Unter den Linden, is befitting for an institution that counts amongst its alumni Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Albert Einstein and Alexander von Humboldt. One of the largest universities in Germany, Humboldt currently has 34,072 students, approximately 4,500 of whom are considered international, 17 collaborative research centers and 18 graduate schools. Since beginning to implement the Bologna reforms to the structure of academic programs, the University has restructured 242 degrees to match the accepted system now prevalent throughout Europe.
But, as Professor Nagel proudly confirms, the Bologna reforms have not changed everything offered by Humboldt University. “We continue to not charge tuition fees for international students for any level of education. Although the system is changing a little in Germany, the city of Berlin has taken the decision that all state education will remain tuition-free for international students so that we can continue to attract students of great talent regardless with their ability to pay.
Professor Nagel’s career has long been associated with Berlin. A graduate of Freie Universität and the Technical University of Berlin, with a period as an international student at California’s Stanford University, he has spent much of his time as an academic focused on issues of rural development and agriculture. His current role as the most senior member of staff responsible for internationalization at Humboldt places him, alongside colleagues in the International Office, at the heart of developing the University as an international hub for students, teachers and researchers from all over the world. But what is perhaps most interesting for many prospective international students is that Humboldt continues to offer the majority of its Masters and PhD programs solely in the German language.
Almost all of Humboldt’s international graduate students pursue their degree programs in German
While some programs are offered in English, for example in the areas of economics and finance, almost all of Humboldt’s international graduate students pursue their degree programs in German. Rather than seen as a difficulty, students value the different experience of studying in an academic language other than English and are often able to integrate into the local context much better than students in other countries where the language of teaching may be English, but the language of the country is something else altogether. Such a situation makes local part-time employment, often a necessity for many international students in Germany, much easier.
Indeed, the integration of international students is a central theme at Humboldt. Supported by the DAAD PROFIN scheme, Humboldt has launched an innovative scheme that aims to bring international students into much closer contact with their German peers than might be the case elsewhere. Professor Nagel believes this approach to be an essential part of the modern Humboldt experience for international students. “We use German and other students to guide and mentor international degree-seeking students throughout their programs. Offering this kind of support ensures that students are familiar with the German way of studying and learning and are better equipped to be able to successfully complete their degree. It also helps our local students as it gives the mentors international experience and learning outcomes that may be relevant to them when their university life ends”.
