Located in the midst of the dynamic, hospitable metropolitan area of the Ruhr, in the heart of Europe, Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) with its 20 faculties is home to 5.500 employees and over 40.000 students from 130 countries. All the great scientific disciplines are united on one compact campus.
Opened in 1965 as the first new university to be established in Germany following the Second World War and also the first university in the Ruhr area, RUB is now one of Germany’s biggest universities and on its way to becoming one of the leading European universities of the 21st Century. RUB won two projects in the very competitive German Excellence Initiative in June 2012: the interdisciplinary Research School and the Cluster of Excellence RESOLV ("Ruhr Explores Solvation) – Solvents as active units".
Bochum dates from the 9th century, when Charlemagne set up a royal court at the junction of two important trade routes. Bochum is a city in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and part of the Arnsberg region. It is located in the Ruhr area and is surrounded by the cities of Herne, Castrop-Rauxel, Dortmund, Witten, Hattingen, Essen and Gelsenkirchen. With a population of nearly 365,000, it is the 16th most populous city in Germany. Bochum is a cultural centre of the Ruhr region. There is a municipal theatre, the Schauspielhaus Bochum, and about 20 smaller theatres and stages. Bochum has a municipal zoo, a large municipal park and a number of other gardens and parks. Sparkassen Giro is their annual Cycle Racing.
Areas of study open to undergraduate exchange students:
Applied Computer Science, Archaeology, Art History, Biochemistry, Biology, Business Psychology, Catholic Theology, Chemistry, Civil Engineering, Classical Philology, Culture Individual and Society, East Asian Economics and Politics, Educational Science, Electrical and Information Engineering, English and American Studies, Environmental Technology and Resource Management, General and Comparative Literature, Geography, Geosciences, German Studies, German-France Bachelor in National and European Economic Law, History, IT Security/Information Engineering, Japanese Studies, Korean Studies, Linguistics, Management, Economics, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Media Studies, Oriental and Islamic Studies, Philosophy, Physics, Politics, Protestant Theology, Psychology, Religious Studies, Romance Studies French/Italian/Spanish, Russian Culture, Sales Engineering and Product Management, Sinology, Slavonic Studies, Social Sciences, Sports Science, Theatre Studies
- Only a few courses are offered in English, including English and American Studies. However, some areas offer a few courses in English.
Areas open to graduate exchange students in English:
Biochemistry; Chemistry; Cognitive Science; Computational Engineering; Criminal Justice, Governance and Police Science; Economics; Ethics – Economics, Law and Politics; Laser and Photonics; Materials Science and Simulation; Molecular Sciences and Simulations; Molecular and Developmental Stem Cell Biology; Transformation of Urban Landscapes
Areas of study not available to exchange students:
Only on special request, depending on each case:
• MA Human Rights
• MA Humanitarian Assistance
• MA Development Management
• MA European Culture and Economy
Course Offerings/Syllabi
Click Here for course offerings in English
Language Requirements
Ruhr-Universität Bochum recommends that your German languages skills are at least B1 (intermediate, if courses selected are taught in German). There are no requirements for English speaking students (mother tongue), if courses selected are taught in English.
They do offer a preparatory language course for incoming students that lasts 3 weeks. The dates are from Mid-September to the beginning of October & Mid-March to the beginning of April. It costs approx. EUR 350 for the entire orientation course.
