Bielefeld University facts for kids
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Universität Bielefeld
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| Type | Public |
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| Established | 5 September 1969 |
| Budget | € 440 million |
| Chancellor | Dr. Stephan Becker |
| Rector | Angelika Epple |
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Academic staff
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1,387 |
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Administrative staff
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1,100 |
| Students | 24,255 |
| Location |
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Germany
52°02′16″N 8°29′35″E / 52.03778°N 8.49306°E |
Bielefeld University (which in German is Universität Bielefeld) is a public university located in Bielefeld, Germany. It was started in 1969, making it one of the newer universities in the country.
This university sees itself as a "reform" university. This means it has a different way of organizing and teaching compared to older universities. A main goal is to connect research and teaching closely. So, all professors teach classes about the topics they are researching. The university also focuses on "interdisciplinary research." This means different subjects work together, which is made easier by the university's design where all departments are in one big building.
Bielefeld University was one of the first German universities to change some of its study programs, like biology, to the Bachelor and Master system. This was part of a bigger change called the Bologna process. The university is also going through a big modernization project that will finish by 2025. They plan to spend over 1 billion euros on this project.
Contents
Exploring the Campus
The university is located in the western part of Bielefeld, right next to the Teutoburg Forest. The main building is a large concrete structure. It was built in the 1960s and houses all the different departments, institutes, and the big library. This main building alone is huge, covering about 154,000 square meters, making it one of the largest buildings in Europe.
You can easily reach the university. Trains from cities like Cologne/Bonn and Berlin stop in Bielefeld. From the city center, you can take the city tram (Line 4) and get to the university in about 10 minutes. If you drive, it takes about 15 minutes. The closest airport is Paderborn/Lippstadt, which is about 50 kilometers southeast of Bielefeld.
The University Library
The Bielefeld University Library is on the first floor of the main university building. It holds over 2.2 million books and other materials. It's open every day of the year! From Monday to Friday, it's open from 8 AM until 1 AM. On weekends and holidays, it's open from 9 AM to 10 PM.
The library also works on cool projects to help people find online information. For example, they helped create BASE (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine). This tool collects information from scientific websites and helps you search through it easily.
What You Can Study: Academic Programs
Bielefeld University has several special centers for research and learning. These centers bring together experts from different fields to work on important topics.
Main Research Centers
- Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF)
- Institute for interdisciplinary research on conflict and violence (IKG)
- Center for Interamerican Studies (CIAS)
- CeBiTec – Center for Biotechnology
- CITEC – Cognitive Interaction Technology (a special center for excellence)
- Research Institute for Cognition and Robotics (CoR-Lab)
- Interdisciplinary Centre of Women's and Gender Studies
- Institute for the Simulation of Complex Systems (ISKOS)
- Institute of Mathematical Economics (IMW)
- Research Centre for Mathematical Modelling (FSPM)
- Teacher Training Centre (ZfL – in German)
Oberstufen-Kolleg at the University of Bielefeld
The Oberstufen-Kolleg is a special school connected to the university. It is a UNESCO Project School, which means it works to promote understanding and cooperation between countries. Since 1998, this Kolleg has worked with the German School of Guayaquil on a project to help the town of Daular, Ecuador. This project even won a United Nations Award in 2006/2007 for its international focus.
University Rankings
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Universities are often ranked to show how they compare to others around the world. In the QS World University Rankings for 2024, Bielefeld University was placed among the top 951–1000 universities globally. In Germany, it ranked as the 45th best.
The university did even better in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for 2023. There, it was ranked between 201st and 250th worldwide, and between 23rd and 26th in Germany. The Academic Ranking of World Universities for 2023 placed it globally between 701st and 800th, and nationally between 41st and 42nd.
In 2017, Bielefeld University was ranked 22nd in the world by the Times Higher Education (THE) Young University Rankings. This ranking looks at newer universities. Also, in 2011, THE ranked Bielefeld among the top 50 universities for engineering and technology.
For mathematics, the Academic Ranking of World Universities in 2018 placed Bielefeld among the top four universities in Germany. It was also ranked among the 101st to 150th best universities for math worldwide.
Student Voices: Tuition Fees
Students at Bielefeld University have sometimes expressed their opinions about university policies. For example, there were discussions about introducing tuition fees. Students held votes and protests to share their views.
In a vote organized by student groups, about 94 percent of the students who participated voted against having tuition fees. This was similar to what happened at other German universities.
However, in July 2006, the university's senate (a governing body) decided to introduce tuition fees of €500 per semester, starting in 2007.
See also
- Open access in Germany
