University of Potsdam

History

The University of Potsdam was formed in 1991 by the amalgamation of the Karl Liebknecht College of Education and the Brandenburg State College, as well as several other smaller institutions. As the university in large part emerged from the College of Education, emphasis today is still placed on teacher training.

Historical buildings

Some parts of the university are located in historical buildings that have been named as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. The university library and the Institute of History can be found in a part of the commons in the park of Sanssouci, at the New Palace, as can the Institute of Mathematics in the former stables.

The other campuses, Babelsberg and Golm, are also of historical interest. The oldest buildings of the Golm campus were built in the 1930s to house the Luftwaffe's intelligence department. After World War II the College of Law of the East German Ministry for State Security moved in.

The current Faculty of Law is located in Babelsberg/Griebnitzsee in the former presidial and administrative buildings of the German Red Cross (1939/40). Other lecture halls and buildings were built in the 1950s directly behind the Schloss Babelsberg for the Academy of Justice and the East German state.

Campuses

As the largest university in the state of Brandenburg, the University of Potsdam mainly stretches across three campuses on the city's outskirts:

New Palace

New Palace, Sanssouci (Am Neuen Palais): Faculties of Philosophy, Institutes of Mathematics and Sports. The university's main campus, which includes the Auditorium Maximum, is situated in the immediate proximity of Park Sanssouci. The Communs – the prestigious annexes of the New Palace are home to some of the institutes of the Faculty of Arts. The eighteenth century baroque buildings, which disguise their former purpose as the Palace's offices and service rooms with staircases, porticos, cupolas, and rich ornamentation, are currently home to the university's presidential office and administration. The Institutes of Sports Science and Sports Medicine as well as the Institute for Mathematics can be found on the Campus Am Neuen Palais.

Golm

Golm: Faculties of Humanities, Mathematics and Science. Most institutes of the Faculty of Science as well as the Human Sciences Faculty are located in Potsdam-Golm, forming one of the largest science parks in the region. The Institute of Computer Science moved to Campus Golm in 2021 following a donation for a new building by the Hasso Plattner Foundation. Three Max Planck Institutes and two Fraunhofer Institutes as well as the start-up center GO:IN have already settled here.

Babelsberg

Potsdam-Babelsberg/Griebnitzsee: Faculties of Law, Economics and Social Studies, the Hasso Plattner Institute for Software Systems Engineering. Campus Griebnitzsee is situated along the city border with Berlin, not far from the famous Babelsberg film studios, and houses the law faculty and the faculty of economics and social sciences. The Institute of Computer Sciences (located in Golm since 2021) works with the Hasso Plattner Institute for Software Systems Engineering, a completely privately funded co-institute of the University of Potsdam, to allow students to take courses at both institutes. Other small institutes and departments exist in the City of Potsdam. The Botanischer Garten Potsdam is the university's botanical garden.

Academic profile

At the beginning of the winter semester of the 2020/2021 academic year, roughly 22,000 young people were studying at the University of Potsdam. The University is placing particular emphasis by establishing four university research focuses. Constantly increasing third-party funding volume testifies to the quality of the research conducted at the University today. The University of Potsdam also has successful, productive cooperative agreements with more than 30 non-university research institutions in the region. With interdisciplinary research agenda, the area of excellence links the departments of Psychology, Linguistics, and Sports and Health Science. UP offers more than 150 degree programs in various fields, offered in German as well as other languages, notably French and English.

Faculties

As is common in Germany, the University of Potsdam's teaching and research programmes are carried out along the lines of faculties. The university contains the following faculties:

The Digital Engineering Faculty, jointly established by the University of Potsdam and the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI), is the first privately funded department of a German public university.

The Law Faculty's curriculum offers the basic and required courses necessary to become a fully qualified lawyer. This training includes civil law, criminal law, and public law. At Potsdam, the areas of concentration in research and teaching comprise the fundamentals of law, civil judicature, business law, international law, public administration as well as business, tax, and environmental criminal law. All these areas offer ample opportunity for specialized study. Additional events for training and continuing education for practitioners in the municipal realm are offered by the Institute for Local Government Studies and in international relations by the Human Rights Centre. Furthermore, a German-French law program exists in cooperation with University Paris Ouest-Nanterre/La Défense.

In recent years, the University of Potsdam's Philosophical Faculty has redefined itself in the spirit of cross-disciplinary cultural studies. Research and teaching at the Institutes for Religious Studies, Jewish Studies, Jewish Theology, Philosophy, History, Classical Philology, German Studies, English and American Studies, Romance Studies, Slavic Studies as well as Art and Media are devoted to a broad understanding of culture that is defined by including all aspects of human life.

Drawing from the broad range of faculty specialties, the thematic concentrations of "Cultures in/of Mobility", "Forms of Life and the Know How of Living" as well as "Region and Identity in Europe" were created. This emphasis in regard to content encourages interdisciplinary cooperation, but it also incorporates perspectives that are outside the Philosophical Faculty's traditional subject canon. The Focus Area Unsettled Cultures, for example, investigates among others the history and cultural practice of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and thereby combines different areas of study, such as theology, literature, ethics, medicine, and cosmology.

Studies and Students

The university is the largest institution of higher education in the state of Brandenburg. It has repeatedly received the "Excellence in Teaching" Award from the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany. The University of Potsdam offers 170 degree programs. It is not considered a "Volluniversität", i.e. a university offering courses in all traditional disciplines, since it does not comprise institutions for degrees in Medicine and Engineering. It also offers English-language Master's degree programs and courses. In addition, the university provides seminars, workshops and Executive Master's degree programs to career entrants and managerial staff.

Students in Brandenburg are not charged for tuition. There is, however, a small administrative fee for each semester, which includes a public transport ticket for Berlin and Brandenburg for six months and amounted to EUR 304.16 in 2020.

The University of Potsdam confers the following academic degrees for its undergraduate and graduate programs:

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)

Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.)

Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.)

First State Examination in Law or Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.)

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Master of Education (M.Ed.)

Master of Science (M.Sc.)

Master of Business Administration (MBA)

Master of European Governance and Administration

Master of Laws (LL.M.)

Magister Legum (LL.M.)

Notable research centres and institutes

Within faculties, teaching and research activities may be further decentralised through departments, graduate schools or institutes. For example,

PCPM, Potsdam Center for Policy and Management, which has earned the University of Potsdam a reputation as one of the leading competence centers for Governance and the Public Sector. A recent reputation study by the German Association for Political Science has declared the University of Potsdam one of the three most important German universities and research institutions in the area of policy research and administrative sciences. The Center for Higher Education Development considers the Master's and Ph.D. programs offered here to be among the very best in Europe. Among these are the EAPAA-accredited international postgraduate Program in Public Policy and Management for public sector professionals in English language with the (MPM) Master of Public Management and its three streams: Public Policy and Administration (PPA), Global Public Policy (GPP) and GeoGovernance (GG), the German-French Master of European Governance and AdministrationEuropean Governance and Administration (MEGA) and the Executive Master of Public Management (EMPM) Program with the Hertie School of Governance.

BIEM-CEIP, Institute for Start-ups, Entrepreneurship and Innovation

KWI, Institute for Local Government Studies

The Hasso Plattner Institute for Software Systems Engineering is the first, and currently the only university institute that is completely privately financed. Hasso Plattner, co-founder and advisory board chairman of the software company SAP, created the opportunity for a unique academic elite-education in IT systems technology. Meeting the demands of the industry, about a dozen professors and more than fifty additional visiting professors and lecturers are currently training about 450 highly talented young people in the Bachelor and Master's programs to become IT systems engineers.

The Hasso Plattner Institute of Design integrates product design, engineering, and business management education, in cooperation with Stanford University. While it is located in Stanford University, it is a joint project and a degree with respective content is also offered through the Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam.

Supportive institutions

The Language Centre offers students of all faculties the chance to learn many languages at various levels of proficiency, and holds a collegial certificate of international accreditation from UNIcert.

The Career Service supports students and graduates during the transition phase from study into practice.

Sports center

Computing center

AStA – Students' union executive committee

International Relations Office

Studentenwerk Potsdam

University Library

Tuition fees and scholarships

Tuition fees at University of Potsdam vary, depending on nationality and programme of study. For German and EU/EEA students there is currently no tuition fee, however, several additional fees such as for the students union as well as mandatory public transportation tickets for students have to be paid. For non-EU/EEA students tuition fees may apply.

For both EU/EEA students as well as non-EU/EEA students a variety of financial assistance and scholarships is available. The University of Potsdam does not provide scholarships directly. Among others, the German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst – DAAD) offers a very extensive scholarship programme. Students or post-graduates can apply for a wide variety of scholarships, but the conditions and opportunities vary according to the country of origin and field of study. Other scholarship providers also have varying prerequisites regarding country of origin, field of study, prior academic performance, the duration of the scholarship, etc.

The prerequisites and the weighting of the various criteria for stipends are determined by the individual profiles of the foundation providing for the scholarships. For example, one's previous marks or grades are weighted differently by the various foundations. For some foundations, previous marks are weighted as the main criteria, and the social situation of the applicant is given significantly less weight. For other scholarships, good marks are important in order to receive a scholarship, but this does not mean that an applicant qualifies for one. Many foundations give significant weight to financial need, engagement in the civil society, or a developed personal profile. Willingness to participate in the respective foundation's programme is also important to some foundations. Information is available at University of Potsdam for students wishing to apply.

Rankings

The University of Potsdam is ranked within several well-recognized global college and university rankings. According to the QS World University Rankings 2024, it holds the 460th position worldwide and the 25th place within Germany. Similarly, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings (THE) for 2024 rank the institution between 201-250 globally and approximately 22-24 nationally. Furthermore, the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) 2023 positions the University of Potsdam within the 401-500 bracket on the international stage, and within the 25-31 range in Germany.

The University of Potsdam was ranked #30 in the World in the Times Higher Education Young University Rankings 2021. It was also ranked #41 in the world in Nature's Top 175 Young Universities Ranking.

The university has a particularly strong linguistics programme, ranked #51–100 in the QS World University Rankings for Linguistics. The Digital Engineering faculty, which is led by the Hasso Plattner Institute, runs Germany's top-ranked computer science-related study programme according to the CHE 2019/2020 ranking, which is Germany's largest academic ranking.

International partnerships

A cooperation among the universities in Berlin (Humboldt University of Berlin, Technische Universität Berlin, Free University of Berlin) and University of Potsdam exists, which allows students of these universities to take courses at the respective partner universities, in accordance with their curriculum.

The University of Potsdam is well connected: it has found scientific partners of international standing with the Potsdam-Institute for Climate Impact Research and the German Institute for Human Nutrition – both institutes of the Leibniz Association – as well as the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam – German Research Centre for Geosciences. Close cooperation and joint professorships also exist with the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Plant Physiology, the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, and many other research institutions. Last but not least, the university collaborates with both institutes of the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft in the Science Park Potsdam-Golm, a research campus that is growing in significance far beyond Germany's borders. Similarly, the Hasso Plattner Institute of University of Potsdam in cooperation with Stanford University offers a design school based in Stanford University, the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design. While it is located at Stanford University, various partnerships as well as a degree is offered through University of Potsdam.

The university offers a number of German courses, organizes intercultural training workshops, and matches up tandem-partners who want to learn one another's language. Selected study programs, in particular several Master programs, may also be completed in English.

International partnerships offer opportunities to spend one semester or a full year at one of many partner universities. This includes Jewish studies in Israel, sports management in Australia, and language and politics in Moscow. Potsdam is a popular choices both for the Erasmus and Tempus as well as for the Fulbright program and the international programs of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

Several exchange programs and partnerships exist. An institution at Potsdam's Law Faculty that is unique in Germany is the German-French law program, which is operated in cooperation with the partner University Paris Ouest-Nanterre/La Défense. At the University of Potsdam students can participate not just in an exchange program, but they also have the opportunity in their first two years in the standard German law program to complete an additional, self-contained program of study in French law. This French part of the program is taught by French visiting scholars from the partner university and is conducted in French.

International doctoral studies

University of Potsdam offers international students the completion of a doctoral thesis. Doctoral students in Germany generally pursue their doctorates in the context of individual research projects, rather than in structured programmes as in many other countries. Upon completion of a dissertation project, one receives a doctoral degree for individual scholarly achievements.

The prerequisite for doctoral studies is an above average graduate degree, Master's of Arts, Master's of Science, Diploma, Staatsexamen or another equivalent degree. The doctoral examination board (Promotionsausschuss) of your institute of interest, or the dean of the law faculty respectively, is responsible for determining questions of equivalency. Writing a dissertation should take no longer than three years. After submitting a dissertation and receiving a positive assessment, doctoral students are required to take part in a disputation.

Voltaire Prize

The Voltaire Prize for Tolerance, International Understanding and Respect for Differences has been awarded by the university since 2017. It is awarded "for the scientific examination of the topics of international understanding, tolerance and respect for differences and which honors scientists who are committed to freedom in research and education and advocate freedom of expression". As of 2021, the prize is worth €5,000, and sponsored by the Friede Springer Foundation. The university aligns itself with Voltaire's and La Mettrie's contribution to the Age of Enlightenment.

Recipients of the prize include:

2017: Hilal Alkan, Turkish political scientist

2018: Gladys Tzul Tzul, Guatemalan sociologist

2019: Ahmad Milad Karimi, Afghan philosopher

2020: Gábor Polyák, Hungarian media scientist

2021: Elisabeth Kaneza, Rwandan political scientist and legal scholar

2022: Duong Keo, Cambodian historian and political scientist

2023: Amy Lai, Hong Kong-born lawyer and author

2024: Gerawork Teferra Gizaw, from Ethiopia and Olga Shparaga, Belarusian philosopher and political activist

2025: Rosario Figari Layús, Argentinian sociologist