Partner // University of Applied Sciences Dortmund

University of Applied Sciences Dortmund

We are a university of applied sciences and arts with deep roots and commitments in the region, but with an international focus at the same time. Through our numerous national and international R&D projects, we stimulate innovation in the region and see ourselves as a driver of structural change. We see research as the search for knowledge with practical applications cooperating across different fields with actors from the industry and society. The key feature of our work is the inseparability of teaching and research.

The University of Applied Sciences and Arts Dortmund has almost 13,500 students and more than 250 professors, and is thus one of the biggest universities in North-Rhine-Westphalia. The study and research possibilities are wide-ranging and cover areas like engineering, social sciences, economics, architecture and design. The activities of the university at all levels are guided by our four strategic objectives: appeal and sustainability, quality, applicability and regional networking.

"The University of Applied Sciences and Arts Dortmund sees itself both as a university with deep regional ties and as an internationally open teaching and research institution, always engaged on the ongoing search for new knowledge and solutions in the most relevant areas of research. In the process, it assumes the role of eyes and ears for the region and becomes a driving force for innovation, especially for SMEs.”

Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Schwick, Rector Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts

Our core competencies

Family-friendly university: Dortmund University for Applied Sciences and Arts is a certified family-friendly university since 2008. Since then, we have been re-audited twice and family-friendly policy is enshrined in our mission statement and our agreement on objectives. Family-friendly policy is written into the university statutes and organisation and our objective is to make it a part of the day-to-day university culture.
Diversity: Besides teaching and research, the university has a social mandate to fulfil in the area of integration in its capacity as a public educational institution. The demographic development in the Ruhr region represents an especial challenge for universities and we have actively integrated this self-evident social mandate into our daily work. It is in our interest to win more women and more students with migrant background, especially for technical subjects, technical research projects and as employees. At the same time, this contributes to our goal of growing internationalisation. Diversity, though, has not only pragmatic motives; it is also a way to broaden individual horizons and to create an interesting work and learning climate by placing plurality and multiplicity in the foreground.
Doctoral Academy: The doctoral academy was founded in 2016 in order to provide a lasting contribution to the improvement of doctoral research in all areas of study. The need for structural and systematic support for everyone involved in doctoral research was evident because of the growing number of joint PhDs. The doctoral academy is a cross-faculty platform, which provides support to all doctoral students, tutors and students interested in doctoral research. The main task of the academy is to conceptually support and advance doctoral projects by means such as workshops and courses to optimise the planning process of a doctoral project or to improve methodical competences. The doctoral academy cooperates with the Graduierteninstitut NRW.
Teaching: The university offers 36 bachelor and 19 master programmes, from which 4 are dual programmes and 3 are international programmes. The programme offer is always being developed and diversified, content-wise and structurally, in order to keep pace with socioeconomic and individual demands, and especially to appeal to candidates with varying social conditions. For this reason, the university executed a paradigm change, “from teaching to learning”, and created the required infrastructure, including the didactic and organisational requirements.
Research and transfer: Thanks to its size, the university serves as a driving force for the region through its numerous research and transfer projects.
Internationalisation: The university sees itself as a large, regional institution in an international educational, professional and research landscape, as Dortmund’s window to the world and as a place to live and experience internationality in Dortmund.
Equality: Equal treatment is a horizontal objective of the university, which defines quality in teaching, research and service.