Liberal Arts & Sciences

The new degree program

Within the scope of the Excellence Strategy, Universität Hamburg is planning to introduce a bachelor’s program in the liberal arts & sciences. This program is different, in that it offers an interdisciplinary curriculum, with courses in the humanities and the natural and social sciences. Innovative and project-oriented instruction provides students with the fundamental ability to think from multiple perspectives and make intellectual connections while also giving them an opportunity to put theory into practice.

Role models for this degree program can be found in the Netherlands (University of Groningen, Maastricht University, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Utrecht University) and the United Kingdom (University of Warwick). So far, in Germany, only the University of Freiburg and Leuphana University Lüneburg have offered a liberal arts & sciences degree program. Unlike its Dutch and British counterparts, Universität Hamburg will not charge tuition fees for its Liberal Arts & Sciences degree program.

About the degree program

The Liberal Arts & Sciences program in Hamburg is distinct for its manifold possibilities for cooperation with the University’s core research areas and other universities as well as media and cultural institutions in the city. The aim is to offer first-year students an interdisciplinary and methodologically innovative degree program that reacts to the global challenges of the twenty-first century and, at the same time, raises their awareness about historical developments. Teaching staff and students work together on fundamental questions: What effect does the climate crisis have on coexistence in society? What are the repercussions of global migration flows? What measures should be adopted to prevent society drifting apart?

In order to answer such questions, we require more than subject-specific perspectives, we also need new forms of interdisciplinary reflection and projects.

The program will consist of basic modules, majors, minors, and required elective modules:

Program structure

Basic modules

Basic modules introduce students to academia and impart basic academic skills for the purpose of acquiring basic knowledge collaboratively. Students learn interdisciplinary academic methods, have opportunities to work on their first (group) projects, and benefit from mentoring.

Majors

When students choose a major, they choose an interdisciplinary focus.

Minors

Students can also supplement their majors with an additional subject and choose from the University’s minors.

Required elective modules

In the required elective modules, students can acquire further foreign language skills, spend a semester abroad, or visit an atelier, which would allow them to enhance their individual profiles in research, practice, and creative fields of activity.