Princeton Program: Berlin Consortium for German Studies
Berlin, Germany
Program Overview
In 1995, Princeton University joined with peer institutions in the U.S. to form the Berlin Consortium of German Studies (BCGS). The goal of the program is to support advanced language students in direct enrollment courses at the Freie Universität Berlin (FU Berlin) and other academic institutions in Berlin for a semester or a full year. Those with special interests may enroll in courses at other local institutions such as the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, the Technische Universität, the Universität Potsdam, the Universität der Künste Berlin, the Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weissensee, and Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler.” (Please note that students may only take theoretical or historical classes at the art schools.)
The Consortium works in close cooperation with the FU Berlin, which provides an office for the Consortium on its campus.
Internship opportunities are available between semesters for full year students.
The University
The FU Berlin is a full university with 15 departments and institutes offering more than 160 programs in all subject areas and an exceptionally wide range of courses. Natural sciences, humanities, social sciences, and medicine are the largest faculties. Smaller, more specialized disciplines are particularly well represented, ranging from religious studies and ethnology to studies in Asian culture, the antiquities, art history, and musicology.
More than 39,000 students, including 5,500 international students, make up FU’s student body. Like most European universities, it is not a residential university, and its student body commutes to the campus from all over greater Berlin.
The Setting
Konzerthaus (left) and French Dome (right) in Gendarmen Square in Berlin.
Primarily located in Dahlem (part of the southwestern Berlin borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf), the FU Berlin campus includes offices and classrooms housed in villas, some large lecture halls, parks, and wooded areas. The FU Berlin has a large library system, computer facilities, a center for recreational sports, and a wide array of student organizations.
Berlin, the capital of the unified German Federal Republic, is a vibrant city of around three and a half million people. A city of great historical significance, it offers many cultural attractions, including theater, cabarets, art museums, and galleries.