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A nocturnal performance at the Folkwang Academy for Music, Theatre and Dance
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A Product of Educational Reform
The establishment of the university in 1972 was based on a political concept. It was the idea of North Rhine-Westphalia's government, which wanted to attempt a major structural change in the Ruhr region, namely turning the area from a coal-and-steel production zone into a service industry center.
On Location in Essen
The former Gesamthochschule Essen, located in an old workers' district on the northern edge of the inner city, has transformed itself into a modern educational institution with four main specializations: nanotechnology, genetic medicine, the future of urban systems and experimental educational research.
In the process of these changes, the university merged with the neighboring Duisburg University in 2003. In the 2008/2009 winter semester, there were 30,000 students enrolled at the Duisburg-Essen University, with 19,000 of these based in Essen. An important part of this union is a divided focus. While Duisburg specializes in engineering, natural sciences and business studies, Essen offers courses like medicine and educational science. Only arts students study at both locations, doing their business-related subjects in Duisburg and the humanities subjects in Essen.
The Campus in Essen
Like a few other universities in North Rhine-Westphalia, Essen University was designed as a large building complex. Unlike smaller, traditional university towns, such as Heidelberg and Goettingen, where the faculties are scattered across town, Essen University has everything in one location, apart from the hospital. At first glance, the large concrete constructions with their convoluted architecture and countless corridors, staircases and elevators can seem rather unwelcoming. On the plus side, though, the distances within the university grounds are short and the infrastructure is good.
Russian exchange student Alexandra Narozhnaya, who studies German in Essen, says that she likes "her" university. "When I can't find something, I just ask my German fellow students and they are always happy to help." In this way, she has already made some good contacts, she says. "We meet up in the canteen or the cafeteria before lectures and prepare things together," she says. "At the start, our conversations are only study-related, but with time, things become more personal."
Universitaetsallianz Metropole Ruhr
After the fusion in 2003, the Duisburg-Essen University took another big step in 2007 and formed an alliance with the neighboring universities of Bochum and Dortmund. This alliance, called Universitaetsallianz Metropole Ruhr (UAMR), has produced a union of 89,000 students and 1,250 lecturers who want to teach and research together. Essen students can collect so-called "credit points" for their studies in Duisburg, Bochum and Dortmund through an e-learning program on their computer in Essen.
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| Further Information
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