DISCOVER DORTMUND

FIND YOUR STUDY PROGRAM IN DORTMUND

DORTMUND AT A GLANCE

With a total area of 280.71 km2, Dortmund is the eight biggest city in Germany and also the third largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Dusseldorf. The city of Dortmund has an oceanic climate, with warm summers with temperatures between 23 and 29 °C and cold winters – between -1 and 4 °C. During the 19th century, there was a migration to the city of Dortmund from eastern European countries, as well as from France and Ireland. Nowadays, Dortmund has a total population of over 600, 000 inhabitants and over fifteen percent of them are foreigners. The official language in Dortmund, just like in the rest of Germany, is German, but a big part of the inhabitants in the city speak English as well, especially the young people. So at least communication in restaurants, coffee shops and even in banks can be done in the English language. Dortmund benefits from its location really close to the Dutch-German as well as Frech-German border. That gives Dortmund’s citizens the opportunity to take a weekend getaway to the Netherlands since it takes only an hour and a half by train. Of course, for short and long-distance trips, the rail transport in Dortmund is carried out by Deutsche Bahn (DB) and also has railway services with InterCity and ICE-trains. Moreover, The ICE-high speed trains are the fastest direct connection that rail transport in Dortmund provides to other major European cities, including Amsterdam, Paris, and Brussels. The public transport within the city is excellently organized and extended. There are two subway lines which serve the city as well as its suburb areas, and many bus lines. Moreover, there are two S-Bahn lines that not only connects different areas in the city but also provide direct journeys to other neighbor German cities like Dusseldorf, as well as to the Dusseldorf Airport. The Dortmund Airport is not huge but features regular direct flights around the year to many European destinations, such as Pisa in Italy, Porto in Portugal, as well as to many cities within Germany, the Netherlands, and France. An interesting fact of Dortmund’s history and architecture is that the city was almost completely destroyed during the Second World War and therefore, it was then reconstructed with rather modern architecture buildings. However, four churches dated from the Middle Ages have been completely restored.

Academic Year

Summer Semester: March – September / Winter Semester: October – February

Official Language

German

Higher Education Institutions

Population

601350

Living Costs

600 – 700 EUR

STUDYING IN DORTMUND

The city of Dortmund has so much to offer, including a very good level of higher education. Some of the best German universities are located exactly in Dortmund – the Technical University of Dortmund, the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Dortmund, as well as the private university International School of Management (ISM) which also has multiple campuses around the country. Added to this are another five higher education institutes. All all of them provide a high quality of education and research in many different fields of study, including engineering, physics, as well as business and economics. Usually, degree courses are offered in German as a language of instruction. However, in ISM as well as in the Technical University of Dortmund more than 60 percent of the courses are also taught in English, and therefore, they are suitable for foreign students. Moreover, Dortmund has become a famous study abroad destination recently among students from other EU countries, as well as Russia and even New Zealand, because of universities’ partner relationships with higher education institutions in those countries. When it comes to student accommodation, students in Dortmund and in Germany in general, have three different options – they can live in student dormitories (student halls of residence), they can live in shared apartments with other flat/roommates or rent a one-bedroom flat or studio for themselves only. However, the most preferred, convenient and the cheapest option is living in a student dormitory. Usually, the prices for a room in dormitories in Dortmund vary between 190 and 260 EUR and that includes all electricity and water bills as well as limited access to the Internet. In Dortmund, there are several neighborhoods where student dormitories are located and they are all situated relatively close to the city center, only ten minutes away with public transport. However, students in Dortmund are much more in number than the places available in student dormitories, therefore everyone who wants to get a room in one should apply as early as possible in order to have higher chances.

DORTMUND LIFESTYLE

According to the German National Statistics office (as of 2017), Dortmund is the seventh best city to live in Germany, and this is largely due to the rich cultural life the city offers to its citizens and tourists. In fact, Dortmund is famous for its Konzerthaus –Dortmund which is ranked by ECHO association as one of the best concert halls in within Europe. Moreover, Dortmund is a host of numerous festivals every year particularly in its famous concert hall called Westfalenhalle which always happens to be the place where the biggest events in the city take place. Dortmund has many different museums, including the famous Deutsches Fußballmuseum, also known DFB-Museum which is the national museum for German football. For those who prefer to spend their free time outside, surrounded by nature only, the dozens of parks that Dortmund has to offer will be the best option to find peace of mind and total relaxation. The beautiful botanical garden in Dortmund, Rombergpark, for example, is like a small piece of heaven where people can go and escape the everyday life for a couple of hours without even having the need to get out of the city. This city has it all. Depending on the type of food one prefers, there is something to everyone in terms of restaurants in Dortmund – from traditional ones with German cuisine to more exotic places for Chinese, Thai or Indian meals are offered. Even though the whole country of Germany is well-known for its beer, Dortmund has over five hundred years of brewing tradition with some of the oldest breweries located in the Dortmund area, so visiting one and experiencing the taste of the famous Dortmunder (Dortmunder Export beer) is a must.

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES IN DORTMUND

Dortmund is a host to not only excellent universities but also successful middle-sized companies that operate in different fields, such as technology, engineering, and services. Currently, a huge percentage of the employment opportunities in the city are in the IT, micro- and nano-technology, as well as in robotics industry. The city is basically the center of innovative technology within the Federal Republic. In fact, Dortmund is the leader among the German cities in the software technology with over eighty IT and software organizations and more than fifteen thousand employees working in the field.