This term, FUBiS students can choose from sixteen German language courses for all skill levels, as well as from sixteen subject courses. Topics in the subject courses range from European politics, economics, and history to sustainability, contemporary developments in music, philosophy, and the architecture of Berlin. FUBiS also cooperates with the Utrecht Summer School to offer two international summer classes on European history and art history. For these classes, the students travel to Italy and the Netherlands before coming to Berlin.

Freie Universität Berlin awards credits for all FUBiS courses according to the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS). The academic program also includes a variety of cultural activities and field trips, such as a boat trip on the Spree River and a tour of the Reichstag building. The individual courses also offer program participants additional field trips on specific subjects related to their chosen course topics. In addition to other services, the program offers specialized mental health support, for example, in dealing with homesickness or culture shock. These services include opportunities to share experiences in group settings and individual psychological counseling to ensure the best possible care for international students with diverse backgrounds.

The FUBiS Summer University was held for the first time in 1998, and a winter term was added in 2007. FUBiS offers summer and winter programs lasting three to six weeks that are made up of German language classes and a wide range of academic courses primarily conducted in English. In past years, FUBiS has regularly welcomed around 600 students from 40 countries to Freie Universität Berlin.

In 2018 the Forum on Education Abroad, a US-based non-profit organization committed to improving education abroad, awarded FUBiS certification through the Quality Improvement Program (QUIP). FUBiS remains the only summer and winter university in Germany to have successfully completed the rigorous QUIP evaluation. The goal of FUBiS is to help create a global community of empowered individuals who will actively shape a better tomorrow; thus, future issues and the inclusion of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) play an increasingly important role within its curriculum as well as in the management of the program.

You can find up-to-date information on FUBiS’ study abroad options and the course syllabi at www.fubis.org.