The University of Kassel, Germany

The Center for International Studies is part of the University of Kassel and the UNIKIMS, the Management School of the University of Kassel (see below). It benefits from the unique blend of expertise offered by both institutions. By combining their strengths in part-time education, online learning, academic research, and teaching, they have developed a program tailored to the needs of working professionals. This program provides flexible, high-quality education designed to meet the demands of part-time learners, ensuring accessibility, relevance, and career-focused development in an increasingly digital and globalized world.

The University of Kassel regards itself as a university where openness, initiative, interdisciplinary and unconventional thinking are desired and encouraged. Its aim is to develop, review and implement ideas – even if they are not yet mainstream.

On campus, more than 300 professorships are organised in eleven departments – the growing university is currently establishing numerous additional professorships, not least for the Kassel Institute for Sustainability. In this scientific centre, students and researchers deal with the sustainability goals of the United Nations and thus also shape the profile of the university. Numerous new degree programmes will be created in this area of sustainable transformations in the coming years. Materials of the future are another focus of research and teaching. And around a fifth of all enrolled students are studying to become teachers.

In the fifty years of its existence, the University of Kassel has been committed to further developing the European scientific tradition as well as internationalisation. Students and scholars from around the world not only shape the international atmosphere on campus – they are also valuable mediators for a vibrant link between the region and the country and a rapidly changing world. The university is part of a worldwide network of more than 500 foreign partners. This includes links to other universities, but Kassel is also connected through a variety of cross-border, international research projects and bilateral agreements in research and teaching, as well as through the active exchange of scientists, researchers and students. At the same time, the university is particularly involved in global developmental cooperation with partners from developing and emerging countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa.

Even though the University of Kassel is still quite young, it looks back upon an eventful history and a series of academic predecessors. Today, the University is a driving force in the region and has an impact on the city and surrounding area. Knowledge transfer, spin-offs, the establishment of new research and development facilities in the vicinity of the university, active contributions to knowledge-based regional development, but also cultural initiatives and urban development contributions are all part of its mission. More than 350 university spin-offs over the past 40 years have supported economic change in the region. 

The University of Kassel is one of the medium-sized universities in Germany. In several surveys, students have given it extremely good marks. According to the magazine Focus Money (2018), it is one of the 30 most highly regarded state universities in Germany. In recent years, teaching projects have been honoured with an above-average number of Hessian University Awards for Excellence in Teaching.

UNIKIMS is the Management School of the University of Kassel. The Center for International Studies is directly managed and supervised by UNIKIMS. Since its official start in 2005 UNIKIMS has developed into an indispensable partner in university continuing education for companies, organizations, and administrations with its business, engineering, and human science continuing education master's programs. Each year, over 1,200 employees from various companies and authorities utilize the continuing education offer of the University of Kassel, including management programs, seminars, in-house training, and consulting services. 

As a Management School, the UNIKIMS portfolio is directly targeted to the needs and requirements of working students and part time studies. They place special demands on the organization of the study and the knowledge transfer, which UNIKIMS meets with a combination of on-site and online studies. Students can thus complete a part of their studies online without having to forgo close integration into the study program. The virtual seminar rooms on the UNIKIMS eCampus are available to lecturers and students at all times for seminars, presentations, project work, and informal meetings. Furthermore, documents, dates, and organizational information can be exchanged via the eCampus.