Humboldt University - HUB Speciality : Physics & Astronomy
programme: Physics

I studied at the HU campus outside the city centre in Adlershof, so I will review this part of the university. It is home to most natural science faculties. The area is well-reconnected and easily accessed from the south and eastern parts of Berlin. The campus is bright and tranquil, featuring modern buildings. Some, such as the Institute for Physics, are award-winning examples of sustainable architecture. The library in the Erwin-Schrödinger Zentrum is the centrepiece of the campus and one of the best in Berlin. It is well-stocked and spacious. You always find a place at a desk to study for your exams. This is in total contrast to the overcrowded Grimm-Zentrum library in Mitte.

In the lectures there is also enough space to sit and in the tutorials you will probably be in a reasonably small group. With some exceptions the professors are good at lecturing in general, and are all accomplished scientists in their fields. The quality of the tutorials is generally satisfactory to excellent. They are the most helpful aspect of studying. There are PC Pools for each faculty, with computer facilities and free printing. I found the computers sometimes too slow though. There was free software provided, that was useful for the study programme. While I don’t have another experience of studying the same subject elsewhere, I am happy I studied there.

In Berlin there is also an active local of a student organisation that I had the privilege to join, called AEGEE-Berlin. This is a large, interdisciplinary, Europe-wide organisation that is dedicated to forming young Europeans and raising our European consciousness in order to build a better world! AEGEE does this through a lot of amazing projects, the description of which would fall outside the scope of this review. But go check them out!