Information for Prospective Students

Teaching

Project weeks

Project weeks add some variety to everyday student life in the earlier semesters. During this time, normal lectures are not held and the students work on a (more or less) free topic from its initial concept through to its presentation. It is a productive mix of fun and work that brings about amazing results.

Compact project weeks

In compact project weeks, we take the idea of projects to the extreme: away from their usual seminars, all students in the department work in new small groups day and night if necessary to develop solutions for a given task. The university is open all week long, and at the end of the week, theatre productions, shows and awards ceremonies merge seamlessly into a huge closing party. The compact project weeks at the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning are a cultural event that extends into the city - especially the Christmas event. They live off the students' creativity, which always flourishes astonishingly on such occasions.

Field trips

In a different, but no less pronounced way, field trips nurture expertise and develop personalities. They are also an integral part of our degree courses and take place in the summer semester. Over the course of their degree program, all students are required to take part in four field trips. Where budgets permit, we provide subsidies. Popular destinations include Tuscany, Barcelona and the Netherlands, but there have also been trips to London, Paris, Los Angeles and Tokyo. In addition, we naturally also organize visits to destinations in Germany or day trips to nearby architectural sights in the vicinity of Erfurt.

Computer pools and workshops

The Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning is equipped with modern PC and Mac workstations, as well as printers, plotters and state-of-the-art software - all creating the ideal conditions for future-oriented training in our field. In our digital print workshop you can prepare posters, brochures or books on the computer - an essential skill you will need with regard to marketing and competition.

In our model-making workshop, you can build working models to test your ideas before ultimately preparing them for presentation. An in-house photo studio is available for follow-up documentation, but also for artistic photography. The sculpture workshop in the basement also serves to develop our students' artistic and creative skills.

Galerie and media lounge

All key events, such as our first-semester orientation event, take place in the auditorium, which is often bursting at the seams. In addition, the Architecture Forum is regularly held with lectures and presentations by well-known architects. Like the exhibitions in our in-house gallery, this is an established part of Erfurt's cultural scene.

The media lounge is an interesting addition to these cultural and professional events. Here you can immediately find answers to current questions, seek inspiration or browse through specialist literature for your term papers.

Cafeteria and outdoor space

Learning is hungry business, and creative breaks are often a source of new insights. This means that our cafeteria is not only an important meeting place at lunchtimes. In summer, the doors to the courtyard are opened and you can sit on the terrace, sunbathe on the lawn, read or continue your discussions outdoors...

Campus + Local Area

The Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning is one of six faculties at the University of Applied Sciences Erfurt, a modern, practice-oriented university that was founded in 1991 and has since grown into the largest university of applied sciences in Thuringia with approximately 4400 students. The main campus is at Altonaer Straße, about 15  minutes' walk from our faculty building. This is where the central facilities that are open to all students are based, such as the central university library, the workshop for the development and maintenance of scientific equipment, the language centre and of course the university executive board, the administration, the student admissions offie, the examinations office and the student advisory service. University sports, cultural activities and joint events such as the FH summer party and the university ball, also play an important role in student life.

In the middle of Germany

With around 200,000 inhabitants, Erfurt is not only the state capital but also the biggest city in Thuringia. Literally located at the heart of Germany, almost all major German cities are with 2-4 hours' reach, as is Prague. Erfurt is one of the most extensive medieval sites in Germany, and the river Gera's meandering streams lend it a special charm.

Highlights for tourists

Erfurt boasts more than 1250 years of history. It is home to the Krämerbrücke, the only medieval bridge with buildings on it north of the Alps. Another unique feature in Europe is of course the ensemble of the cathedral and Church of St. Severus on the cathedral hill, which appears in the city's logo. Opposite the cathedral hill, you can see the Petersberg fortress with its mighty bastions, and at its feet the traditional old town with its splendid town houses, monasteries and churches, picturesque alleys and lively squares - interspersed again and again by the winding course of the River Gera.

Culture + leisure

Once home to Martin Luther, Erfurt has an extremely rich cultural heritage, a legacy that nowadays lives on in the new opera house in Brühl, the municipal theatres, cabarets and numerous museums and galleries. In addition, Weimar, with its classical world heritage culture, is only a 15-minute train journey away, and the university city of Jena with its planetarium and optical museum, only a little further, is also worth visiting.