Berlin is one of the world’s most popular cities to attend university. One-fifth of the people studying here come from abroad, and the number is rising. The city and its academic landscape are also attracting an increasing number of recent graduates and established professors from all over the world. This benefits research and teaching and the city as a whole. Internationality is an integral part of the capital’s self-image.
Berlin’s academic and scientific institutions are among the pioneers in internationalisation and enjoy extensive global networks of partnerships. Berlin researchers collaborate with institutions all over the world. Every semester, thousands of Berlin students have the opportunity to study abroad and thousands of others come to Berlin. The internationality is also reflected in the range of courses on offer, whether in joint courses with foreign partner universities, in the growing number of master’s degrees taught in foreign languages (mostly English), and through international teaching projects and visiting professorships. Through strategic partnerships with renowned universities all over the world from Beijing to Princeton, from Oxford to Jerusalem, Berlin’s universities are firmly anchored in the international network of leading research locations.
Local presences, such as the Technische Universität Berlin campus in Al Gouna, Egypt, and the Freie Universität liaison offices on five continents, also promote the international networking of Brain City Berlin. Berlin’s universities and research institutions are involved worldwide in development projects and in setting up new structures to support teaching and research.
Strong partner in European research Berlin is an active player in European research. It thus strengthens the European idea and helps Europe to remain competitive in the long term and to meet the major social and economic challenges of the future. Scientists from Berlin participated in a total of 1,500 EU research projects in the 7th EU framework programme from 2007 to 2013, and received almost €585 million in EU funding. This trend has continued in the follow-up Horizon 2020 programme. Halfway through the funding period, Berlin researchers have already received €312 million in further EU funding.