The best of times.

We're something special. We offer something special. The best of times. That's what our students experience when they spend the most important, most fulfilling and most formative years of their lives here. We believe researching, teaching and working at HFU will be the best time of your lives. HFU has stood for the best of times for almost 175 years!

Our passion for high-quality teaching and future-oriented research, our self-image as a responsible employer, our task of imparting knowledge to society... Furtwangen University plays a leading role in our region and beyond!

Here you'll find information about our mission statement, our structure, our locations and the high standards we set ourselves as one of the leading universities in Baden-Württemberg.

We're the most popular university in Baden-Württemberg

Satisfaction with colleges and universities in Germany is recorded by the online portal Studycheck , which surveys thousands of students every year. Furtwangen University once again received excellent ratings in this year's evaluation. In first place, HFU is the most popular university, ahead of all other universities in Baden-Württemberg. In the overall ranking of all colleges and universities nationwide, HFU achieved a very good sixth place.

HFU also regularly occupies top positions in the CHE rankings with its range of courses!

Good learning comes from good teaching

We are proud of the quality of our teaching! Our Centre for Teaching and Learning develops, organizes and maintains technologies and concepts for up-to-date and innovative knowledge transfer.

Explore our understanding of teaching

Who we are

Our mission statement

[Translate to English:] Man sieht vier Text-Kästen angeordnet um einen Kreis mit

Furtwangen University (HFU) is a leading university in Germany and is characterised by excellence in the following areas:

  • High quality and innovation in teaching
  • Practical relevance through cooperation with industry
  • International cooperation
  • Applied research
  • Continuing education and lifelong learning
  • Qualification and motivation
  • Social responsibility and securing the future

Furtwangen University's core business is scientifically based, practice-oriented education and training. Traditional subject boundaries are crossed through interdisciplinary work. HFU is a leader in the fields of engineering, computer science, business information systems, industrial engineering, media, international business and health. The university is constantly adapting its range of services to future-oriented developments. The aim is to award talented young people qualified, state-recognised degrees in future-oriented courses of study that open up above-average career opportunities for them. At the same time, we want to promote their development into responsible, confident personalities who can independently develop and represent solutions to problems.
In addition, our university contributes to innovation and qualification in business and society through application-oriented research and academic continuing education, as well as promoting young academics.

High quality and teaching innovation

Our aim is to provide a high-quality, practice-oriented and professionally qualifying education based on scientific principles. Our courses cover undergraduate and postgraduate studies as well as continuing professional development at university level. In quality-tested Bachelor's and Master's degree courses, the university imparts scientific, technical and methodological skills. We continuously improve our courses and qualifications and use innovative teaching methods in an attractive learning environment. The degree courses impart interdisciplinary, application-oriented knowledge for the independent further development of the necessary professional skills. The promotion of key qualifications strengthens students' skills and contributes to their personal development.

Practical relevance through cooperation with industry

As a leading innovation partner for companies, cooperation and an intensive partnership with industry are a matter of course. Through constant exchange with our partners in companies and institutions, we ensure practical relevance in teaching, research and continuing education. Together with them, we develop new study models and practice-oriented support programs for our students.

Internationality

We promote internationality in education and research through worldwide cooperation with universities and companies. As a cosmopolitan university, HFU promotes international academic and cultural exchange among students and members of the university. We focus our degree programmes to a large extent on opportunities and requirements in an international environment and ensure that our degrees are recognised worldwide. The integration of international developments into the curricula, the teaching of foreign language skills and intercultural competence as well as the promotion of stays abroad enable graduates to work in an international environment. We strengthen our profile through international relations and partnerships worldwide, modules abroad, double degree agreements, international recruitment of students, staff and professors as well as international research collaborations.

Applied research

We place particular emphasis on applied research and technology transfer in collaboration with our partners as a catalyst for innovation and a prerequisite for up-to-date teaching. High-quality, modern teaching requires the commitment of lecturers in application-oriented research, development and project work. We strongly promote such activities and the resulting publications, thus enabling students and companies to actively participate in research and its results.

Continuing education and lifelong learning

We are the university for lifelong learning. HFU offers continuing education to impart academic and professional qualifications. We break new ground and develop innovative customer-oriented offers for companies, associations and graduates.

Qualification and motivation

We overcome boundaries: in the cooperation between students, staff and professors; in the interdisciplinary cooperation between all areas of the university; between teaching, research and continuing education. Our lecturers are important links between the university and practice. Service orientation, transparency and continuous improvement characterise the processes at our university. Motivation, personal aptitude, professional commitment and research and development experience guarantee academic and professional competence.

Social responsibility and securing the future

We focus on social responsibility, sustainability and safeguarding the future. As a university, we provide our students with the necessary skills for future-proof and sustainable action in the relationship between business, the environment and society. We actively promote the compatibility of family and career or studies, the consideration of gender issues and take into account the special life situations of all members of the university. Personal responsibility and entrepreneurial spirit strengthen the development prospects of both the individual and the university. Our students remain our students – as alumni.

Our faculties

Our central services

Official bodies

Annual reports

Good academic practice

What constitutes good scientific practice has constantly evolved in the specialist sciences, but also in public debate. The German Research Foundation (DFG) summarizsd these discussions in a code of 19 guidelines for safeguarding good scientific practice most recently in 2019 and called on all universities and scientific research institutions to deal with the guidelines and implement them accordingly(https://wissenschaftliche-integritaet.de/).

To this end, the Standing Committee for the Investigation of Misconduct in Science at HFU, in close consultation with the DFG, has drawn up statutes for safeguarding good scientific practice and rules of procedure for dealing with scientific misconduct, which were adopted by the Senate on 26 October 2022 and recognised by the DFG as legally binding implementation. These statutes and rules of procedure are binding for all academic staff at the university.

Statutes of Furtwangen University on Ensuring Good Academic Practice
Furtwangen University Rules of Procedure in Dealing with Academic Misconduct

 

 

Facts and figures

Our supporters: PRO HFU

PRO HFU is a non-profit organisation whose aim is to support Furtwangen University and counter the shortage of skilled employees. The organisation is committed to ensuring good study conditions, encouraging partnership projects and strengthening the various university locations. It supports student projects and implements projects itself as well as organising networking events for companies, teaching staff and students. With the help of the organisation, numerous research initiatives have been realised and laboratories equipped. The organisation is supported by its members, with companies in particular making an important financial contribution to their work.