Sustainability in teaching and studying

Studium Fundamentale "Sustainability - improving the world with practical projects"

Launched in 2007, the Studium Fundamentale "Sustainability - Improving the world with practical projects" offers students from bachelor's programmes at the University of Erfurt and Erfurt University of Applied Sciences the opportunity to make an active contribution to the sustainable development of society. More than 1000 students from all disciplines have already taken part in the programme. As part of the Studium Fundamentale, they try their hand at organising practical projects in the field of sustainability in cooperation with non-university practice partners and acquire key professional skills. The student-organised seminar in the Studium Fundamentale has received several awardsas an officially recognised project of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.

Further information on the Studium Fundamentale "Sustainability" can be found here.

Sustainability" study profile

As part of the KLIMA-N project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the University of Erfurt has committed to strengthening education for sustainable development (ESD). There are already many courses in the compulsory, compulsory elective and elective areas as well as in the Studium Fundamentale that contribute to this. In order to give students the opportunity to document a corresponding specialisation, the "Sustainability" study profile will be introduced at the University of Erfurt in the winter semester 2025/26. 

Our students appreciate the courses on sustainability and ESD that already exist here and have expressed the wish to be able to obtain recognition for their participation in such courses in order to better open up professional fields in the area of sustainability and education for sustainable development," 

explains Professor Dr Julia Knop, Vice President for Academic Affairs. "With the introduction of the study profile, the University of Erfurt would now like to fulfil this wish from the winter semester 2025/26." This cross-disciplinary and cross-faculty study profile is based exclusively on study options that already exist within the existing regulations. Bettina Hollstein, the Presidential Board Representative for Sustainability, had previously asked the curriculum planners to what extent corresponding modules or courses exist in their curricula. Julia Knop: "The response was good and showed that it is realistic and attractive to set up such a study profile."

The study profile is to be certified if students provide evidence of relevant coursework totalling 24 CP/ECTS for their Bachelor's degree. The relevance of a course is determined by the lecturers. Proof is provided via the Transcript of Records, the certificate is issued by the Presidential Representative for Sustainability.