Skip to main content

Small courses, 
 international 
 orientation

Bard College Berlin is proud of its American roots.

13.08.2014
© Private - Study

Although the European College of Liberal Arts (ECLA), founded in 1999, was already well-established as a special Berlin educational institution, it decided to change its name before the 2013/2014 winter semester: “We see the college as an alternative to the big educational institutions in Berlin, and the new name Bard College Berlin highlights our college tradition. It gives our purely English-language liberal-arts program a clearer profile.” There is pride in Rector Thomas Rommel’s ex­planation, and this comes partly from the college’s American roots.

In 2011 ECLA had merged with the renowned Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York State. Students from about 40 nations are now studying in Berlin in the American liberal arts tradition. English-language tuition is given in small groups in fields such as literature, philos­ophy and the history of art. Successful graduates receive both a German and an American bachelor’s degree in ‘Humanities, the Arts, and Social Thought’. A bachelor’s degree in ‘Economics, Politics, and Social Thought’ will be added from the 2014/2015 winter semester. Leonard Botstein, President of Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, is delighted with the sister college in Berlin: “A successful liberal arts university, attracting students from all over the world, is an immense addition to the cultural and educational landscape of Berlin”.