Practice, research, international outlook: where application-oriented universities show their strengths
Universities of applied sciences offer particularly practice-oriented degree programmes and are networked worldwide.
Johannes Göbel,
28.08.2025 
Germany is well known for its universities of applied sciences (UAS) and their strong focus on practical training. These universities work closely with industry and prepare students for their careers in a very direct way – for example by offering dual programmes that combine academic study with on-the-job training in companies. Research, too, is becoming increasingly important at UAS.
On taking office in May 2025, Research Minister Dorothee Bär spoke of the importance of application-oriented research, emphasising that “the universities of applied sciences can play to their strengths even more effectively”. Programmes such as “Research at UAS” are to be expanded. Recent funding proposals submitted by UAS under this programme covered topics as varied as nursing science, neurotechnologies and climate adaptation in rural areas.
Research and internationalisation in the spotlight
Organisations such as the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) are further advancing the internationalisation of Germany’s UAS. For instance, the DFG has launched an initiative to support exchanges between UAS researchers in Germany and their colleagues in Central Asia, particularly Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Topics include digitalisation, sustainable urban development, renewable energies and resource management. Scotland and Jordan have also recently been the focus of international DFG-supported UAS exchange.
For more than five years, the DAAD has promoted far-reaching networking among UAS. The breadth of these international partnerships was demonstrated at a conference in Dortmund in May 2025: an international start-up network being established at Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences, a bachelor’s degree programme in smart textiles being developed at Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences with partner universities based in Belgium, Finland, Sweden and Indonesia, and the project “Global Women in Engineering and IT”, through which HTW Berlin and its Australian partner universities promote academic exchange for women.
