Heidelberg: A modern town with rich history

Heidelberg: A modern town with a rich history

Few universities can look back at a history that began in 1386. And yet Heidelberg University, the oldest in Germany, has much more to offer than a long tradition. Thousands of international exchange students enjoy the atmosphere of this university town with its charming historic city centre situated along the banks of the Neckar River.

by René Andrée

Heidelberg at a glance

Old Town of Heidelberger, Photo: Andrée/DAAD

There is no doubt you will find your way around and feel at home in Heidelberg very quickly. Located in northern Baden-Württemberg, Heidelberg is home to 145,000 inhabitants, of which 30,000 are students. Because the town is relatively small, it has a warm, homey feeling. And located in a river valley surrounded by wooded mountains, Heidelberg is absolutely idyllic. For many, Heidelberg is the epitome of German Romanticism, and not only because of the famous Heidelberg castle ruins perched on the slopes of the Königstuhl Mountain which overlooks the city.
Below the ruins lies the historic downtown, Heidelberg’s cultural and commercial centre where most of student life takes place. Across the river Neckar, the Heiligenberg rises from the valley floor and extends into the foothills of the Odenwald. Those who love hiking will love the hilly trails that run through the forest. Even famous writers, such as Goethe and Hölderlin, let their minds wander as they walked along the ''Philosophers' Walk''.
At Neuenheimer Feld further to the west, one can find the university’s natural science departments on a campus of its own. The university medical centre is also located on the campus along with a gigantic sports centre, located just a little further away.
If you want to see more of Germany, you can simply board a train at one of three S-Bahn stations in Heidelberg and travel directly to Karlsruhe, Mannheim or Ludwigshafen. At the main train station, you can get a direct connection to Frankfurt or Stuttgart. All of these cities are less than one hour away from Heidelberg.

Universities-Overview

Ruprecht-Karls-Universität

Old university, Photo: Andrée/DAAD

Heidelberg University is a comprehensive university divided into twelve faculties with approximately 25,000 students, more than 400 professors and 3,500 employed academics. Nine Nobel Prizes have been awarded to researchers in Heidelberg, the most recent of which went to the cancer researcher Harald zur Hausen in 2008. With an extensive range of courses in the humanities, natural and life sciences, students can study practically anything. In 2007 Heidelberg University was officially designated as a “university of excellence”.
International students comprise almost 20 percent of the student body – the highest percentage of foreign students at a traditional university in Germany. This may have something to do with the good reputation of Heidelberg’s scientific research programmes. Many graduates look for employment opportunities at one of the four Max Planck Institutes located in Heidelberg. Researchers from around the world work at these institutes and publish papers which help advance their scientific careers.

University of Applied Sciences Heidelberg
The SRH University of Applied Sciences is located outside the city centre in the idyllic suburb of Wieblingen. This private, practice-oriented university of 2,000 students offers degree programmes in subjects not found at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität, such as architecture and those in the engineering disciplines.

Hochschule für Jüdische Studien (HfJS) (University of Jewish Studies)
Heidelberg is home to the only university in Germany dedicated solely to Jewish Studies. The HfJS is funded by the Central Consistory of the Jews in Germany. Students at the HfJS have the opportunity to combine their degree programme with subjects offered at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität (see above).

Heidelberg University of Education
Approximately 4,000 future primary school, general and vocational secondary school and special needs school teachers are trained every year at the University of Education (PH). Despite the fact that its main building is located on the Heidelberg University campus at Neuenheimer Feld, the PH is an independent university.

Academy of Sacred Music
The Heidelberg Academy of Sacred Music teaches approx. 500 students how to perform and arrange music for church services.

Recreation in Heidelberg

Heidelberg Main Street, Photo: Andrée/DAAD

No matter where you study, you’ll never be bored in Heidelberg. Neuenheimer Feld – the campus for the natural sciences at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität – is a self-contained world with its own shops and halls of student residence. The dining hall “Chez Pierre” is well-known and well-loved for the Erasmus parties that are regularly held there.
The majority of students, however, spend their time in the historic part of town. Parallel to Hauptstraße (Main Street), the main shopping street, one will find pub after pub on Untere Straße. The pubs “Mohr”, “Destille” and “SonderBar Betreutes Trinken” are especially popular among students. After drinks, many students go to the small disco “Tangente” on Kettengasse, a few hundred metres south of Untere Straße.
The “Neckarwiese” that runs along the Neuenheimer riverbank is one of the most popular meeting places on summer afternoons. Many students spend time on the spacious greens to play games and sports, sunbathe and relax. Students frequently venture out of the libraries and read their course material outside when the weather is nice. There are always groups of students barbecuing there late into the evening. But a word of warning - barbecuing is only allowed in specially designated areas! Larger events are frequently held on the west side of town next to the bridge. On the other side of the bridge, you will find paddle boats and small motor boats to let.

Heidelberg Castle, Photo: Andrée/DAAD

Sport enthusiasts will discover that Neuenheimer Feld is also an athletic Mecca with a fully-equipped sports centre with a fitness studio and the Olympic training centre, a 50-m indoor swimming pool and another outdoor pool on Tiergartenstraße, open in the summer. Students have a wide range of sport courses to choose from – weight training, dance courses and all types of ball sports. Most university sport courses are free of charge. Some courses take place outside the sports centre, for example, rowing on the Neckar.
The Studentenwerk (Student Union) offers many helpful services. It manages the cafeterias and three large dining halls, two of which are in the historic part of town and the other in Neuenheimer Feld. All the menus are posted on the Internet. The Studentenwerk also provides rooms for 3,500 students at the university’s student halls of residence, and can help students find private accommodation, as well. The independent student newspaper Ruprecht contains extensive information about what is going on at the university. Not only are German students on the editorial staff; international students are also welcome to work at the newspaper – a job that quickly improves their language proficiency. If you are interested in culture, you will be happy to know that, as a student, you can use the “Unicard“ to obtain concession rates for performances at the Heidelberg Theatre and Philharmonic Orchestra. In the summer months, the theatre performs plays on an outdoor stage located in the courtyard of the Heidelberg Castle.

Interview with Matthew Angle from the United States

Matthew Angle is a PhD student at the Heidelberg MPI for Medical Research (MPImF). He talks about his doctoral programme and the advantages of living in Heidelberg.

Matthew, Photo: private

Why did you pick Heidelberg?
I made the decision to come to Heidelberg knowing relatively little about the city (and even less about the University). I came because of a specific scientific opportunity at the Max-Planck Institute for Medical Research (MPImF). In retrospect I was lucky that my advisor, Dr. Andreas Schaefer, obtained his position here in Heidelberg, and not some colder darker corner of the world.

What do you like about studying here?
I've benefited tremendously from the flexibility of the Fakultät für Biowissenschaften, especially with respect to their partnership with the MPImF. For an international student, admission into the German University system can be daunting and esoteric, so I was very appreciative to find that the administration was helpful welcoming, and where possible tried to minimize bureaucracy. I especially appreciate that the PhD program at MPImF is allowed to run with some degree of autonomy. Different scientific personalities prefer different scientific environments. I happen to prefer the way Max-Planck Institutes (and correspondingly their PhD programs) operate, but I have a number of friends who prefer a more traditional University program. Its nice that graduate students in Germany can self-select between more and less structured programs-- perhaps that academic freedom is what I appreciate most about pursuing my PhD here in Germany as opposed to, say, in the US or UK.

What about the city?
Coming from the US, it is unfathomable to me that a city can be both interesting and safe. To have a city as populous and vibrant as Heidelberg with virtually no violent crime seems... Utopian.
It also strikes me that Heidelberg is a highly educated city, even compared to other small cities with large Universities. Every other person you meet is either a medical doctor, a researcher, a professor, or student. It is a statistical anomaly that is mitigated only by the throngs of American tourists in the Altstadt.
Aside from the obvious things that would appear in a tourist pamphlet, when people ask me what to do/see in the city, I invariably list three establishments (in no particular order):
an amazing falafel place next to Jesuitenkirche, a well-stocked Indian grocery store behind Bauhaus (Masala), and the best cappuccino I've had outside of Italy, at Salve, which is conveniently located directly across the street from my institute.

What's next for you?
In the short term, a lot of work. Eventually I will probably try to get a position back in the US, but I don't have any immediate plans.