Universities in Aachen At fun start to any career

A penguin doing mechanical engineering? A professor on skates? In university life, Aachen’s the place anything can happen!

City of Students

  • 1 in 5 Aacheners is involved in tertiary education
  • Aachen’s population: approx. 245,000
  • Students: 40,000
  • Students plus academic staff: 50,000
  • Courses: 200

One in six people here is a student. People in Aachen are used to PhD students, freshmen and final-year students from all four universities and colleges regularly parading in costume though the streets of the city’s old quarter. That happy student knack of letting it all hang out has given rise to fun events such as the Lousberg Run, pedal-car racing and the University Ice Hockey Cup. The newspaper headline “Visit the zoo: first mechanical engineer in captivity” didn’t even raise an Aachen eyebrow – heralding, as it did, a piece of journalistic jollity about the ice hockey cup mascot (an African penguin named Henning, after the Dean of the Mechanical Engineering Faculty).

RWTH Aachen is North-Rhine Westphalia’s only official elite university

Aachen recognised early on that anyone who finds knowledge fun will come up with great ideas fast, and with the right environment outstanding results will transpire. Efficient management organisations, start-up grants, graduate schools, pulling together of all student services under one roof, the “Super C” facility, and clear academic disciplines are the platform for certain success. And the proof of the pudding is that Aachen leads the pack in automotive and rail technology, life sciences, communication technology, new materials, energy and innovative production technologies. RWTH Aachen University is the province of North-Rhine Westphalia’s only official elite university in research and teaching, and Aachen University of Applied Sciences (Fachhochschule Aachen) is its foremost research college.

A really key factor for academic Aachen is the interconnection between theory and practice. The words of Germany’s great writer, Johann von Goethe, still ring true today: “It is not enough to have knowledge, one must also apply it. It is not enough to have wishes, one must also accomplish”. Whether a MechEng student at RWTH Aachen University, a singer at the College of Music and Dance, a designer at Aachen University of Applied Sciences or a social worker in-training at Catholic University of Applied Sciences (Katholische Hochschule NRW): in Aachen, students make early contact with potential employers. That way, each year thousands of graduates form the basis for the future prosperity of the entire region. While having loads of fun and great ideas – and a penguin as mascot.

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External links

iOecherStart page for freshers and people new to Aachen (German only) City of Science & LearningFacts & figures (German only) RWTH Aachen UniversityInformation, news and services Aachen University of Applied SciencesCourses offered, service and international information Catholic University of Applied SciencesInformation on the Aachen facility (German only) College of Music and DanceInformation on the Aachen facility (German only) University Ice Hockey CupInformation on the cult student event (German only) Lousberg RunHistory, image gallery and helpful information (German only)