“Founding a new university means embracing a new idea and a new goal. Our aim is to shape this university into an instrument of a true European spirit – a place where professors from different nations and students speaking different languages come together.

Tomorrow, the newly established Saarland University will take its place among the older universities of Europe.”

Rector Professor Jean Barriol, inaugural speech 1948

This founding spirit is still very much in evidence at Saarland University today. The university’s Franco-German roots mean that it is the only university in Germany with four French professorial chairs that are entitled to award French university qualifications. The university’s strong European dimension was established early with the creation of the highly respected Europa-Institut in 1951, the Centre juridique franco-allemand and the Frankreichzentrum – one of four in Germany.

The university’s European Planning Office and the student-organized Atelier Europa ensure that Europe remains a defining feature and a key driver of developments at Saarland University. The university offers a very broad range of cross-border academic programmes that are part of the so-called University of the Greater Region – a cooperative project with the universities in Metz, Nancy, Liège and Luxembourg. Coupled with the European guest professorship, which each year is dedicated to a specific European country, and the university’s attractive Zertifikat Europaicum programme, Saarland University provides a European focus that is unparalleled in Germany.

Internationality has been a defining feature of Saarland University ever since the university was established.

The university is firmly anchored in a part of Europe that defines itself by the shared borders between Germany, France, Luxembourg and Belgium and this strong European base is the foundation of the close international ties that the university enjoys. The university provides opportunities for students, and teaching and research staff to spend time working abroad, and offers a warm welcome to international students, scholars and researchers from around the world.

• International Office
• Centre Juridique Franco-Allemand
• Europa-Institut
• The European Institute of Rhetoric (EIR)
• EUSMAT - The European School of Materials
• French-speaking academic departments
• Frankreichzentrum
• Visiting professorship Europaicum
• Student initiatives
• Studienkolleg
• ZiS-Zentrum für Internationale Studierende

Vice-President for European and Cultural Affairs
Uwe Hartmann
Vice-President's Office: Daniela Brück
Phone: +49(0)681/302-2001
Fax: +49(0)681/302-2099
vp-europa(at)uni-saarland.de

Head of the European Planning Office
Rolf Wittenbrock
Saarland University
Building A4 2, Room 2.05
Phone: +49(0)681/302-4041
Fax: +49(0)681/302-4045
r.wittenbrock(at)univw.uni-saarland.de

International Office
Building A4 4, Campus Center
Postfach 15 11 50
D-66041 Saarbrücken, Germany
international(at)io.uni-saarland.de
Office hours:
Monday-Friday
8.30 a.m.-3.30 p.m.