Liberal Arts and Sciences

Two colleges, two countries, two degrees

The four-year Bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS) is an English-taught interdisciplinary undergraduate program. It was established in 2012 at the University of Freiburg and is hosted by UCF, an interfaculty center for international, interdisciplinary teaching.

Liberal Arts and Sciences is a philosophy of Bachelor level education. It reaches across academic fields while also offering discipline-oriented academic training in one particular Major. It encourages students to critically reflect on science and knowledge and to become skilled communicators and creative shapers of their environment. Focusing on the education of the whole person, it creates opportunities for personal development into motivated and responsible human beings.

At UCF, the key to an interdisciplinary, choice-driven education is understanding what (scientific) knowledge is, how it is produced, and how knowledge and society interact. This is reflected in the LAS program’s emphasis on the conditions, methods, and roles of science and in two professorships established specifically for the program: Epistemology and Theory of Science and Science and Technology Studies (Prof. V. Lipphardt).

Two colleges, two countries, two degrees: The University College Freiburg (UCF) and University College Maastricht (UCM) Maastricht University, Netherlands, provide a double degree option in Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS). Per academic year each college offers up to five double degree places. The selected participants will spend one year at the partner university.

Short Facts

Application period: June 1 – July 15
Degree: Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Sciences (depending on choice of Major)
Begin of Course: October
Duration: 8 Semesters
Total number of Credits: 240
Specifics: interdisciplinary, English-taught undergraduate program
Tuition: Registration fee of appr. 150 Eur per semester for all students. State of Baden-Württemberg tuition fees for non-EU students (1,500 Eur per semester) and for students seeking a second Bachelor degree (650 Eur per semester). For more information, please see the University Student Portal >
Departments: interdisciplinary initiative

The program consists of three study areas

The Core (66 ECTS points) constitutes the intellectual identity of LAS at the University of Freiburg: It fosters students' academic and personal development by offering a range of courses on philosophy of science as well as responsibility and leadership. Furthermore, students are intensively trained in general academic skills (Advanced Academic English, researching and presenting study material, effective writing, numerical literacy etc.). In order to put these skills into context and to exemplify the necessity and complexity of interdisciplinary thought and action, the first year of the program focusses on contemporary societal challenges (such as Global Inequality, Public Health, Environmental Issues).

The Major (102 ECTS) constitutes the students’ training in a specific academic field. LAS It aims to provide sufficient depth to make admission into disciplinary M.A. or M.Sc. programs possible. LAS offers four Majors:

• Earth and Environmental Sciences
• Life Sciences
• Governance
• Culture and History

In their Electives (72 ECTS), students can take courses outside of their Major, visit courses at other departments of the university of the University of Freiburg and EUCOR, attend language classes, undertake independent projects, and/or use these credits for courses taken during a semester or year abroad.

This arrangement combines interdisciplinarity with scientific rigor, creating space for individual exploration while maintaining a firm academic base. The LAS Course Catalog and the official Rules and Regulations are available here.

The LAS program stands for

• Problem-oriented learning: Real-world problems and their complexity are the starting point of teaching and learning in the LAS program.
• Project-based learning: Students often work together in groups or teams and thereby combine knowledge acquisition with social and organizational skills.
• Independent enquiry: LAS students learn how to develop questions of their own and how to reach learning goals efficiently.
• Research-oriented learning: Especially the Majors are taught with a view to current research problems and horizons.
• Shared responsibility: In their different roles, lecturers and students are jointly responsible for teaching and learning success.
• Small group learning: Throughout the LAS program, most courses are restricted to a maximum of 20 participants.
• Internationality of staff and students including study abroad opportunities

Our target group is students with intellectual curiosity and responsibility, who are looking for breadth and depth in their academic training. The LAS program is selective. The grade- and interview-based selection emphasizes academic achievements and personal motivation.

Every spring, UCF opens its doors for prospective students. Join us at our Open Days: Get an in-depth view of LAS at UCF and get to know Freiburg with its vibrant student scene and its attractive location on the edge of the Black Forest.
For more information on dates, deadlines, curriculum, admissions, please visit the website and join us on Facebook.

LAS Program Overview

Information for Prospective Students

LAS Online Studychoice Assistant (OSA)

After LAS

LAS Stories

University College Freiburg (UCF)

University College Freiburg was founded in 2012 at the University of Freiburg. It serves as a central and interfaculty platform for promoting and administering international, interdisciplinary teaching activities. It complements and supports the faculties’ work in this field, serves as a laboratory for innovative approaches to teaching and instructional design and houses high profile projects, notably the Bachelor program in Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Bachelor of Arts (ID 145102)

1. Semester

• Action, Rationality and Responsibility (6 CP)
• Anthropology and Experience (6 CP)
• Contemporary Art, Literature, Aesthetics or Music (6 CP, W)
• Culture and History since the Early Modern Period (6 CP, W)
• Culture and History up to the Early Modern Period (6 CP, W)
• Exploring Complex Problems (6 CP)
• Introduction to Culture and History (6 CP, W)
• Introductory Module: Thought and Research in the Earth and Environmental Sciences (6 CP, W)
• Introductory Module: Thought and Research in the Life Sciences (6 CP, W)
• Liberal Arts and Sciences - Backgrounds, Ideas, Challenges (6 CP)
• Numerical Literacy (6 CP)
• Sharing Knowledge (6 CP)
• Sociocultural Anthropology or Area Studies (6 CP, W)

2. Semester

• Advanced Culture and History I (6 CP, W)
• Advanced Culture and History II (6 CP, W)
• Advanced Governance I (6 CP, W)
• Advanced Governance II (6 CP, W)
• Advanced Governance III (6 CP, W)
• Advanced Life Sciences I (6 CP, W)
• Advanced Life Sciences II (6 CP, W)
• Biochemistry (6 CP, W)
• Cell Biology (6 CP, W)
• Chemistry (6 CP, W)
• Comparative Government (6 CP, W)
• Computer Science, Data Processing, and Modelling in the Life Sciences (6 CP, W)
• Culture as a Topic of Academic Inquiry (6 CP, W)
• Earth Sciences (6 CP, W)
• Ecology (6 CP, W)
• Economics (6 CP, W)
• History as a Topic of Academic Inquiry (6 CP, W)
• Knowledge in Context (6 CP)
• Laboratory Work for the Life Sciences (6 CP, W)
• Law (6 CP, W)
• Mathematics and Physics for the Liberal Arts and Sciences (6 CP, W)
• Methods of Observing Nature (6 CP, W)
• Physiology (6 CP, W)
• Qualitative and Quantitative Methods (6 CP, W)
• Specialization Option: Culture (6 CP, W)
• Specialization Option: History (6 CP, W)
• Specialization Option: Life Sciences I (6 CP, W)
• Specialization Option: Life Sciences II (6 CP, W)
• Theoretical Foundations and Hermeneutical Methods (6 CP, W)
• Theories of Knowledge (6 CP)

3. Semester

• Culture and Communication (6 CP)
• Environment and Health (6 CP, W)
• Evolution and Dynamics of the Planetary System (6 CP, W)
• Global Cycles of Matter and Materials (6 CP, W)
• Specialization Option: Earth and Environmental Sciences I (6 CP, W)
• Specialization Option: Earth and Environmental Sciences II (6 CP, W)
• Specialization Option: Economics (6 CP, W)
• Specialization Option: Politics, Law, and Administration (6 CP, W)
• Vision and Leadership (6 CP)

4. Semester

• Introduction to Governance (6 CP, W)

5. Semester

• Elective (6 CP, W)
• Frontiers in Research (6 CP, W)
• Language (6 CP, W)