Liberal Arts and Sciences (B.A. or B.Sc.)

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.

Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS) Bachelor Program

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: Administration fee (appr. 150 EUR per semester)
Departments: interdisciplinary initiative

The four-year Bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS) is an English-taught undergraduate program and the first of its kind in Germany. 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 (Prof. W. Freitag) and Science and Technology Studies (Prof. V. Lipphardt).

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:

1. Earth and Environmental Sciences
2. Life Sciences
3. Governance
4. Culture and History 

In their Electives (72 ECTS), students can take courses outside of their Major, visit courses at other departments of the university, 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 for the LAS program are available here.

The following didactic principles guide our work throughout the LAS program:

• 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.
• Adaptive teaching: LAS courses are flexible and adaptable to the students’ learning process.
• 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.

The LAS program is in part organized in a block schedule. This gives students and teachers the opportunity to engage very closely with each other and the topic at hand. It also provides space for innovative forms of instruction that characterize the entire program.

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.

The LAS program started in winter semester 2012. 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)

Application and Admissions

For further information please contact:
 

University College Freiburg (UCF)
Bertoldstrasse 17
79085 Freiburg

Tel. +49 761 203-67342
studyinfo@no-spamucf.uni-freiburg.de
ucf.uni-freiburg.de >