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Welcome to the website of Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences!
Our university
Located on the edge of the Harz Mountains, in the green center of Germany, Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences first opened its doors in 1998. Since then, 29 partly unique study programs have been created. Sustainable technologies, future-oriented research and socially relevant topics await you, as well as classic scientific fields.
You will learn and live on our idyllic campus in a family atmosphere with modern equipment, personal support and a certain feel-good factor.
Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences (HSN) is a young university in Thuringia and an attractive location for new innovative courses of study and forms of teaching and learning. The aim is to provide a sound education rooted in the respective subject area, combined with interdisciplinary seminars and practical and foreign language courses. In this way, HSN graduates are fit for the job market of the future.
The dimensions of the campus and the number of students are manageable. They guarantee close contact between professors and students. Thus, studying can be done without detours and waiting times. Attractive and inexpensive apartments, a variety of sports and leisure facilities on campus and in the immediate vicinity offer a varied study environment.
We are pleased that you are interested in our young and modern university.
Since its foundation in 1997 and the start of study operations in 1998, the university has developed into a future-oriented educational institution: The latest technologies, professors and lecturers with practical experience, and modern courses of study that meet the requirements of the future labor market guarantee you an academic education at a high level.
Individuality and the greatest possible scope for creativity are a matter of course for us in your studies. Due to the integrated campus concept and the location of the university in the city of Nordhausen, the unity of research and teaching, studying and living on campus is possible and offers almost unrivaled conditions for interesting and pleasant studying at the southern edge of the Harz Mountains. The 11 hectare campus provides enough space to combine teaching and research as well as sports, culture and living on campus. This makes it possible to study within short distances, with intensive support in small learning groups and in ultra-modern laboratories and teaching rooms.
Take advantage of the diverse offers to qualify for a practical or study stay abroad, also in the international area, e.g. through the integrated foreign language teaching. The university is a member of a European network of universities and has a large number of international university partnerships, which guarantee you a study abroad with full recognition of your study performance or practical semester.
We invite you to get to know our young and committed university.
Image film of the Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences
Findulin stair beetle
Nordhausen is a city of stairs. And the only city in Germany where stair beetles live.
After an idea of two employees of the JugendSozialwerk Nordhausen e.V. the stair beetles were created. On the one hand, the stairs should be made more attractive and on the other hand "sympathetic landmarks for the city" should be created (citation of the website Treppenkäfer). In the meantime there are about 20 stair beetles. Where they can be found can be found on the website of the stair beetles.
The university also has several long, attractive staircases. So the idea was born to give a stair beetle a habitat on campus as well.
To achieve this goal, there was a fundraising run on the stairs by the library on June 18, 2013, where more than 60 stair runners ran as many times as possible up, down the stairs in more than 35 degrees to raise the money for the beetle this way. Even our president ran with us that day.
And the exertions were worth it. A few weeks later, our stair beetle was sitting on the big staircase by the library. The name Findulin had already been decided beforehand by our students through a vote.
Impressions from the stair run on 18.06.2013
Chronicle of the HSN
Actually, the history of the Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences begins in 1906....
In 1906, the provincial parliament of Saxony decides to establish a state educational institution on the grounds of the vineyard. The building is completed in 1910 and handed over for use. From 1914 until the end of the war, the institution is used as a military hospital, as it was during World War II. The bombing of Nordhausen in April 1945 destroys or damages some of the buildings.
In 1951, the "Technical School for Agriculture" is opened on the grounds of the vineyard, which begins training engineers in 1952. In 1956 the first 62 engineers solemnly receive their diplomas. Since 1961, foreign students have also been admitted to study at the engineering school.
In1979, the College of Studies is opened as a department of the School of Engineering with the aim of preparing foreigners for university studies. Since 1979 there has also been the student cellar, which was located in the west wing of the Mensage building.
After reunification in 1990, the Nordhausen School of Engineering became a member of the "Thuringia University of Applied Sciences" interest group. The universities of applied sciences in Erfurt, Jena and Schmalkalden are founded in 1991. In 1992, the state university plan specifies that the need for additional universities of applied sciences, especially in northern Thuringia, should be reviewed. In December 1995, a structural commission commissioned by the state government begins its work to determine the best location for a university of applied sciences in northern Thuringia. The Weinberg in Nordhausen offers an ideal property, and the city also proves to be a suitable university location.
In 1996, the structural commission unanimously decides in favor of Nordhausen as the newest university location in Thuringia. And so the history of the University of Applied Sciences Nordhausen takes its course...
Development of the university
On July 18, 1997, the Thuringian state parliament passes the "Law on the Establishment of the Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences". On July 29, 1997, this law is published in the Law and Ordinance Gazette of the Free State of Thuringia. The founding ceremony took place on November 5, 1997 in the presence of the Thuringian Prime Minister Bernhard Vogel and the Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Gerd Schuchardt, Minister for Science, Research and Culture.
The Minister appoints Prof. Dr. Gisela Rauschhofer as the founding rector. The University of Applied Sciences is located on the Weinberghof site.
In 1998, the university started with 140 students in 3 courses of study: Business Administration, Social Management and Technical Rehabilitation. Over the years, the range of courses was further expanded, and the departments of Engineering and Economics and Social Sciences were founded. Today, the offer amounts to 25 Bachelor's and Master's degree programs with about 2,500 students.
With the university's research commitment, various institutes were also established. It started with the opening of the AUGUST-KRAMER-INSTITUT (AKI) in 2006, followed by the in.RET - Institute for Regenerative Energy Technology (2008), the Institute for Public Management and Governance (IPMG; 2012), the Institute for Social Medicine, Rehabilitation Sciences and Health Services Research (ISRV; 2013) and the Institute for Informatics, Automation and Electronics (IAE; 2013).
At the beginning of 2015, a renaming of the University of Applied Sciences Nordhausen to "Hochschule Nordhausen" took place. This follows the change in the German higher education landscape. And now the city of Nordhausen rightly bears the epithet"university city".