Organization:Jacobs University Bremen

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Jacobs University Bremen (abbreviated JU Bremen or JU) is an international, private, residential, doctorate-granting research university located in Vegesack, Bremen, State of Bremen, Germany. It offers study programs in engineering, humanities, natural and social sciences, in which students can acquire bachelor's, master's or doctorate degrees. On top of this, there are preparatory programs for degree courses. Its students come from more than 120 countries, among which about 80% are foreign students. Along with ca. 33% international faculties, these make it one of the most international universities. According to its mission statement, Jacobs University pursues the goal of forming talented young people into world citizens through academic education, intensive mentoring and living together on an international campus - regardless of nationality, religion and material conditions.

History

Jacobs University Bremen Campus Center

Back in 1996, the International University Bremen was founded with the support of the University of Bremen, Rice University in Houston, Texas, and the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, with study programs beginning in 2001. After the university faced some financial problems, the Jacobs Foundation invested € 200 million in the institution in November 2006, thus taking over a two-thirds majority of the partnership share. Following this, the university changed its name to Jacobs University Bremen at the beginning of 2007.

The campus is on the site of the former Roland Barracks in Bremen-Grohn. The site was erected in 1938 during the National Socialist period, but after the Second World War a refugee camp was set up there by the International Refugee Organization under the management of the American forces. It was later taken over by the Bundeswehr. The armed forces left the site in 1999, making way for the university.

The approximately 34-hectare site of the campus university is home to four residential colleges, buildings for administration, lecturing and research, an Information Resource Center (IRC) with a library and digital resources, sport, leisure and park facilities, and apartments for guest academics.

Financing

At the end of a four-year plan (2014-2017) for realignment, Jacobs University generated revenues of € 50.2 million in fiscal year 2017, an increase of € 2.8 million (5.9 percent) over the previous year.Compared to the reference year 2012, Jacobs University was able to continuously reduce its losses.As part of its restructuring, the university cut a total of 65 jobs in 2014.

The long-term financing of Jacobs University is a subject of heated debate in Bremen in particular. It gets its income from various sources, including study fees, donations, third-party funding and contributions from the Jacobs Foundation. The funding from the state of Bremen, which amounts to three million euros a year, expired in 2017.

In June 2018, the Jacobs Foundation decided to support the private university until 2027 with a maximum of another 100 million Swiss francs. Also in June 2018, the city of Bremen decided that they would take over a loan from the start-up phase of the university in order to strengthen the financial abilities of the institution permanently.

Organization

The university is managed by a not-for-profit company Jacobs University Bremen gGmbH. In line with the statutes, it is composed of four organs: the Councilors, the Board of Trustees, the Board of Governors and the Executive Board, which comprises the Managing Director and the President. The Board of Governors is the central decision-making committee for all the fundamental questions of the university's development, including the appointment of the president and the professors. Christian Jacobs, the eldest son of the entrepreneur and patron Klaus J. Jacobs (1936–2008), is a member of the board of trustees of the Jacobs Foundation.

University Leadership

On December 1, 2019, Prof. Dr. Antonio Loprieno took over as President of the University from Prof. Dr. Michael Hülsmann. The Board of Governors is lead Lavinia Jacobs, Chair of the Board of Trustees Jacobs Foundation. Further members are among others: Prof. Dr. Patrick Aebischer, Foundation Board Member of Jacobs Foundation and former President of the EPFL, Prof. Dr. Antje Boetius, Director Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Dr. Jörg Dräger, Board Member of the Bertelsmann Stiftung and former Senator for Science and Research of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Dr. Claudia Schilling, Senator for science, ports and justice Bremen , Dr. Philipp Rösler, CEO of the Hainan Cihang Charity Foundation in New York and former Vice-Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The company is now led by Prof. Dr. Antonio Loprieno (Chairman of the Management Board) and Dr. Michael Dubbert (Managing Director).

Academics

Both teaching and research are divided into three thematic focuses, comparable to faculties at other German universities.

1. Mobility: understanding the worldwide movement of people, goods and information.

2. Health: developing solutions for a healthier world.

3. Diversity: Deciphering a modern, global world.

Study Programs

Within these focus areas, 15 undergraduate programs and 7 graduate programs are offered. In addition, Jacobs University also offers a preparatory and orientation year, the Foundation Year Program. This serves to support students in deciding on their future path of study and to meet international admission criteria. The programs and courses are taught in English. The courses of study are practice-oriented. Students are involved in the research work of their professors from the first semester onwards, and in the fifth semester there is the possibility of a stay abroad.

Degrees can be completed to the academic levels of Bachelor of Arts (BA), Bachelor of Science (BSc), Master of Arts (MA), Master of Science (MSc), and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). The Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS) is a joint graduate school founded by Jacobs University and the University of Bremen. It offers three doctorate programs.

Thee programs are:

Mobility (of People, Goods, and Information):

• Industrial Engineering and Management (BSc)
• Mathematics (BSc)
• Computer Science (BSc)
• Electrical and Computer Engineering (BSc)
• Intelligent Mobile Systems (BSc)
• Data Engineering (MSc)
• Supply Chain Engineering & Management (MSc)

Health(Focus on Bioactive Substances):

• Biochemistry and Cell Biology (BSc)
• Chemistry (BSc)
• Medical Chemistry and Chemical Biology (BSc)
• Earth and Environmental Sciences (BSc)
• Physics (BSc)

Diversity(in modern Societies):

• Foundation Year
• Global Economics and Management (BA)
• International Business Administration (BA)
• Integrated Social Sciences (BA)
• International Relations: Politics and History (BA)
• Psychology (BA)
• International Relations (MA)
• Psychologie (MSc)
• Changing Lives in Changing Socio-cultural Contexts (BIGSSS) (PhD)
• Global Governance and Regional Integration (BIGSSS) (PhD)
• Welfare State, Inequality and Quality of Life (BIGSSS) (PhD)

Tuition and fees

Depending on the study program, between €10,000 and €28,000 per academic year. Individualized financial aid packages, involving grants, scholarships, and tuition deferrals assist qualified applicants for Bachelor’s and Master’s programs in commencing their studies at Jacobs University. True to the motto "Study now, pay later", Jacobs University is offering a new financing model for tuition fees together with the education fund "Brain Capital".

Student Body

The international nature of the student body is one of the defining characteristics of Jacobs University. Currently 1,500 students from more than 120 nations are matriculated at theuniversity (status as of December 2020). Most students come from Germany (18 %) followed by India (8,7 %), Pakistan (5,8 %), Nepal (6,6 %), China (4,8 %), USA (4,2 %), Albania (3,8 %), Ethopia (2,7 %), South Korea (2,5 %) und Morocco (2,2 %). Exchange programs with a total of 26 international partners help to foster this international atmosphere.

Supervised by resident mentors, the vast majority of students live on campus in one of four colleges. They pursue their sporting, social, political or cultural interests in more than 50 student clubs. The students organize a number of recurring events on their own responsibility, such as the Art Fest, a hackathon or the annual start-up competition. In 2008, the Hanse Boat Race was launched together with the Hamburg School of Business Administration, in which rowing teams from both universities compete against each other every year.

Research

Research in the three Focus Areas is an important pillar of Jacobs University. Its scientists have made a name for themselves through a large number of international and national research projects. They are very successful in attracting third-party funding. In 2017, each professor raised an average of 205,900 euros in third-party funding. Jacobs University's research projects are funded by the German Research Foundation or the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation of the European Union as well as by leading global companies. The students are often involved in the research work of their professors from the first semester onwards.

Rankings

In national and international university rankings, Jacobs University repeatedly occupies top positions. According to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020 Jacobs University is among the 25 percent of the best universities worldwide and is the most international university in Germany. In THE Young University Rankings 2019, Jacobs University is ranked 26th among young universities worldwide and among the top 5 in Germany. In the THE ranking of the best small universities, Jacobs University is the only German university represented and ranks tenth in the world.

In the CHE University Ranking 2019, the university achieved top positions in the subjects electrical engineering, information technology and psychology, 2018 in geo, social and political sciences, 2017 in economics and industrial engineering.

In the international university ranking U-Multirank, Jacobs University was ranked in the top five German universities in 2017. It received top ratings in the categories of international alignment and research.

According to USNWR's 2019 indicator rankings, Jacobs University was ranked as #364(tie) in Europe, #57 in Germany, Subject Chemistry #535(tie) worldwide.

Partnerships

The university has close cooperations with many local and international partners, including students exchange, faculty mobility, joint programs, and research collaborations. The partners include world-renowned institutions, e.g.:

• North America(now US only):

Carnegie Mellon University

Rice University

New York University

University of Pennsylvania

Cornell University

Case Western Reserve University

University of Notre Dame

• Europe:

University of Edinburgh, UK

University of Warwick, UK

University of Groningen, The Netherlands

Sciences Po, France

Uppsala University, Sweden

University of Oslo, Norway

St. Petersburg State University, Russia

• Germany:

Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), Bremen

Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Marine Microbiology, Bremen

University of Bremen

• Asia(Far & Middle East):

Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Israel

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

Ritsumeikan University, Japan

University of Nottingham Ningbo, China

Fudan University, Shanghai, China

Alumni Association

The Jacobs University Alumni Association was founded in 2004. It comprises around 2,400 members; around 70 percent of graduates have joined the Alumni Association. In 2008 a limited company was founded as Jacobs University Bremen Alumni & Friends GmbH, laying the legal foundations to give the alumni a say in the university's development. The limited company, which is 99-percent owned by the Alumni Association, with one percent owned by the university, is one of three shareholders in Jacobs University and owns a sixth of the shares in the school.

Comparisons

Jacobs University has combined features of typical US and German higher education institutions.

US universities can be public or private, which typically offer 4-year undergraduate programs with charging very expensive annual tuition fees and providing accommodations so that students can live in the campus. At the meanwhile, most German universities are public. They offer 3-year undergraduate programs after Bologna Process, which charge mostly no tuitions but only fees for board and traffic ticket per semester, and don't provide accommodations. Dormitories and meals are managed by Studentenwerk, a municipal student service organization independent to universities. Due to the limited numbers of rooms, not every student will be offered a place after application. Now Jacobs, a private university, offers 3-year undergraduate programs with less expensive tuition fees, providing residential campus for every student.

A typical 4-year US program includes physical educations, taking around 4-5 courses per semester. Along with German universities, Jacobs's 3-year program takes sports as one of the optional extracurricular activities, while average 30 ECTS per semester means more than 6 courses including soft skills training(e.g. language courses as additional competences). Jacobs also provides career adivising as mandatory courses.

An admission process of a typical German university is overall not selective. Domestic students with Abitur (University Entrance Qualification) can enroll a zulassungsfrei (literally, admission-free) program without any application. It can be a bit selective or necessary to wait for places by zulassungsbeschänkt (literally, admission-limited) or NC programs, due to the limited educational resources. An application to a US university can be complicated, typically with supplying SAT/ACT scores, English test score for non-native speakers, GPA of school years, recommendation letters, and an essay, extracurricular activities. It can be very selective. For example, Rice University has an admission rate at about 15%. Jacobs is using an admission process similar to US universities.

Cooperation with Business

Part of the new orientation is enhanced networking with business. Jacobs University offers companies various opportunities for cooperation, which include long-term research collaborations, the provision of scientific services as part of short-term research and development projects, or training of junior and managerial staff. This gives students an early connection to practical applications.

External links

• Official Website
• Jacobs Alumni Association
• BIGSSS, Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences
• Pages on Ranking Sites:
  • QS Top Universities Page for JUB
  • THE Page for JUB
  • USNWR Page for JUB
  • CHE Ranking (zeit.de) Page for JUB (in English)
  • U-Multirank Page for JUB
• Residential Colleges:
  • Alfried Krupp College
  • Mercator College
  • College III
  • College Nordmetall