6 October 2025
International, digital, practicalSeven new degree programs this Winter Semester
Photo: University of Hamburg / von Wieding
The 7 new bachelor’s and master’s programs broaden our academic portfolio with important fields in which the University is already taking a research lead with pioneering work in Germany. These include interdisciplinary climate research, AI, and dialogue-oriented history.
Programs also address current developments, for example, with religion as a teaching subject in teacher training or a new bachelor’s degree (LLB) in the state examination program for law. One advantage to this new option is that students earn a degree before taking their state examination and can attempt the state examination with the certainty that they already have a qualification.
“At the University of Excellence, our goal is not only to set standards for research but to further develop our academic and teaching profile. Highly relevant topics such as sustainability, AI and digitalization, internationalization, and knowledge exchange as well as an academically sound practical orientation based on self-reflection are as integral to the new degree programs as a focus on a changing world of work. The programs provide our students with excellent preparation for a variety of professional fields and to cope with today’s challenges,” said Prof. Dr. Natalia Filatkina, vice president for studies and teaching at the University of Hamburg.
Overview of the new degree programs:
Following numerous international master’s programs, Earth Systems Physics is the first entirely English-language bachelor’s program at the University of Hamburg. It replaced the previous bachelor’s program in geophysics/oceanography and combines geophysics, oceanography, and meteorology at bachelor’s level, where traditionally there had been palpable hard boundaries between these subject areas. Students gain insight into interdisciplinary top research on climate change in the CLICCS cluster of excellence. Extensive required and elective courses provide holistic understanding of the Earth system with regards to mathematics and physics, from volcanoes and clouds to whirlwinds, ocean currents, and sea ice.
In addition to the state examination, law students can now earn a bachelor’s degree. This is awarded automatically as soon as students have successfully completed a designated number of modules, including a term paper in a focus area that is assessed as a bachelor’s thesis. This means that the law program will consist of modules and adjusted to comply with Bologna standards. Students who have already been studying for awhile can earn this degree retroactively if they are still enrolled and have fulfilled the requirements. Even if students still aim to take the state examination, the integrated degree is another qualification that facilitates compatibility with international bachelor’s and master’s systems.
Teacher training: degree components in Alevi, Islamic, and Catholic religions.
In Hamburg, the teaching subject in religion is “religious instruction for everyone.” This is also clearly reflected in teacher training programs. Effective immediately, students can choose Alevi, Islamic, or Catholic religion as a degree component in all teacher training programs, including Teaching Training in Vocational Education, Teacher Training for Secondary Schools, Teacher Training for Special Needs for Primary Schools, and Teacher Training for Special Needs Education for Lower and Upper Secondary Education. They receive sound training in the respective theological tradition while also focusing on interreligious dialogue. They are well-prepared for teaching in multi-religious classrooms.
Master’s program: Intellects: The Science of AI
In the digital and AI age, this English-language master’s program takes a special approach to data engineering and informatics, combining them with questions in philosophy, ethics, and logic. From these different perspectives, students look at how people interact with AI systems and how these systems spread knowledge of human culture. For the degree program, the first of its kind in Germany and the fifth of its kind worldwide, the Department of Philosophy, the Cluster of Excellence Understanding Written Artefacts, and the Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Natural Sciences are cooperating alongside the Hub of Computing and Data Science.
Master’s program: Public History
History is written about and by people. This research-based master’s program focuses on the various practices of writing history and the question of past and present media to express, spread, and understand history. Students take a strong practical approach, meaning they conceive and execute, in exchange with various public actors, their own history projects. Students are mentored throughout the program and document and reflect upon their own development, further defining their profile within the discipline.