Rankings, awards and certificates

Excellent support and outstanding study organisation – Viadrina once again takes top place in nationwide university ranking 2023

In terms of student satisfaction, the European University Viadrina is among the top group in the nationwide university ranking by the Centre for Higher Education Development (CHE) and the weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT. Students once again attested that the European University Viadrina offers excellent study conditions with excellent support and outstanding study organisation.

Law degree programme recognised as outstanding

In the ranking for the Fach Jura the students of the degree programme Rechtswissenschaft (Law) rated the general study situation at the Europa-Universität Viadrina as excellent and attested their university top places in 15 of a total of 16 criteria surveyed. In particular, Viadrina came top in the areas of support during studies, supervision by teaching staff and examination organisation. In the students' assessment of the organisation of studies, the European University Viadrina is the leader in the Berlin-Brandenburg region.

Best marks for international business administration programmes

The Bachelor's degree programmes International Business Administration (IBA) and International Betriebswirtschaftslehre (IBWL) are in the top group in all 14 criteria newly ranked by student feedback. Top marks were awarded for, among other things, support at the start of studies, the business and economics course programme with flexible selection options, the practical orientation in teaching and career orientation offers, the organisation of studies and examinations and support for stays abroad. This makes the European University a leader in Berlin and Brandenburg in terms of the general study situation in the field of economics.

The Master's degree programme in International Business Administration (IBA) also scored above average in the current Master's ranking. The international orientation, student support and support for stays abroad are rated particularly highly.

Cultural Studies

The CHE ranking only includes the larger and more traditional subject areas, smaller subjects are not taken into account. For this reason, there are no comparative figures for the interdisciplinary degree programmes of the Faculty of Cultural Studies.

The university ranking of the weekly newspaper „Die ZEIT“ and the Centrum für Hochschulentwicklung (CHE) is Germany's largest and most important comparative ranking of state and private universities. The results in the areas of research, teaching and facilities are based on students' judgements. The European University Viadrina has already taken top places in the CHE ranking in previous years.

In the International Student Barometer (isb), Viadrina was voted the most popular university in Germany by international students. It was ranked first out of 16 participating German universities, 6th out of 55 universities in continental Europe and 20th out of 199 universities worldwide.

The International Student Barometer is the world's largest survey of internationally mobile students and doctoral candidates. It is compiled annually by the company i-graduate, which uses it to create a benchmark study in which universities from all over the world survey their international students on their choice of location and student satisfaction.

The European University Viadrina was ranked 4th among the 77 medium-sized universities in Germany in the start-up radar of the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft.

Find out more about the ranking results

In 2020, Europa-Universität Viadrina took part in the international university comparison U-Multirank for the first time in the field of Business Studies in addition to the overall ranking. With 7th place in the field of 70 German universities and 28th place out of 316 European universities compared, it was one of the top-rated universities both nationally and internationally. The international orientation of the degree programmes was rated particularly highly. Viadrina was also rated above average in terms of study conditions.

U-Multirank compares universities in five categories: Teaching and Learning, Research, Knowledge Transfer, International Orientation and Regional Engagement. The data compared comes from verified self-reports, international databases and student surveys.

On 30 November 2023, 20-year-old economics student Anastasiia Latkovska received this year's DAAD Prize for outstanding achievements by international students. The Ukrainian has been studying at Viadrina since 2021 and, in addition to her excellent academic achievements, qualified for the award, which is endowed with 1,000 euros, through her commitment as a tutor and volunteer helper. She travelled all the way from Paris for the award ceremony, where she is currently spending an Erasmus stay.

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Dr. Rick Steinert from the Viadrina's Faculty of Business and Economics was honoured with the State Teaching Award for Excellent University Teaching on 29 November 2023. The Brandenburg Ministry of Science had awarded three prizes, each worth 10,000 euros. The teachers were honoured for their work with open educational resources, i.e. freely accessible teaching materials. A format that Rick Steinert has been working with for many years.</p

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This year's Mayor's Innovation Award goes to Antje Wilke (first prize), Adrian Piprek (second prize) and Jasper Mathis Ohler (third prize). Lord Mayor René Wilke honoured the Viadrina alumni on 24 November 2023 at the gala night „Via Franky O“ for their „outstanding student work in the field of cross-border innovation and cooperation“.

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The book „Dramas of Dignity: Cleaners in the Corporate Underworld of Berlin“ by Viadrina economist Prof. Dr Jana Costas has won the 2023 Book Prize of the European Group for Organisation Studies (EGOS). In the interview, the researcher reports on how she methodically approached the „underworld“ of the cleaning forces, what challenges she faced and what research questions she is now pursuing.

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Once a year, the renowned US history journal „Ab Imperio“ presents the „Ab Imperio Award“ for the best book in the field of imperial European history of the 20th century. The prize of the year 2022 goes to the most recent work by Viadrina historian Prof Dr Andrii Portnov – the monograph „Dnipro – An Entangled History of a European City“.

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In 2018, Viadrina joined the initiative „Klischeefrei – Nationale Kooperationen zur Berufs- und Studienwahl frei von Geschlechterklischees“. The aim of the alliance is to support young people in finding professions and study programmes that correspond to their individual abilities, interests and strengths and not the familiar role stereotypes.

The „Klischeefrei“ alliance consists of federal and state ministries, the Federal Employment Agency, universities and social partners as well as representatives from science, practice and business.

Find out more about the Klischeefrei initiative

The European University Viadrina has been successfully system-accredited since the end of March 2017. This officially confirms that Viadrina has such a well-functioning internal quality assurance system in the area of teaching and learning that the university will be able to independently assess its individual degree programmes in the future.

The university was also certified as having a very successful internationalisation strategy, which was specifically the subject of the assessment procedure using the example of the implementation of international multiple degrees, so-called „Joint Programmes“. With the successful completion of the procedure, Viadrina joins the ranks of system-accredited universities in Germany with its quality assurance system.

Find out more about the quality inspection system Accredited

The seal of quality is awarded once a year by the DAAD for special merits and achievements in the Erasmus exchange of German and foreign students and lecturers.

The Viadrina is Brandenburg's frontrunner in terms of internationality: it maintains close cooperation with around 200 universities and colleges abroad, which enable around 400 students a year to spend time abroad in most of the degree programmes offered at the European University.

Overview of the Viadrina's partner universities

In May 2014, the Europa-Universität Viadrina signed the Charta „Familie in der Hochschule“ and is thus also a member of the best practice club of the same name. By signing the charter, all members make a voluntary commitment to pursue and implement demanding standards of family-orientation. They define the compatibility of studies, career and science with family responsibilities as a defining profile element of their university and are committed to a social development towards more family-orientation and appreciation of diversity.

Find out more about the Viadrina Family Office

In November 2013, Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) received the award seal of the „Corporate Health Award“, which is awarded jointly by Handelsblatt and TÜV SÜD.

This makes the university one of the leading institutions in the field of corporate health management in Germany.

Since 2012, Viadrina has been the only university in Brandenburg to dedicate itself to health & safety management. For example, employees have the opportunity to use one hour of their working time each week for preventative sports activities. A health day and numerous workshops and lectures throughout the year provide further impetus for employee health.

Find out more about the Corporate Health Award

Document and publication servers provide universities and libraries with worldwide and long-term secure access to scientific publications. They thus make a decisive contribution to the spread of electronic publishing as a new tool for scientific work.

DINI, the German Initiative for Network Information, accompanies and supports these developments in order to achieve a higher level of scientific communication both nationally and internationally. By awarding a certificate, DINI e. V. enables an established quality control for document and publication services, now in its third generation.

More about the Viadrina publication server

In order to make it easier for student athletes to balance their studies and top-class sport, the German University Sports Association (adh) initiated the "Partner University of Top-class Sport" project with various partners in 1999.

Within the framework of these cooperation agreements, around 1,200 top athletes currently studying at over 85 adh member universities are provided with a network system to compensate for specific disadvantages.

The Viadrina's top sports representative is Franziska Boll, Head of the Central Student Advisory Service.

Find out more about the General German University Sports Association