Fresenius University of Applied Sciences, known in German as Hochschule Fresenius, is a private, state-recognized university in Germany. It grew out of a chemical laboratory that opened in Wiesbaden in 1848. Today it teaches bachelor’s and master’s students across nine German campuses and a virtual campus. For international applicants, the main draw is a set of programs taught entirely in English. This guide covers the curriculum, the qualification students leave with, the language of instruction, the age question, the fees and the other details prospective students ask about most.
The institution’s own history page traces its start to Carl Remigius Fresenius, who founded a chemical laboratory with an attached chemistry school in 1848. Women were admitted to study there in 1908. The Hessian ministry of higher education recognized it as a privately owned university of applied sciences in 1971, and it moved its headquarters to Idstein in 1995. It took its current name in 2008. It now has five faculties: Chemistry and Biology, Health and Social Sciences, Economics and Media, Design (added in 2013) and onlineplus, a distance learning faculty set up in 2015.
Accreditation matters for anyone weighing a private German university. According to the university, the German Council of Science and Humanities first accredited it as an institution in 2010 and extended that status in 2021. It received system accreditation in 2015, which means its internal quality assurance covers its degree programs. The Cumulus Association, a network of art and design schools, lists ACQUIN, ASIIN, FIBAA and AHPGS as accreditation agencies that have reviewed its programs and says students can choose from more than 120 of them.
The curriculum follows the applied sciences model, which pairs classroom teaching with practical projects. The university describes its aims as practical teaching, practical research and an international outlook. Group sizes are capped at 42 students in bachelor’s programs and 20 in master’s programs. A program’s curriculum is the same on every campus that offers it, so students can switch locations mid-degree.
The English-language bachelor’s list on the university’s site currently includes International Business Management (B.A.), International Business (B.A.) with a specialization in International Management, Computer Science (B.Sc.), Biomedical Sciences (B.Sc.), Industrial Engineering and Management (B.Eng.), Sustainability in Creative Industries (B.A.), Fashion Design (B.A.) and Fashion and Design Management (B.A.). The master’s list is longer. It includes Luxury Management, International Real Estate Management, Marketing and Brand Management, Computer Science, Biomedicine, Biochemical Engineering, E-Commerce and Logistics, two MBA options and several other degrees in business, technology and life sciences.
The program pages give a sense of the coursework. In the master’s in International Business Management, students study strategic management, international management, transformation management and research methods. The third semester is flexible: students take an elective, complete an internship or spend a semester abroad. Students without German take German courses in the first two semesters. The bachelor’s in International Business Management spends its first three semesters on fundamentals, then moves into chosen majors. Study abroad options listed by the university include New York, Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur, Sydney, Dublin, Barcelona and London, with semesters abroad included in the tuition fee. The exception is London, which carries a one-time payment of 3,000 euros. A third-party listing on mygermanuniversity.com gives the course length as six semesters, or seven with an internship semester.
The leaving qualification is a university degree rather than a school certificate. Graduates receive a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Engineering at the first level. At the second level they receive a Master of Science, Master of Arts, Master of Engineering or an MBA, depending on the program. The university notes that master’s graduates can go on to a doctorate. Students who arrive without a German-recognized school certificate can prepare through Studienkolleg NRW, the university’s preparatory course, and sit the university qualification examination known as the Feststellungsprüfung.
The language of instruction depends on the website a student applies through. Every bachelor’s and master’s program listed on hs-fresenius.com is taught in English, and the university says no German is needed for those, though it recommends learning some for daily life. German-language programs are listed on its German site, hs-fresenius.de. English-language applicants must show proof at level B2, for example a TOEFL iBT score of at least 70 or an IELTS score of at least 6.0. German-language programs also require B2 German from applicants who are not native speakers or who did not attend school in a German-speaking country.
The age range is the one detail the university does not set. Its admission pages contain no minimum or maximum age. Entry depends on qualifications, meaning a school-leaving certificate for bachelor’s programs and a first degree for master’s programs. The mission statement says the university wants people to be able to fulfil their potential regardless of age. Because it enrolls degree students only, this is a university-level intake and not a school with a fixed age band.
Admission to a bachelor’s program requires a German-recognized university entrance qualification. Accepted routes include the Abitur, a recognized international school-leaving certificate, the Feststellungsprüfung, the Fachhochschulreife and certain vocational qualifications. International applicants who qualify for university at home but not in Germany can take the Fresenius entrance examination. It is free and has a 120-minute written online test and a 30-minute oral test. Applicants who hold satisfactory TestAS, SAT, ACT, ITB or Gaokao scores may be exempt. Master’s programs each set their own criteria. The International Business Management master’s asks for a bachelor’s degree of at least 180 credit points, including 60 in business or economics. Applicants still finishing a bachelor’s degree may apply once they have completed about 80 percent of it. Full requirements sit on the university’s admission requirements page at end of the article.
Fees are where the university’s own pages disagree. Its FAQ puts tuition for English-language programs at about 800 to 1,250 euros a month. Its finances page gives 750 to 900 euros a month and, for annual planning, about 11,400 euros for a bachelor’s and 12,240 euros for a master’s, plus roughly 500 euros in semester contributions. A third-party listing shows 950 euros a month, or 5,700 euros a semester, for the International Business Management bachelor’s, with an added 70 euros a month for non-EU applicants. These numbers are indicative and the exact fee depends on program, location and study form, so applicants should ask a study advisor for a written figure. Other costs include a 595 euro registration fee due at the start of the semester and the mandatory semester contribution, which usually covers a public transport ticket. Non-EU applicants pay a 3,000 euro security deposit. The university says it is credited against tuition and is not an extra charge. Nothing here is financial advice, and applicants should check current figures directly.
Living costs add to the total. The FAQ estimates 934 euros a month, or 11,208 euros a year, for a visa financial proof. The finances page gives 992 euros a month, or 11,904 euros a year. Since the two pages differ, applicants should confirm the required amount with the German embassy or consulate handling their visa. A German student visa application costs 75 euros. The university owns no student housing but helps with searches. It also says it does not currently offer its own scholarships to international students. It points applicants to the DAAD scholarship database and to the government-backed Deutschlandstipendium, which does not require German citizenship.
The application process is open all year with no deadlines and no application fee. The university aims to respond within two days of receiving all documents. A study place is held for four weeks after the admission interview. Enrollment happens in March or September, and non-EU students should apply early because visa processing can take months.
Campus and size details vary by source. The official campus list covers Berlin, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Heidelberg, Idstein, Munich and Wiesbaden, plus a virtual campus. The university’s history page also records a study center opened in New York in 2016. Student totals differ between directories, from about 11,700 to 18,000. The university says roughly 1,000 of its students are international, and at least half of the students in its English-language master’s programs are international.
Key information at a glance:
- Type: private, state-recognized university of applied sciences, founded 1848
- Headquarters: Idstein, Hesse, Germany
- Qualifications: bachelor’s degrees (B.A., B.Sc., B.Eng.) and master’s degrees (M.Sc., M.A., M.Eng., MBA)
- Language of instruction: English on the international site, German on the German site; B2 proof required
- Age range: none stated; entry depends on qualifications
- Tuition: about 750 to 1,250 euros a month for English-language programs, depending on the university page and the program
- Extra costs: 595 euro registration fee, semester contribution, 3,000 euro deposit for non-EU applicants
- Intakes: March and September, with applications open all year
- Group size: up to 42 (bachelor’s) and 20 (master’s)
Some figures found during research could not be verified against the university’s own pages, so they are left out. Those include third-party employment rates and ranking claims. Prospective students should treat program-level fees, course length and campus availability as items to confirm with a study advisor before signing a contract.
