Boost Your Skills

The languages you can learn at Ruhr University Bochum are just as diverse as the flair on our campus is international. These resources are bundled in the University Language Centre (Zentrum für Fremdsprachenausbildung, ZFA).

The center offers a wide variety of courses, including introductory ones. The languages taught range from Arabic to Turkish. The courses do not form part of modularized degree programs and all members of the university may attend.

The University Language Centre offers general and specialized language courses which concentrate in particular on inter-cultural communication in academic surroundings. Tandem courses and tandem communication with individual language-learning counseling also enable the language resources of Ruhr University Bochum to be used for learning with and from each other on a partnership basis.

• University Language Centre (ZFA)
• Language Learning in Tandem

The Centre for Economic Education (Zentrum für ökonomische Bildung, ZföB) is a service facility of the faculty of Economics, which combines under one roof and coordinates all economics courses for students from other RUB faculties. The ZföB advises students on courses available and organizes relevant exams. As part of the "Gründercampus Ruhr", a joint project of local academic institutions and businesses, the Centre for Economic Education organizes events on starting up new businesses. In addition, the ZföB advises on, arranges, and supervises internships specifically for double-major undergraduate students from any faculty.

• Centre for Economic Education

It is not only lawyers who are forced to tackle legal problems in their professional lives: Engineers, business economists, natural scientists, physicians, psychologists, social scientists and journalists are likewise confronted with a wide range of legal issues in their professional practice, most of which can’t be explored in full in their respective degree courses.

The Faculty of Law has set up a qualification center that offers “Schlüsselqualifikation Recht” (“Key Qualifications in Law”) courses to meet the educational needs of students majoring in non-law degree programs. Lecturers from the Faculty of Law regularly offer introductory courses on the basics of public law (including European law), civil and criminal law and the law governing administrative offenses.

• Center for Legal Qualifications (link leads to a German-language website)

The interdepartmental Center for Research Methods (Methodenzentrum) for the Humanities and Social Sciences is a central contact point for all students at RUB who pursue empirical research projects.

The center provides access to qualitative and quantitative methods of social research and supports the application and implementation of social science research methods through its own courses, individual consulting, e-learning formats and other resources. The focus is on data collection and analysis methods as well as software training. Interdisciplinary platforms and the student research workshop link the faculties. The Center for Research Methods is part of the inSTUDIES project.

• Center for Research Methods

The Soft Skills Centre (Optionalbereich) is unique to Ruhr University Bochum. It specifically supports students in acquiring additional and key professional qualifications as well as communication skills that facilitate their later entry into the labor market. It thus complements the academic studies of the degree programs.

Optional modules also offer students the opportunity to pursue interdisciplinary research, to explore research-related issues in greater depth and, consequently, to acquire insights into areas beyond their chosen subjects.

• Optionalbereich: Elective Courses for Bachelor Students (links leads to a German-language website)

With the American elite universities as a role model in mind, the writing center aims at offering students at Ruhr University Bochum qualified training in academic essay writing. Because no one is born with this skill, you can and must learn how to do it.

The services offered by the writing center are available to all faculties. They address students who want to expand their writing competence and optimize their writing strategies; researchers who want to become more professional in terms of their writing strategies; and teachers who pursue continuing education in the guiding and supervision of essay-writing.

• Writing center (link leads to a German-language website)

The Professional School of Education (PSE) offers interdisciplinary advice on teacher training and the professional field of teaching. The PSE's counseling services address (prospective) students, trainee teachers, teachers and doctoral candidates.

In addition to the didactic, educational science and practical school training components of the teacher training program at Ruhr University Bochum, the PSE offers various projects for further profile building in the course of study, for example through offers on digitalization or inclusion.

• Professional School of Education (link leads to a German-language website)

The Service Center Mathematics and Applications (Servicezentrum Mathematik und Anwendungen, SZMA) bundles all activities related to mathematics courses for other faculties. This includes the development and implementation of mathematics lectures and exercises as well as the assurance and training of the teaching personnel to further improve the quality of teaching.

Furthermore, the service center offers counseling in the field of statistics and mathematical software for students, scientists and external interested persons.

• Service Center Mathematics and Applications

The Centre for Teaching and Learning (Zentrum für Wissenschaftsdidaktik, ZfW) supports students at Ruhr University Bochum in all matters relating to e-learning and the use of digital tools in their studies.

The eTeam Digitalization in the eLearning section of the Centre for Teaching and Learning helps and advises students with questions about the online platform Moodle, digital tools, helpful apps for studying, gives tips on Zoom and collaborative boards for working together, and offers a varied range of free workshops every semester.

• Centre for Teaching and Learning

Project planning, management and marketing are often topics that students have little contact with during their studies. Yet practical business skills are enormously helpful when starting a career - regardless of the subject and degree. This is where the "Crashkurs Wirtschaft" (Crash course in business) of the Career Service comes in.

With individually selectable modules, the crash course lays the foundations for a confident appearance on the job market. The completion of the whole crash course is certified by Ruhr University Bochum and the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (Industrie- und Handelskammer, IHK).

• Crashkurs Wirtschaft, Crash course in business (link leads to a German-language website)