Type | Private |
---|---|
Established | 1999 |
Dean | Catherine Toal |
Director | Florian Becker |
Academic staff
|
approx. 50 |
Students | approx. 200 |
Location | Berlin, Germany |
Campus | Niederschönhausen |
Website | www.berlin.bard.edu |
Bard College Berlin (formerly known as ECLA or European College of Liberal Arts) is a private, non-profit institution of higher education in Berlin, Germany. It was founded as a non-profit association in 1999. The college is, according to Martha Nussbaum, one of the educational institutions in Europe that makes the liberal arts idea into reality. Students and faculty come from all over the world and the language of instruction is English. Qualifying students earn both an American B.A. and a German B.A.
Bard College Berlin was founded as ECLA (a non-profit association) in 1999 under the leadership of Stephan Gutzeit. The founding dean was Erika Anita Kiss. The first program to be introduced was the six-week International Summer University. Later two one-year programs were developed and still continue to be offered: the Academy Year and the Project Year. A four-year Bachelor of Arts program in Humanities, the Arts, and Social Thought was launched in October 2009. In November 2011, ECLA merged with Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, USA, and subsequently became Bard College Berlin, A Liberal Arts University. A four-year BA program in Economics, Politics, and Social Thought was introduced in 2014.
At Bard College Berlin students may enroll in a BA degree, or in a one-semester or one-year program suitable to their profile, background, and individual aims of study. The college supports internship opportunities and practical training, and has many established connections with the intellectual and cultural life of Berlin. The academic programs currently offered are Bachelor of Arts in Humanities, the Arts, and Social Thought; Bachelor of Arts in Economics, Politics, and Social Thought; Academy Year; Project Year; Arts and Society in Berlin; LAB Berlin; and Begin in Berlin. Every summer the following programs are offered: Summer Theater Intensive, Summer Language Intensive, and Berlin Summer Studio.
In 2016, the Program for International Education and Social Change was introduced, which enables students from areas that are experiencing severe economic, social, and political crisis to access the liberal arts education offered by Bard College Berlin. The program continues a long tradition of Bard College.
Bard College Berlin provides an immersion in intellectual history from ancient Greece to the present day, with rigorous concentration on philosophy, economics, politics, literature, art history, film, and theater and studio arts. The total number of ECTS credits earned is 240. Study of the German language is offered and encouraged.