We are delighted to welcome you most cordially to the Hochschule Niederrhein, University of Applied Sciences. I am very pleased indeed to see that many of you have consulted the English pages on our website to find out more about what the HN, as we call our university in short, has to offer you.

Do you know what the underlying idea for the creation of Germany's Fachhochschulen (Universities of Applied Sciences) was? Well, you cannot only study there, but you can also simultaneously and very directly acquire the education and training specifically needed to enable you to embark on your chosen career path. This is why Fachhochschulen offer application-oriented studies coupled with professional qualification. The degree programmes aim to build a bridge extending from a sound academic education and continuing through to disciplinary specialisation and advanced training. It is not science for its own stake that is important to us; rather, it is applied science to which we attach importance, as the name says: A University of Applied Sciences.

We are the No. 1 in our region: The University for the Niederrhein. We have been providing regional companies, businesses and enterprises with "precision engineered" specialists and executives for over 150 years. Our aim is to collaborate closely with business and industry in many different ways, thereby also delivering crucial impetus and momentum for the dynamic research activities in which our professors engage. For, we highlight the significance of innovative research. This approach above all benefits our students. There is probably no better way to prepare for a demanding and high-quality career life than that of having spent a several years working on and dealing with applied research projects. That's the philosophy we pursue.

You, as students, get to benefit even more from our excellently geared and ideally interlinked collaboration with business and industry and the further advantages which this brings with it. Our professors, your teachers, are men and women who are not only familiar with science and academia, but also have extensive professional experience and practice. Before being appointed to a professorship at the Hochschule Niederrhein, they will often have spent many years working in companies of all kinds. They know the ins and outs of the profession they are training you for from personal experience. They know what makes entrepreneurs tick, what their concerns and needs are, and, above all, what kind of academic background the skilled staff of the future will need to have when working in industry. Many will also have gained years of experience abroad and are now able to pass on this knowledge to their students in order to extend horizons and open up new prospects and perspectives.

The Hochschule Niederrhein is as bright and colourful as the region from which it comes. The diversity of industries operating in the region is reflected in the ten faculties of the Hochschule Niederrhein: the Faculties of Chemistry, Design, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Mechanical and Process Engineering, Industrial Engineering, and Health Care in Krefeld, and the Faculties of Food, Nutrition and Hospitality Sciences, Applied Social Sciences, Textile and Clothing Technology, Business Administration and Economics in Mönchengladbach. In the year 2013/14 the Hochschule Niederrhein will offer a total of 51 Bachelor's and 24 Master's programmes.

The Lower Rhine itself is full of variety and diversity, too. Krefeld and Mönchengladbach both count around 250,000 inhabitants and offer a wealth of opportunities and plenty of choices for young people. As far as those interested in culture, partying or going out are concerned, the Niederrhein always has something on, while those who still find it too small can easily reach one of the urban centres of Cologne, Düsseldorf or Essen by car in just around an hour. Nature lovers, too, can be sure to find places of interest when travelling through the Lower Rhine: In fact, many claim that the Lower Rhine between Mönchengladbach, Krefeld and the border with the Netherlands is home to the true Lower Rhine. Out in the open air, you can go on long, extensive walks or hiking, wandering past windmills and numerous moated castles to enjoy the beauty of the natural landscape here.

Dear students, please come and find out what our university has to offer. You will be astonished by how much choice we can give you. If you have any further questions, simply contact us.

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