It has boasted such luminaries as philosophy professor Friedrich Hegel and students Heinrich Heine, Friedrich Engels, and Karl Marx. More than 20,000 students, including 700 from foreign countries, study at the historic university with a faculty of more than 1,000. The university is located near the city's beautiful parks and lakes and is also close to the neighborhood where the new government will be housed. It is perfectly situated for exploring both Berlins. Students may participate in several optional field trips to sites in Germany and eastern Europe.
Students receive intensive German language instruction during the first three weeks of the program.
Students then enroll for the remainder of the semester in courses at Humboldt University and in supplemental IES courses. All courses are taught in German by native German faculty. Courses are available in such disciplines as art history, business, classics, economics, German, geology, history, international relations, philosophy, political science, psychology, religion, and sociology. Students are housed in private German homes or apartments. Students must have completed four semesters of college-level German or the equivalent for the fall program and five semesters for the spring program.