Welcome to all freshmen
The start of your studies
As a first semester student we would like to welcome you to the Department of History of the Ruhr-University Bochum! During the first weeks you will have numerous opportunities to inform yourself and ask questions. At the beginning you have to attend one of two obligatory information events for freshmen. You can find the dates on the facebook page of the Historical Institute. In the following days, individual student counselling will be given by lecturers of the Department. The dates for this counselling will be allocated immediately after the central information event. You should also be able to submit your first self-made timetable for the individual consultation. Information on the technical preparation of the timetable can be obtained at the eCampus information events directly after the obligatory information events and - if desired - from members of the Student's Union. You will find all the official documents relevant for you on this homepage of the Department in the section "download". Under the section "Teaching and Studying" you will also find information on our complete range of advisory services, study exchange and much more.
If you want to transfer from another university to the Department of History, please refer to the information sheet on the recognition of academic achievements from other universities.
The IPS
The first year of study is essentially devoted to learning the basics of historical research and reflection: What questions determine historical work? How to deal with sources? How is research literature on a particular topic first found and then scrutinised? In addition to learning these working techniques, great importance is attached to presenting the results of historical work in various forms (e.g. in oral presentations, theses, written papers).
Integrated Proseminars (IPS) serve as an introduction to historical work. In order that these seminars, which are as fundamental as they are time-consuming, can be successfully completed by as many participants as possible, they are regularly combined with an IPS tutorial, which is led by advanced students. The tutorial is designed to accompany the seminars and to provide the opportunity to ask questions and to practice working techniques. In the first year of study, the IPS and the tutorial take up six hours per week. In addition, there is a two-day excursion.
Example of a course calendar of an IPS
