ERASMUS Code: D BERLIN32
In 2013, the IPU Berlin was granted the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education (ECHE) and has participated in the EU program for general and professional education Erasmus+ ever since. The ECHE is the general framework for the quality of European and international cooperation among higher education institutions. Thereby, the IPU Berlin commits itself to comply with the European principles on international mobility of students and university staff. The individual elements are embedded in the internationalization strategy (IntS) and the European Policy Statement (EPS) (in German) of the IPU Berlin.
a) Policy
Since its foundation in 2009, the IPU Berlin sees itself as a new type of Bologna University, actively implementing the political goals of the European Higher Education Agenda, Erasmus+, and the new Erasmus Program 2021-2027. This intention is implemented via the modular enrollment and recognition system, the compliance with the general ECTS principle, the transparent use of transferable and recognizible credit points as well as the issuance of Learning Agreements before mobilities and Transcripts of Records and Diploma Supplements awarded afterwards.
Mobility measures are only implemented within the framework of pre-established inter-insitutional agreements. These define the respective roles and responsibilities of each party, their obligations, and the language requirements for the exchange. In this way, common quality criteria are applied in the preparation, reception, and integration of mobile students.
The organization and implementation of all international collaboration projects at the IPU is based on the principles of transparency, equality, efficiency, focus on success, evaluation of the results, inclusion, and sustainability for all groups involved in the educational process. IPU Berlin and its personnel oppose all discrimination, for example, on the basis of ethnic background, social situation, religion, gender, sexual preference, or age. Persons with special needs are actively supported a the IPU. The participation in civil society of all will be particularly ensured through the promotion of social competencies and reflections on conscious/unconscious prejudices. The IPU will continue and deepen its longstanding reflection on obstacles of unconscious communication in international teaching and research projects.
Because of its international orientation and presence, the IPU understands itself as an ambassador for a sustainable economic system, a democratic future, and an open society in the field of international university education.
b) Concept
In its principal understanding, the IPU Berlin is concerned with intrapsychic, social, and cultural contexts. This implies subject-oriented, interactive, and international research and teaching, which, along with conscious determinants, also consider unconscious determinants of human behavior, especially in the context of groups, organizations, and whole societies. Psychoanalysis, along with other scientific currents, is an important reference for this. The result is a reflexive teaching and research methodology aimed at promoting young researchers in a professional practice that is increasingly concerned with international issues and requires a scientific basis for the development of research.
Teaching and research at the IPU have an international orientation and predominantly deal with topics of psychology and psychoanalysis. They claim an interdisciplinary dialogue in cooperation with related disciplines such as sociology, political science, philosophy, cultural sciences, or neurosciences. The application and further development of intercultural and transcultural approaches contribute to broaden the knowledge in various psychological subdisciplines and in psychoanalysis as an applied social science and cultural theory.
c) Areas of work
The abovementioned principles are reflected in research, teaching, and scientific exchange at the IPU. The following points will outline the areas of work which is particularly important for the IPU’s internationalization strategy. Some are already established and elaborated, others are new and still have to be implemented:
Interdisciplinary conflict and peace research focuses on social conflict dynamics, collective and individual experiences, consequences of violence, and possibilities of psychosocial conflict management. The regional focus is on the Balkans and the Near and Middle East. International cooperation in social science research, psychosocial intervention, and policy advice is fundamental to this, for example with the International Dialogue Initiative (IDI).
Psychoanalytic sexuality and gender research take on questions of masculinity, femininity, trans- and intersexuality, as well as changes in sexuality (e.g. in the areas of heterosexuality, homosexuality, paraphilias, pornography) in transdisciplinary, international research contexts.
d) Partner Selection
d.a) fundamental criteria
d.b) specific criteria
f) Regions
The IPU selects its regional focal points according to the importance of the respective region for the development of its academic excellence, particularly in the psychoanalytic/psychodynamic field or with a focus on the integration of socio-theoretical and psychological issues and according to the requirements of practical cooperation, e.g. in the context of Capacity Building cooperation.
a) Primary Goals of the IPU Berlin
b) Internationalization of Studying & Teaching
c) Internationalization of Research
d) Structural Anchoring of Internationalization
a) Implemented Measures
The International Office (IO) of the IPU Berlin was established in July 2012, three years after the university was founded. Over the past decade and counting, the IO has successfully organized more than 1,500 grants and mobility exchanges within the framework of international cooperation projects. Moreover, the IO has successfully applied for and implemented a large number of different funding programs. Since 2014, the IPU has been participating in the Erasmus+ program to promote mobility for all university employees, initially within the funding program of “KA103” and since 2015 within “KA107” as well. During the previous years, an extensive network of Erasmus+ partner universities has been established. 18 of the partner universities belong to the so called “program countries”, while the remaining 5 are known as “partner countries”. In 2019, our first cooperation with an Argentinian university was established. Further collaborations with universities in Colombia and Chile have also been established.
The IPU hast participated in the DAAD funded program PROMOS since 2013. This program supports internships and study trips to countries outside of Europe. In 2014, the STIBET program was introduced to support socially engaged international IPU students.
Another focal point for the IO is the establishment and continuous expansion of an international network on the subject of “social trauma”, containing a regional focus on the Balkan states. With financial support from the DAAD, annual projects have been implemented by the ten member universities of the framework since 2014. Alongside eight international Summer/Dialogue Schools, with more than 500 participants in total, several publications with contributions from international high-profile researchers have been produced.
In addition to this, the IPU has actively been supporting students and researchers with refugee status for several years and is a member of the international network Scholars at Risk. The IPU helped establish the German section of this network and has already submitted two successful applications for persecuted scientists within the Phillip Schwartz Initiative. Since 2016, the IPU participates in the DAAD program “Welcome” and thus actively supports the student initiative “Students helping Refugees (StuFen)”; an initiative promoting university integration for people possessing a refugee background.
Since its establishment in 2009, the IPU has been a member of the International Colloquium of Doctoral Students for Psychoanalytic Research, in association with German and Austrian universities.
b) Planned Measures
The following descriptions correspond to the status of the discussions as of May 2020. The implementation of individual measures may require the approval of the Supervisory Board of IPU Berlin gGmbH.
b.a) Internationalization of Studying & Teaching
b.a.a) short-term (until 2023)
b.a.b) intermediate (until 2025)
b.a.c) long-term (until 2027)
b.b) Internationalization of Research
b.b.a) short-term (until 2023)
b.b.b) intermediate (until 2025)
b.b.c) long-term (until 2027)
b.c) Structural Anchoring
b.c.a) short-term (until 2023)
b.c.b) intermediate (until 2025)
b.c.c) long-term (until 2027)
The IPU Berlin has been awarded with the European Union's Erasmus Charter for Higher Education (ECHE) 2021-2027.
The IPU Berlin's ECHE 2021-2027 can be found here:
The Erasmus Charter for Higher Education (ECHE) provides the general quality framework for cooperation activities of higher education institutions at both the European and the international level under the Erasmus+ program. All higher education institutions applying for funding under Erasmus+ must hold a current ECHE.
The IPU Berlin's current European Policy Statement (EPS) can be found here (in German):
The IPU Berlin's statement for the implemenation of the basic principles of the Erasmus program can be found here: