A Study Program With the Human Uniquely at Its Center
With the commencement of lectures at IPU in 2009, a gap was closed that had arisen in the one-sided natural sciences approach of academic psychology. The study courses at the IPU convey psychoanalysis as an equal science, mapping the human as a biological, social, and culturally imprinted being, and seeking to understand the individual against the background of their history and the influence of their unconscious. All of the study courses at the IPU are research-oriented and provide close contact with clinical and pedagogical practice from the first semester.
We see IPU Berlin as a vibrant place of thought, feeling, and research. We cultivate and nurture an academic culture in which diversity is valued as a resource and scientific dialogue can flourish across disciplinary borders.
Focus on the Whole Person
Our teaching and research are based on a critical and reflective understanding of science, situated at the intersection of social, cultural, and natural sciences, as well as clinical and non-clinical human sciences. We combine theory and practice with the aim of understanding the human being in all its conscious and unconscious facets. We always view the individual in the context of their history. In this way, we contribute to the development of each individual and to a reflective, responsible society.
Theory and Practice in Dialogue with the World
Thanks to many years of practical experience, our instructors and researchers promote excellent learning conditions and provide early insights into various professional fields and the relevant competencies. Through regional and international cooperation with educational, health, and research institutions, as well as with institutional actors from politics, culture, and business, we create an open, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary exchange.
Diverse Approaches, One Campus
Our students come from all over the world and bring with them a broad range of prior qualifications, including vocational training and academic degrees. On our campus, where different perspectives converge, they work together with dedicated faculty, researchers, and administrative staff to create a flourishing space for work and learning for everyone at IPU.
Anchors of Academic Psychoanalysis
As a private non-profit university, we are aware of the conflict between economic realities and our idealistic-humanistic educational mission. We actively translate this into a lived, everyday culture that is oriented towards diverse and critical engagement with the present. In so doing, we aim to fulfill our founding mission—to preserve, develop, and sustainably renew psychoanalysis, alongside behaviorist and interpersonal approaches, in its clinical and social science dimensions.
The IPU was awarded its institutional accreditation by the German Council of Science and Humanities, the Wissenschaftsrat, effective as of 27 November 2014, and was successfully re-accredited in 2020 and 2025. As part of the most recent reaccredication, IPU Berlin was also granted the right to award doctorate degrees.