Profile

Shaping a sustainable future - together, holistically, decisively

We see ourselves as pioneers and drivers of change, and we view sustainable development as a process that requires effective tools, committed, well-prepared people, and the ability to identify partners who can help set change in motion.

HNEE made a clear commitment to sustainability with its renaming in 2010. Since its re-founding in 1992, our sustainability-focused → mission statement has provided a foundation for collaborative action in teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and the development of → our culture of sustainability at HNEE.

We are an → international university committed to shared European values, including academic freedom, equality, and respect for human dignity, regardless of origin, religion, social status, gender, or sexual orientation. We value the diversity of our students and staff. The → Network for Diversity and Equal Opportunities actively promotes respectful interactions throughout university life.

Motivated staff are essential to the success of a university. For this reason, HNEE supports the balance between family life and career, as well as family life and study. Students and staff can access a range of support services, including health and wellbeing programmes. Our → health management programme aims to promote both physical and mental wellbeing for all members of the HNEE community.

Study and teaching

Learning and teaching across our degree programmes

Across a wide range of forward-looking degree programmes in nature conservation, forestry, organic agriculture, sustainable business, timber engineering, sustainable tourism management and climate-change adaptation, our students learn in small groups and within a genuinely supportive learning environment. A diverse mix of teaching approaches and strong practical engagement throughout the degree provide excellent foundations for completing studies on time and for making a confident start to a professional career. Our academic staff place particular importance on developing students’ methodological skills, creative problem-solving capabilities and a strong, sustainability-focused professional identity.

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Lernen an der HNEE mit hohem Praxisbezug und in kleinen Gruppen

Research

Applied inter- and transdisciplinary research

HNEE develops robust, model-based solutions across a wide range of academic disciplines, working in close collaboration with practitioners to ensure that these solutions can be implemented in real-world settings. More than 100 ongoing research projects address pressing sustainability challenges — and HNEE ranks among Germany’s leading universities of applied sciences in research performance. Through our living labs, we work hand in hand with industry, community and cooperation partners to co-create future-ready solutions.

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International

Regionally grounded - globally connected

Internationalisation is a university-wide commitment at HNEE and an essential element of our approach to sustainability. We continue to build on our pioneering role in the sector and aim to set new value-orientated standards internationally. In line with a Whole Institution Approach, we work to consolidate and strengthen the knowledge and capabilities needed for sustainable development. HNEE currently collaborates with more than 85 active partner institutions in 39 countries, supporting international exchange and cooperation for students and staff across research, teaching and knowledge transfer. At present, international students make up around 12 per cent of our student community.

Das Welcome-Programm bringt internationale Studierende mit Studierenden der HNEE zusammen, um die Integration und den interkulturellen Austausch zu fördern.

Strategy papers and concepts

The documents on the strategic orientation of HNEE and the state of Brandenburg are available for download.

Strategy papers of the HNEE

Strategy papers of the state of Brandenburg

University management

The university management consists of the president, two vice presidents, a student vice president and the chancellor, who heads the central administration. The HNEE staff units are directly subordinate to the President or the Chancellor.

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Locations

Find out more about our three university locations - City Campus, Forest Campus and Forest Botanical Garden.

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Biosphere Reserves Institute (BRI)

Since 2020, the BRI has been offering the first English-language → Master's programme on biosphere reserves worldwide as well as a → graduate college. Since 2024, the BRI has been a Category 2 institute under the auspices of UNESCO.

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