A relatively high percentage of practical components that deal with current subject-specific topics allows for an optimal preparation for future careers. Practical work is often done in team-based small groups within a project setting. The programme is offered jointly by the departments of Computer Science and Business, with topics specific to the fields being taught by experts. A larger number and wide range of compulsory electives allows for individual study design.

Some courses are offered in English and are also open to international visiting students. The HAW Hamburg allows for semesters at cooperating universities in Europe and abroad and supports students in the planning of practical semesters abroad. There are extensive personal advisory services in this regard. Some courses involve direct cooperation with international universities, e.g. on the subject of entrepreneurship (Napier, UK) or architecture (Stockholm, SE).

Universitá Ca´ Foscari Venezia, Italien; Universite de Lorraine, Frankreich; Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, Portugal; Information Systems Management Institute, Lettland; Avans University of Applied Sciences, Niederlande; Turku University of Applied Sciences, Finnland; Virginia Tech, USA; California State University, USA; University of Sidney, Australien; Shanghai Institute of Technology, China.

All the equipment is state of the art. Students have access to a SAP system, for example. Various specific laboratories/installations provide realistic working conditions, like the ones encountered in real life. Thus, the Business Innovation Lab realises IT-based production and logistics processes. At the HAW laboratory for application integration, students work with software system landscapes that interconnect numerous corporate software systems.

Even Bachelor’s students come into regular contact with various research projects. The Creative Space at the Department of Computer Science provides space for independent experiments and discourse with other researchers and scholars. Business Informatics projects involve cooperation with companies. Many research projects are interdisciplinary in nature, e.g. on renewable energy sources in cooperation with the university-wide Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Competence Centre.

The university’s incubator centre offers prospective entrepreneurs comprehensive qualifications in specific workshops, individual advice and premises for the pre-seed phase. In as separate compulsory elective on entrepreneurship, students learn to develop their own business ideas. This is supplemented by a lecture series that is organised in close interaction between practitioners and professors.

Our teaching is based on the concept of skills orientation. As such, students acquire skills that they will need in their future jobs. Professors reflect a balanced age structure, which combines experience with perspectives for latest technology and concepts. The programme is well integrated into the IT industry of Hamburg. Proximity to other departments allows for work in interdisciplinary projects, such as the HAWKS Racing Team, where students design racing cars that then enter international competitions.