The Bielefeld Romance Studies department is characterised by close integration of the disciplines of Literary Studies, Linguistics and History. Another important focus of the subject-related and methodological training is the area of cultural and media studies which form an independent pillar equivalent to the "traditional" disciplines of Literature and Linguistics. The range of courses offered and the course polyvalence make individual course planning highly flexible and interdisciplinary.

The degree course includes a stay abroad of at least three months in the core subject; There are long-standing partnerships with universities in French- and Spanish-speaking countries (Lyon, Marseille, Le Mans, Neuchâtel, Madrid, Alicante, Malaga, Santiago); one focus is on structured cooperation programmes (DAAD-funded ISAP programmes) and cooperation projects with various universities in Latin America (Guadalajara, La Plata, Buenos Aires, Ciudad de México).

The faculty is involved in several interdisciplinary projects funded by third-parties and research centres and cooperates with the History, Sociology, English Studies and InterAmerican Studies departments. Ongoing: SFB 1288 "Practices of comparison"; CIAS (Center for Interamerican Studies), CALAS (Maria Sybila Merian Center for Advanced Latin American Studies), BMBF project ‘The Americas as Space of Entanglements’ (until 2019), DFG Network on ‘Dynamics of the play of language: Linguistic contact, linguistic innovation, speaker-listener interaction’ (until 2018).