Strong inter-disciplinary character through the cooperation of teachers in the research centres "Zentrum für medizinische Biotechnologie" (Centre for Medical Biotechnology) and "Zentrum für Wasser- und Umweltforschung" (Centre for Water and Environmental Research). Many (Master's) degree courses are directly organised in cooperation with other faculties. This includes the Faculties of Medicine, Chemistry and Engineering. Dual degree courses are designed in cooperation with other universities (Ruhr Universität Bochum, Radboud University in Nijmegen,). Many newly appointed professors in the last 5 years; courses were developed for the Bachelor/Master system, there were no diploma predecessors.

The faculty offers 2 degree courses completely in English, the Master's degree course, Transnational Ecosystem-Based Water Management is a joint programme with the Radboud University in Nijmegen in the Netherlands. There are mobility windows available in all Master's courses. There are special mentoring services available to foreign students.

Two proposals for DFG Collaborative Research Centres (SFB) in the two main research areas of Medical Biology and Water and Environmental Research are currently in the final review phase. In the field of aquatic research, the world's largest collection of living microalgae was established in 2020: CCAC (Central Collection of Algae Cultures) , which together with the BiofilmCentre of the Faculty of Chemistry (UDE) further strengthens the expertise of the University of Duisburg-Essen in the field of microbial water research.

All students in the department are provided computing resources via virtual machines independent of location, time, and their own hardware/software. This allows students to use faculty software and data via VMs at any time without additional effort or coates. The access software is available free of charge for all platforms (Windows, MacOS, IOS, Linux, Android). If you do not have your own hardware, client systems can be borrowed free of charge (also for longer periods).