Introductory courses in subject areas of art history (from late antiquity to the present) and in specialist terminology and methodological history of the subject – in some cases also e-learning based.; Targeted support in practising core skills of scientific work through tutorials; Acquisition of writing/reading skills and presentation forms in topic-specific reading courses, including intensive description and analysis of works of art on site; A wide variety of learning and teaching formats ranging from practice-oriented to research-based.

Deepening of specialised art-historical expertise and critically reflected methodological work; Development of systematic questions on the history of the subject, on specialist terminologies, categories and theories in their disciplinary and interdisciplinary genesis; Application of the acquired skills in practice-oriented and/or project-related as well as research-based seminars and exercises before originals, followed by individual profile development.

Cooperation with partner universities in Bilbao, Cork, Istanbul, Liège, Lodz, Malmö, Rotterdam and Zagreb (UNIC network) to build up a network of university collections: The international network "21 Plateaus: Network of UNIC University Collections" provides for exchanges within joint seminars in the Erasmus Blended Intensive Programme as well as mutual visits with students and collaborations in exhibition practice. Student mobility within the network is supported by the conclusion of Erasmus contracts with the UNIC partner universities.

GPT@RUB; Free cloud (Sciebo); Licensed databases (selection): ARTbibliographies Modern, Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon – Internationale Künstlererdatenbank (general encyclopaedia of artists – international artists database), Art Sales Catalogues Online, Art Theorists of the Italian Renaissance, Artists of the World, BKunst, Bloomsbury Collections, Brill E-Books, De Gruyter Online/eBooks, Early American Imprints, International Bibliography of Art (IBA), Lexikon der christlichen Ikonographie (encyclopaedia of Christian iconography), Lexikon des Mittelalters (encyclopaedia of the Middle Ages), Periodicals Archive Online, Peter Lang/e-books, prometheus: Das verteilte digitale Bildarchiv für Forschung und Lehre e.V. (distributed digital image archive for research and teaching)

Research focuses: Medieval research, pre-modern image cultures, gender/cultural history, new media, art historiography/criticism, architectures as social spaces. Participation: Faculty "Work Matters", UNIC ("21 plateaus" European University Collections), Collaborative Research Centre "Virtual Living Worlds", Marie Jahoda Centre for International Gender Studies, Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, German Research Foundation (DFG) Research Training Group "Knowledge – Belief – Assertion".; "Civic Digitization" with the College for Social Sciences and Humanities of the University Alliance Ruhr; Inventory of architecture 1960-80 with the city of Bochum.

Central Anti-Discrimination Office and local Diversity Officers (faculties); Annual meeting to provide information about facilities, services and student initiatives to promote diversity and protect against discrimination and to identify needs. The institute strives to maintain family-friendly teaching hours; Compensation for disadvantages and barrier-free exam formats; Barrier-free teaching rooms; All-gender toilets; Students can participate in the project "Education for Sustainable Development in Studies and Teaching (ESD)" and acquire CPs or Sustainability certificates.