The University and the Town Oldenburg 

The University

The Carl von Ossietzky University started lectures in 1973. Today about 12,000 students are matriculated, little less than 30 % of them in natural sciences or mathematics. These departments are housed in a separate complex of buildings which has been awarded several prizes owing to its appealing architecture. The other buildings of the university (including the dining hall, sports facilities etc.) are within walking distance (15 minutes).

The dining hall in the main building certainly ranges among the best ones all over Germany; it is not without good reason that it has won many awards. There are two different complete meals (one vegetarian) daily as well as a buffet, where an individual meal can be composed from various components. A complete meal costs around 1,80 - 2,00 Euro. Care is taken that as many ingredients as possible are purchased from organic farms.

Students interested in sports are offered many possibilities: indoor pool, sauna, tennis courts (in summer), and body-building hall may be used; numerous courses are offered teaching taekwondo, juggling, dancing, archery, free climbing and many other things or simply how to keep fit – everything either free of charge or at a minor fee.

The students themselves arrange for a manifold cultural life comprising a cinema programme, a cabaret, and satirical revues. Last not least there are the concerts of the university orchestra and great festivities such as the library ball.

For further information please refer to the internet pages of the Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg.

Housing Market

The situation of the housing market in Oldenburg is comparatively easy. The student welfare organization manages about 2,000 modern student apartments (all of them with internet connection at a rent of about 150 Euro per month; waiting period maximally 3 months). Most of the lodging houses are situated quite favourably between the city and the university. Also the private housing market offers plenty of flats at reasonable prices.

The Town Oldenburg   

Oldenburg is the former seat of a court and has about 155,000 inhabitants. The fact that it is considered a "young" town is not least explained by the relatively large number of students. Oldenburg is a green town owing to its many parks and countless front gardens: The vast majority of people live in one- or two-family houses in Oldenburg.

The city of Oldenburg has been pedestrianized for the most part. There are numerous pubs, discotheques, and pavement cafés, which impart a nearly Mediterranean flair to some streets and places on a warm summer’s day.

There are lively cultural activities, either established or alternative ones. Besides the great productions of the state theatre and the shows performed in the "Weser-Ems Halle" there are a remarkable number of further events. Music of any kind, cabarets, revues, and readings among others are offered by several small municipal and private cultural centres. Finally, there are a round dozen of cinemas for everyone’s taste.

Summer and winter, life in town cannot be imagined without bicycles. Every large street is lined by cycle tracks enabling rapid and safe travelling without a car. If required, bicycles are also carried by busses. Little or big problems may be solved in the self-help bicycle workshop of the university. For longer distances students are offered the semester ticket which allows them to use any busses and commuter trains of the integrated transport system of Bremen and Lower Saxony.