University of Gottingen

Student life

There are a lot of cafeterias throughout the institutes of the university. They all offer coffee, tea, water and snacks at a low price. Eight of the cafeterias are run by the Studentenwerk, at some of them hot food, e.g. soups and snacks, is also served.

The founding of the Göttingen University Library in 1734 was a landmark: For the first time in library history the concept of a modern research library was put into practice and the institution became the first comprehensive academic library of European standing. Today, the Göttingen State and University Library of Lower Saxony (Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen, SUB) continues to hold a pole position. The SUB is one of the biggest libraries in Germany. The holdings include 4.3 million volumes, 1.5 million microforms, 31,000 electronic magazines under licence, 316,000 maps, 14,000 periodicals in print form, 14,000 manuscripts, more than 3,100 incunabula, 395 bequests and a host of digital items. There are also eight independent divisional libraries at institutes and departments across the University. A digital library competence centre of worldwide renown, the SUB directs or participates in numerous research and development projects in this domain.

Accommodation

Göttingen offers a large selection of apartments at a low price. However, it is advisable to find accommodation as early as possible if you want to move at the start of a semester. A large number of new students from outside the city and those students changing their course of studies flood the accommodation market in April and October and result in large queues outside shared apartments and landlords' offices. And as always: the early bird catches the worm.