PFH Private University of Applied Sciences was recognised by the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture in 1995, which means that it is Lower Saxony's oldest private, state-recognised university. The incentive for its foundation was the idea of providing fresh impetus in the fields of science and teaching with a purely privately funded university that offers a study programme aligned to the real needs of the economy. In 2007, PFH received institutional accreditation from the Central Evaluation and Accreditation Agency (ZEvA). At the end of 2018, PFH received institutional re-accreditation from the German Council of Science and Humanities.
The University has since been actively contributing to securing Germany's position as a science and business location through its intensive training of qualified new managerial blood. PFH meets these high aspirations through a consistent orientation towards practical experience, through its marked internationality and by developing innovative teaching programmes.
In January 2023, 4,800 students were enrolled in one of the 49 study programmes in Management, Engineering Sciences, Psychology and Business Psychology, Business Law, Technology or in Healthcare Technology. They study either at one of the two campus locations in Göttingen or Stade or at one of the distance-learning centres located across Germany, Austria and Spain.
PFH - The University for Entrepreneurs
As a university run on entrepreneurial lines, training entrepreneurial new blood is an essential cornerstone of PFH's orientation. The activities pertaining to this topic area are concentrated in the ZE Zentrum für Entrepreneurship (Centre for Entrepreneurship). Here, entrepreneurship content or an ability to act entrepreneurially as a critical qualification cut across all PFH's departments is imparted.
Through its Board of Trustees and its more than 500 partner companies, the University has excellent links to business throughout Germany and, particularly in the regions of Göttingen and Stade, is embedded in a largely SME-oriented company environment. Entrepreneurial thinking is also reflected in the student body, in the form of, for example, a large percentage of students who specifically wish to set up a business on their own as a career goal or already come from an entrepreneurial family background.
Mission Statement
PFH Private University of Applied Sciences is committed to generating and disseminating knowledge while providing a critical and interdisciplinary reflection on political, social and economic interests. Practical orientation in teaching and research, particularly in management, innovation and technology, is the overriding principle governing our actions. Through our application-oriented and practically relevant education in study programmes, we impart well-founded theoretical as well as practical knowledge and skills to both students in their initial training and working professionals in terms of lifelong learning, using a range of different teaching methods in on-campus and distance-learning courses while taking increasing digitisation into account. The diversity of these programmes enables the University to create a platform that allows all participants to enjoy an intellectual and pluralist exchange that promotes education, constantly giving rise to the innovative impetus for students, PFH's future development as a university and university development as a whole.
PFH sees itself as an institution that recognises and values the diversity of all individuals and groups involved in it as potential. University management undertakes to ensure mutual esteem and respectful communication in working relations as fundamental to the sustainable development of PFH as a whole and its participants. Due to the enduring impact and practical orientation of the competencies they acquire during their study programmes, our graduates can assume professional responsibility with particular alacrity or train for higher levels of responsibility within their companies. PFH thus sees itself as an interface between students as high potential and the world of business.
Data & Facts (January 2023)
Foundation, state recognition and commencement of teaching activities
1995
Total number of students
around 4.500
Students in on-campus study programmes
around 650
Students in distance-learning study programmes
around 3.850
Graduates
more than 6.000
Campus Locations
Göttingen and Stade
Distance-Learning Centres
24 in Germany, Austria and Spain
PFH's Study Programmes
around 50 Study Programmes
Trustees
- Airbus Operations GmbH
- Bahlsen GmbH & Co. KG
- Baker Tilly GmbH & Co. KG
- Clarios Germany GmbH & Co. KGaA
- Composites United e. V.
- Continental AG
- Gothaer Versicherungen
- Novelis Deutschland GmbH
- Otto Bock SE & Co. KGaA
- PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH
- SAP SE
- T-Systems Business Services GmbH
- TUI AG
Committees & Official Bodies
Holding Company
Gesellschaft für praxisbezogene Forschung und wissenschaftliche Lehre GmbH
Managing Director
Markus Steinhoff, Kamil Senhaji
University Management
President
Prof. Dr. Frank Albe
Vice-Presidents
Prof. Dr. Joachim Ahrens
(On-campus studies and international relations)
Prof. Dr. Antje-Britta Mörstedt
(Distance studies and digitalisation)
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Wilm Felix Unckenbold
(Technology and continuing education)
Honorary President
Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Wolfgang Lücke (†22.07.2021)
University Administration
Head of Administration: Dipl.-Geogr. Benno Fleer
Deputy Head of Administration: Dipl.-Vw. Peggy Repenning
Spokesperson of the Board of Trustees
Dipl.-Kfm. Henrik Homann
University Advisory Boards
Heiko Stuarth Keilholz, owner of the HKS Group
Hansecampus Stade
Holger Bartsch, Hauptgeschäftsführer IHK Stade: Thomas Falk, Hauptgeschäftsführer Arbeitgeberverband Stade, Elbe-Weser-Dreieck e. V.; Dagmar Froelich, Vorsitzende der Geschäftsführung der Agentur für Arbeit Stade; Sönke Hartlef, Bürgermeister der Hansestadt Stade; Michael Roesberg, Landrat Landkreis Stade; Wolfgang Schult, Vorstandsvorsitzender der Sparkasse Stade-Altes Land.
Healthcare Technology
Prof. Hans Georg Näder, Otto Bock HealthCare GmbH und Initiator des Programms; Dan Blocka, ISPO International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics; Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Lehmann, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen; Prof. Dr. Bernhard Greitemann, Vereinigung Technische Orthopädie; Alf Reuter, Bundesinnungsverband für Orthopädietechnik.
Study Foundation
PFH's Study Foundation is a forum for people who invest personal and financial commitment in the development of a new generation of entrepreneurs and managers. The purpose of the Foundation is to support the University's students by providing financial and material resources for establishing and endowing chairs, institutes and research facilities. The Foundation may also award scholarships under specific provisions in cases of hardship.
The Foundation exclusively and directly pursues charitable objects.
Patron
Prof. Dr. Rita Süssmuth
Foundation Executive Board
Prof. Dr. Frank Albe
Dipl.-Kfm. Dipl.-Hdl. Martin Löwer
Alumni Work
Dipl.-Kffr. Gudrun Röhling
Dipl.-Kfm. Markus Bauer
Club der Alumni e. V. Chairman
Prof. Dr. sc. agr. Julian Voss