Medicine, law and natural sciences are offered at many universities. However, the 8,940 possibilities for undergraduate study at Germany’s 358 universities also include some unusual subjects: true rarities in university teaching that are funded as so-called regional centres of excellence under the Foreign Office’s Research and Academic Relations Initiative. These university departments offer specialist knowledge that is indispensable for both foreign policy and the economy. Six universities offering unusual subjects were selected by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) in June 2009:
One of the regionally important subjects is Baltic Studies. Greifswald University offers an opportunity to study the cultures of the Baltic peoples from the perspective of linguistics or regional studies. Flensburg University offers a different specialization: as part of a course in communications science, students can focus on Danish as a special subject. By contrast, Finno-Ugric studies at Cologne University is very much a research-oriented course. In this subject the University concentrates on the Finnish language, literature and culture. Jena University offers a subject that is unique in Germany: Caucasiology, the science of the languages, cultures and history of the Caucasus region. The Free University of Berlin offers Korean Studies in conjunction with East Asian Studies, involving a broad combination of subjects, language teaching and the study of East Asian culture and civilization. Not to be outdone, Hamburg University offers Tibetology, the study of the language and culture of Tibet.
