Studying in Berlin and Potsdam: universities, housing and first steps

Living in Berlin

Studying in Berlin and Potsdam: universities, housing and first steps

Berlin is one of Germany’s largest university cities, and Potsdam is one S-Bahn ride away. If you want to study here, you will find large universities, art schools and many universities of applied sciences. Often the room is harder to get than the place on the course. Here is what to know beforehand.

Kieznah · Living in Berlin · About 6 minutes · Updated October 2026

Berlin around 206,000 students in winter semester 2025/26 (provisional)

Brandenburg around 54,600 students, many of them in Potsdam

Bottleneck an affordable room

The major universities in Berlin

Freie Universität (FU): in Dahlem in the south-west, a green campus among villas and museums.
Humboldt-Universität (HU): with its main building on Unter den Linden in Mitte and a science campus in Adlershof.
Technische Universität (TU): in Charlottenburg around Straße des 17. Juni.
Universität der Künste (UdK): art, music, design and performing arts, also in Charlottenburg.
Charité: the joint medical faculty of FU and HU.

There are also public universities of applied sciences such as the Berliner Hochschule für Technik, HTW Berlin and the Berlin School of Economics and Law, plus many private institutions. According to the statistics office, in winter semester 2024/25 around 61 percent of Berlin’s students were enrolled at universities and just under 36 percent at universities of applied sciences.

Potsdam

University of Potsdam: spread over several sites, including the Neues Palais by Sanssouci Park, Golm and Griebnitzsee.
Hasso Plattner Institute: computer science and digital engineering at Griebnitzsee.
Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf: right next to the studios; more on the area in Babelsberg.
Fachhochschule Potsdam: including design, architecture and social work.

Many people study in Potsdam and live in Berlin, or the other way round. The S-Bahn and regional trains link the two cities, and the journey needs fare zone ABC. What your university’s semester ticket covers is set out by the university. How the fare zones work is explained in BVG in 10 minutes.

Housing

Halls of residence are let by studierendenWERK BERLIN in Berlin and Studierendenwerk West:Brandenburg in Potsdam. Waiting lists are long, so apply early. On the open market, rooms in shared flats are in high demand. Be careful with offers that ask for money before you have seen the room. If you are flexible, look beyond the best-known inner-city neighbourhoods and commute; the Kiez guide shows which one suits you.

The first weeks

Registering: when you move into a flat, you register with the Bürgeramt within two weeks.
Health insurance: no university will enrol you without proof of health insurance.
From abroad: if you need a visa or residence permit, in Berlin you deal with the Landesamt für Einwanderung. For emergencies, see Ill or injured in Berlin.

Figures from the Statistics Office Berlin-Brandenburg (winter semester 2025/26 provisional, winter semester 2024/25), details of the universities from their own websites, as of October 2026. This is not study advice; the universities’ own information is binding.