Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Psychology

The IPU understands the human being as a biological, social and cultural shaped. During your studies, you will learn to understand the individual by considering the background of personal history and the influence of the unconscious. How people develop in social and societal contexts, how they shape their environment and how a beneficial relationship bond can be created with psychological means - these are central components of the teachings in the Bachelor PsychologyPLUSprogram.

As a graduate of this program, you are particularly well prepared for further study and training opportunities. You will receive additional qualifications in the field of psychodynamic intervention and specialized psychological English.

By studying at the IPU, you are choosing a first-class university with, particularly good supervision by professors, lecturers and the staff of the Students Office and the International Office.

From the very beginning, great emphasis is put on combining studies with practice and research. The focus is on psychoanalytically founded psychology. Many of the lecturers are themselves psychotherapists or psychoanalysts and impart their knowledge from the basis of years of experience. The IPU is located in the middle of Berlin, yet in a green setting, directly on the river Spree.

At the IPU, we are not only looking back on a rich past, but also have a keen eye on the future: Since the impending reform of the psychotherapy law will have great impact on the formal and academic aspects of the Bachelor’ degree, we are continuously following this development and, once the new licensing regulations are in place, will create corresponding transition possibilities in this newly developed degree program, which is expected to start nationwide for the first time in the 2020/21 winter term. The new curriculum will be designed to meet the criteria for a degree in Psychotherapy Studies, a combined Bachelor’s and Master’s program, at the end of which the students will receive a license for psychotherapeutic praxis.

The PLUS in the IPU Bachelor's Program

The IPU Bachelor’s PsychologyPLUS offers a free and certified specialization in psychodynamic counseling techniques.

The IPU Bachelor’s PsychologyPLUS offers a free and certified specialization in psychodynamic counseling techniques.

In addition to the basic course contents of the Bachelor's program, you can:

• acquire a certificate in Psychodynamic Conversational Leadership, which is awarded when you complete a block week of supervised training in combination with qualified modules from the regular curriculum.
• take an English course in which a qualified native speaker teaches psychological and psychoanalytical specialized English.

The certificate "Psychodynamic Conversational Leadership" and the acquisition of subject-specific English skills are extracurricular modules, which can be taken free of charge and which may give an edge to your applications and career prospects after you finish your Bachelor's degree.

International Exchange Programs

Through the International Office , the IPU is connected to numerous universities in Europe and around the world. All registered students can spend an internship or an entire semester at one of these partner universities abroad. The recognition of credit points achieved in the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) is already contractually regulated.

The International Psychoanalytic University (IPU) Berlin is a state-recognized private university accredited by the German Council of Science and Humanities, the Wissenschaftsrat, which is owned and managed by the non-profit representative legal entity, the Foundation to Promote University Psychoanalysis. It combines exacting scientific standards with practical psychology study courses (BA and MA courses), as well as with study courses in psychosis therapy, psychoanalytical cultural studies, leadership and consulting, intended to be taken part-time parallel to work. The university campus is situated directly at the Spree River in the Berlin-Mitte district.

With the commencement of lectures at the IPU in 2009, a gap was closed that had arisen in the one-sided, natural sciences direction of the academic psychology study courses. The study courses at the IPU convey psychoanalysis as a science that maps the human as a biological, social and culturally shaped being and seeks to understand the individual against the background of their personal history and under the influence of the unconscious. All of the study courses at the IPU are both research and application-oriented and provide close contact with clinical and pedagogical practice from the first study semester.

IPU Mission Statement

The IPU facilitates studies, advanced studies, and further education, as well as research on a psychoanalytical basis, and pursues a transdisciplinary understanding of science in its fields of teaching and research.

In dialogue with other sciences, it contributes to the further development of psychoanalysis as an applied social science and cultural theory.

It conveys psychoanalysis as science which maps the human as a biological, social and culturally shaped being and which seeks to understand the individual against the background of their personal history and under the influence of the unconscious.

The scientists lecturing and researching at the IPU have gained many years of experience in practice, teaching and research. They enjoy excellent learning and working conditions with the required resources at their disposal.

Analysis, discussion, and shared development – on an interdisciplinary level and beyond the limitations of any status groups – represent a defining criterion of the scientific and organizational work at the IPU.

The IPU builds up networks and establishes cooperative arrangements with national and international partners in science, training, and practice, which promote mutual enrichment in terms of content and positive perception among the general public.

The IPU fosters a (self) reflective attitude in teaching, research and on an application level, a close link between application and research, as well as an interdisciplinary and international dialogue. It contributes to the healthcare of the overall population.