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.