FIT campus closes in September 2025

Following the closure of the Hermannsburg University of Applied Sciences for Intercultural Theology, the University of Göttingen now offers an extended programme in Intercultural Theology

On 9 March 2021, the Mission Committee of the Ev.-luth. Mission in Lower Saxony (ELM) decided to close the University of Applied Sciences for Intercultural Theology Hermannsburg (FIT). The two German and English Bachelor's degree programmes, which were financed exclusively by the ELM, are now coming to an end.

The FIT campus in Hermannsburg will be closed on 30 September 2025 and the university will cease to operate as soon as the last enrolled student has graduated or been exmatriculated in accordance with the applicable study regulations.

Regardless of the closure of the FIT, the supporting churches of the ELM consider intercultural theology to be "indispensable in a globalised world and in a society that is becoming increasingly culturally pluralistic due to migration". They will therefore continue to financially support study programmes with a focus on intercultural theology, which will be offered exclusively in Göttingen from October 2025.

The English-language Master's degree programme in Intercultural Theology, which was previously offered by the University of Göttingen in cooperation with Hermannsburg University of Applied Sciences, will be offered exclusively in Göttingen from the winter semester 2025/26. At the same time, the first cohort of the new English-language BA Intercultural theology programme will start in Göttingen. According to the university, the programme will teach students about Christianity in different cultural and religious contexts around the world. The university emphasises that it is an academic theology degree with a special focus on intercultural perspectives.

Teaching on this English-language academic BA programme is carried out under the main responsibility of the chairs of the Faculty of Theology. In addition, an endowed professorship will be established, which will be jointly funded by the ELM and its sponsoring churches for ten years and will be used in both the BA and MA programmes.

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