Campus Life
Life as a student is a lot of hard work- rewarding hard work- but besides classes there are also various other activities like sharing time with your fellow students and enjoy the other facilities on campus besides the library. Free time also needs to be spent wisely, so here you will find some recommendations for a rewarding study break.
TU Dortmund offers 5 main dining locations, each of them offering a diverse meal plan. The Hauptmensa is located on the Campus Nord and is the main dining option for most of the students and offers the most diverse meal plan, including vegetarian an vegan dishes, a BBQ counter and buffets for warm dishes as well as for salads and desserts. The Galerie is famous for its burgers and currywurst and is located on the ground floor of the Hauptmensa building. Another option on Campus Nord is the Food Fakultät. Located near Emil-Figge 50 it is best known for its pizza and pasta that is prepared freshly right in front of you at the counter.
For students who spend most of their time on the other side on Campus Süd, the Archeteria and the Mensa Süd are the most convenient places for dining. The Archeteria offers daily changing dishes, a salad and sides buffet as well as a Sandwich bar. The Mensa Süd is located in the same building on the first floor and offers three dishes that change on a daily basis, always including a vegetarian option.
All dining locations also serve various cold and hot drinks. The meal plan of each dining location can be checked online either here or via the TU Dortmund App which we would recommend you to install. All 5 dining location accept payments only via EC card.
If you are only looking for a hot cup of coffee or tea, feel free to use the SPRING kitchen, which is part of the SPRING facilities. There you can find a coffee machine, a hot water boiler and cups. To the benefit of everyone using it, please keep these areas clean and tidy at all times.
In order to keep your mind and body fit, TU Dortmund offers a wide range of recreational activities in over 180 classes in 65 different sports organized by the team of the Hochschulsport. All you need to participate is to get the Sportkarte. For 15 € for a full semester you are able to participate in the offered programs, some programs (such as tennis or scuba diving) require additional costs. The program includes ball sports like football, basketball and volleyball, martial arts like boxing, judo and taekwondo, dance sport like Latin dance, Hip Hop or Oriental dance as well as fitness programs and many more. During the second and third week of classes students can test the sport program for free.
The sport facilities are located at the sports building at Otto-Hahn-Straße 3. You will find showers and changing rooms, the sports gym, a fitness studio, tennis courts, beach volleyball courts, tartan courts and the University grass field including a 400 meter running track.
All the classes run during the semester and a special program is published for the vacation times. You are free to join most classes without committing to participating every week. For some of the classes though it is important to attend on a regular basis. For all classes you have to register for: be quick since the demand is very high and classes are booked very fast. Dates and time for the start of registration processes are available on the Hochschulsport website.
One of the most famous events on campus is the annual Campus Lauf, a run where all students are encouraged to participate in one of six different disciplines: 2,5 km, 5 km campus walk, 5 km fun run, 10 km, 10 km relay and the infamous Mathe-Tower run. The exact date in the current year you can always find in the Important Dates on our Homepage.
Besides the recreational activities and facilities on campus there are multiple options for sport and outdoor activities throughout Dortmund.
There are various recreational possibilities on Campus Süd in addition to the sports offered by the university. During the summer months, many students spend time outside on the seats in front of the Architeria or between the three buildings. There is also the possibility of renting benches and tables in the basement of GB 3 to relax or work outside. You can even rent an extension cord to charge your laptop or electronical devices outside. The only condition is, that you return everything afterwards.
GB 3 also offers a lounge in the foyer (first room on the right) which serves as a meeting point and recreation area and is called “Sofaraum” (sofa room) by the students.
Orchestras, choirs, big bands - musical life at the TU Dortmund is colourful: jazz, rock and pop are just as much a part of the repertoire as classical works. The ensembles of the Institute for Music and Musicology include students from all departments, employees and alumni of the TU Dortmund. Every semester, performances and concerts are on the program, in which the results of the rehearsals are presented. These events have a significant influence on the cultural offerings on campus and in Dortmund.
Since the winter semester 2014/15 there is the offer of the AStA that all students of TU Dortmund University can get a free ticket for performances at the Theatre Dortmund when presenting a valid student ID beforehand. The offer is valid from one week before the desired performance and on the day of the performance at the box office if the performance is not sold out. Guest performances and special events are excluded. For premieres, advance booking is excluded. Students can only obtain their TU ticket at the box office one hour before the start of the performance, if available. Information is available at the box office in the opera foyer and via ticket hotline. The program can be viewed directly here (unfortunately there is only a german version of the website available).
The TU Dortmund app offers many helpful functions. It contains the canteen menu and the departure monitor, displays news and events, but also has a campus navigation and shows the range of university sports.
eldoradio* broadcasts 24 hours a day program. On the frequency UKW 93.0 the station can be received all over the city. The editorial office presents listeners with everything they need to know about student life in Dortmund. In addition, the station provides current news both nationwide and from Dortmund and the campus, as well as hand-picked music.
The International Meeting Center (Internationales Begegnungszentrum, IBZ) is a place for people from all over the world to get together, to exchange news, to study and participate in activities. It is a place of events and festivities. This is where German and international students acquire language and cross-cultural skills. This is the place to enjoy concerts, talks and receptions, to gather information about job opportunities and study/work abroad programs. Bringing together the world's diversity under one roof, that is the IBZ mission. This diversity is not only reflected by the large number of international students at TU Dortmund University but also by the strong interest of German students in going abroad for internships or study abroad placements. The IBZ has become the university's platform for its growing internationalization and diversification efforts by providing space for events, workshops, exhibitions and much more. Feel free to join and if you are interested, you can even host an event at the IBZ.
Every Wednesday the Uni Film Club shows a movie at the lecture hall (HS1) at the Emil-Figge 50 at Campus Nord. Among the selection there are new Blockbuster Films, but also older movies or special events like movie marathons. The screenings are open for everybody, all you need to do is to purchase a membership card for 0,5€ for a full year. The entrance fee for the movies is 2,50 €.