Environmental Campus

History of the Environmental Campus Birkenfeld (UCB)

On the territory of today’s campus there was a Celtic burial ground with at least 12 burial mounds in the Late Latène Period. Magnificent grave goods were found during the excavations beginning in 1844 and can be seen for instance in the Birkenfeld Museum.

In 1953, construction began for  the largest US Army hospital outside of America and the 1,000-bed “98th General Hospital” opened in 1954. In September 1971, troops were withdrawn and the hospital closed. In 1994, it was completely disbanded.  

On October 1, 1996, the Environment Campus opened its doors making the building structure available for already 596 students – much was still a construction site at that time. However, a building concept unique in Europe with CO2-neutral energy and heat supply as well as the state-of-the-art building and plant technology was continuously implemented.

Thus, in 2021, the UCB established itself for the fifth year as Germany’s greenest campus and is ranked 6th in the world (GreenMetric Ranking). It also received the award as Fairtrade University.

The idea of environment and sustainability also forms the thematic link within the study programs and promotes interdisciplinary cooperation. The interlinking of ecological, economic, technical and social concerns enables students to analyze and optimize complex systems in their later work.