Bonn, Germany’s former federal capital and home to more than 20 UN organisations, is one of Europe’s most intellectually stimulating small cities. Only a 25-minute train ride from Cologne, Bonn offers a combination of low cost of living, a strong diplomatic and international feel, and one of the best research universities in Germany at its center, making it a great destination for ambitious international students.

The University of Bonn is the pride and joy of the city, a German university of excellence, with 11 Nobel laureates among its alumni and faculty. Bonn is a fairly compact city, so students live and study in a city that really is built around the university.

The Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn is one of Germany's most distinguished universities—a University of Excellence under Germany's Excellence Strategy, with 11 Nobel Prize winners are associated with the University of Bonn as alumni, faculty members, or researchers, 2 Fields Medal winners, and a global reputation for research in mathematics, economics, philosophy, and the life sciences. University of Bonn maintains partnerships with more than 300 universities worldwide, including collaborations with leading institutions across Europe, North America and Asia. 

H-BRS is a modern, international university of applied sciences, founded in 1995, serving the broader Bonn–Rhein–Sieg region. With campuses in Sankt Augustin and Rheinbach with the strength of 9,000 students along with 20% of international students. H-BRS is known for its strong engineering, computer science, and business programs, and for a notably high international student ratio.

Bonn is more affordable than Frankfurt or Cologne, with strong public transport links that allow students to access both cities easily.

Bonn's unique character as a UN and diplomatic city creates unusual job opportunities that aren't available in most German university towns.

Bonn offers something rare in the world of university cities: the calm of a smaller, beautiful city on the Rhine combined with the intellectual firepower of a German University of Excellence and the global atmosphere of a UN headquarters city. The University of Bonn's excellence in mathematics, philosophy, economics, and medicine — combined with Bonn's affordability relative to larger German cities — makes it one of Germany's most attractive yet often overlooked destinations for international students.