Oldenburg, not far from Germany's border with the Netherlands, is home to the only university in Lower Saxony to offer Dutch Studies as a Bachelor's degree programme. All students wanting to continue their studies after graduating can opt for Dutch as one of two main subjects in the (German) teachers’ degree programme (Master of Education), the required qualification for employment at all the different types of German secondary school as well as vocational education institutions. The career prospects for our graduates are excellent in light of the acute structural shortage of Dutch teachers in Germany. The University of Oldenburg is also the only university in Germany that offers an independent Fachmaster (specialist Master's degree) in Dutch Linguistics and Literary Studies.

Prior knowledge of Dutch for first-year students is not a requirement. During the degree programme, your language skills will reach an advanced level with a language course developed and taught by native Dutch speakers. You will also learn a great deal about the history of and contemporary society in both the Netherlands and Belgium, where Dutch is also spoken. We also focus on teaching and didactics from the outset. Linguistics and literary studies are at the academic core of the programme. The Dutch Studies department at the University of Oldenburg has resident professors for these two disciplines.

The focus of Prof. Ralf Grüttemeier’s research is on the literature of the first half of the 20th century (Avant-gardism, Modernism, Social Realism/Nieuwe Zakelijkheid), the issue of intentionality in literature and literary studies, the problems of producing literary history and the relationship between literature and law.

Prof. Esther Ruigendijks' research focuses on the question ‘How do we humans acquire, process and produce language?’ Her research focuses primarily on comparative linguistic and experimental research, whereby the juxtaposition of Dutch and German is at the forefront, although other languages are also regularly compared (for instance Hebrew, English and Russian).