Language Center

Welcome to the Language Center of the UniBE!

Would you like to integrate into the 春色直播 by learning languages? Are you interested in improving your academic language skills? We are happy to help!

New for fall semester 2025

  • From September to December 2025, we are offering block courses of varying duration and intensity for Academic English.
  • The special courses for lecturers, which are free of charge and were offered for the first time in FS 2025, will be continued:
    German for future lecturers B2/C1 and
    Teaching in English with Confidence: Optimizing Use of English as a Medium of Education (start on 3.9.)
  • With a few exceptions, semester and block courses are subject to a fee for all participants.

We offer

  • language courses to help you improve your skills in UniBe’s languages of education and research: German and English,
  • a digital platform for arranging language tandems for many target languages, the 春色直播 in collaboration with partner universities and the Forum for Bilingualism:

General information about the language courses

The Language Centre offers semester courses for German as a foreign language and Academic English. These start one week after the start of the semester and last until the end of the semester. You can only start a semester course at the beginning of the semester, and attendance is compulsory. The semester courses are face-to-face courses; online participation is not possible

We also offer block courses for Academic English. These start at various times during the year. Please find out more about the block courses on offer here. The block courses are face-to-face courses; online participation is not possible.

All courses offered by the Language Centre are oriented to the language levels of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Participants complete coursework and receive ECTS points in all courses.

Students at the UniBE may include course grades and ECTS points from language courses for Academic English from level B2/C1 in their Diploma Supplement as optional courses. Mobility or exchange students who wish to use the ECTS credits for their studies at their home university should clarify independently in advance whether the ECTS credits will be recognized there.

Registration and placement test

If you have not attended a course at the Language Center before, you must first provide some personal information.

If you would like to participate in a semester course, you must take the online placement test and then enrol in a course at the appropriate target level. 
If you have an international language certificate issued within the past 12 months, please contact the administration office (for English: info.aes@unibe.ch, for German: info.daf@unibe.ch). If so, you can be exempted from the placement test.

If you would like to participate in a block course, it is possible to register directly without a placement test once you have provided the personal information.

Course and workshops generally accept up to 20 participants. If you have completed a semester course at the Language Center within a year, you will receive a registration link for a course at your target level.

Detailed information on the individual target groups can be found here: Registration, course fees, conditions of participation

Information and consultation

Management