Bard College Berlin is an accredited German-American university that offers intensive, transdisciplinary education in the humanities and social sciences. The student body is highly international and diverse in terms of geography, culture, class, and economic background and meets with faculty in small seminars taught in English. An emphasis on critical thinking, intellectual ambition, creativity, and the connection between life in and outside the classroom is a fundamental feature. Qualifying students can earn both an American and a German BA degree.

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Civic Engagement at Bard College Berlin

The Office of Civic Engagement at Bard College Berlin supports student involvement with public life outside the classroom to promote commitment to active citizenship and contribute to an engaged university. Through student-led initiatives and volunteer work the Bard College Berlin campus can share talents and resources, support positive social change, and make a difference in the civic life of local communities while being part of an intercultural exchange with Berlin. The Civic Engagement Office strives to center community engagement within the university while creating pathways with local and global communities to act collaboratively and respond to current issues.

Access to Education

Bard College Berlin engages in international and local partnerships to improve quality and access to higher education worldwide. The extreme indignity and ruthlessness that define our times call for a new and resolute generation of citizens who are committed to initiate change – idealistic and impactful change that is targeted toward increasing the communal well-being instead of the individual being well-off. In 2015 Bard College Berlin established the Program for International Education and Social Change (PIESC), a scholarship program that is aimed at young, promising, strong-willed individuals from regions of crisis or conflict. 

Civic Engagement Initiatives at a Glance

At Bard College Berlin students create Civic Engagement projects on pressing issues in the areas of Human Rights, Sustainability, Education and Language, Arts and Society, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The Civic Engagement office is constantly active, with 15 student-led initiatives, regular one off events, and both local and international engagement. Below, you will find a snapshot of just a few of the exciting initiatives on offer.

Digital Verification Corps

Working with Amnesty International’s Digital Verification Corps, Bard College Berlin is one of eight universities in the world where students take part in the hands-on work of using open-source digital evidence for human rights accountability. Meeting regularly during the academic year, students get trained in open source techniques and contribute to projects by NGOs, media, international organizations and others.

The Mrii Collective

The Mrii Collective is a student-led initiative at Bard College Berlin, founded by Ukrainian students and their allies. It fosters transnational solidarity, community-building, and critical dialogue around Ukraine and Eastern Europe. The collective emerged in Spring 2023 as an iteration of the Ukrainian Club (Ї Club), initially created by Ukrainian students in response to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. By Spring 2024, the initiative expanded into the Mrii Collective—“Mrii” meaning “dreams” in Ukrainian—to reflect a broader vision of solidarity rooted in shared experiences, dialogue, and collective action. Recognizing that understandings of Eastern Europe are often mediated through Russian or Western perspectives, the collective creates space for peer-to-peer exchange grounded in lived experience.

The Bard Feminist Collective

The core mission of the Bard Feminist Collective is to create a community where individuals from different cultural, political, and social contexts can explore feminist ideas through dialogue, mutual learning, and collective action. The collective intentionally lowers the barriers often associated with feminist discourse, creating spaces that are both critical and welcoming. Its goals are threefold: first, to build a supportive and inclusive community where participants can share and reflect on their experiences of gender, identity, and inequality; second, to connect feminist thought to real-world issues through advocacy, fundraising, and community-based initiatives; and third, to create pathways between grassroots experiences and policy-oriented discussions, particularly through engagement with global frameworks such as Women, Peace, and Security.

Want to get in touch with an idea or an opportunity for collaboration? Email us here: engagement@berlin.bard.edu