International Meeting Center
The IBZ (International Meeting Center) is located beneath the University of Bochum in the lovely valley "Lottental". The old fachwerk building with its charming interieur will provide the ideal surrounding for the workshop. Gastronomical service with local specialities is provided by the landlord and landlady in the house.
Ruhr-Universität Bochum
The Ruhr-Universität Bochum was founded and build in 1965. It now has over 33 000 students and over 350 full professors. The Ruhr-Universität was prominent from its beginning: as the first new university to be founded in Germany after the war; and as the first university to integrate engineering on a single campus. Today it is the introduction of Bachelor and Master degree programmes - there is no other university in Germany that is so advanced in implementing the Bologna Process. It is one of the few universities in Germany that have been considered for becoming a "University of Excellence". Unfortunately, this goal was just missed.
Bochum
With its many and varied cultural and leisure facilities, Bochum has
evolved from a one-time centre of heavy industry to “cultural
capital of the Ruhr”, to quote an article in Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung. The city’s theatre (Schauspielhaus) is one of the best of
all German-speaking theatres. Starlight Express is not only the
world’s fastest musical, but also the most successful with some ten
million visitors. The German Mining Museum (Deutsches Bergbau-
Museum), the largest of its kind anywhere, gives the visitor a
unique impression of how mining has developed over the
centuries, and the refurbished and extended Century Hall
(Jahrhunderthalle Bochum) is one of the most imposing cathedrals
of industrial history anywhere.
With its wealth of culture and attractive recreational facilities,
with the “Bermuda Triangle” (Bermuda-Dreieck) the most
popular “in” meeting place in this part of the country, the Ruhr
stadium arguably the “gem” among Germany’s football grounds,
and historical churches with rare treasures – Bochum is a lively city
at the heart of the Ruhr.
(text kindly provided by the City of Bochum)
Ruhr-Area
The Ruhr-Area is a conglomeration of cities along the rivers Ruhr and Rhine. It used to be the biggest area of coal-mining and, as a consequence, the biggest industrial area of Germany. However, as the value of coal is declining, the cities change their faces to become centers of cultural and service industry. The success of this change is reflected in the election of the Ruhr-Area as the European Capital of Culture 2010.