The Ruhr University's Department of History is one of the largest in Germany. An average of 2,500 students are enrolled in history. They are currently taught by 14 professors, 3 junior professors and a large number of other lecturers. Despite the large number of students, the Institute has always attached great importance to intensive supervision. We invest considerable energy and resources in a course that is almost as old as the Institute itself: The Integrated Proseminar, a four-hour course in which first-year students are carefully familiarized with the methods of historical studies over the course of two semesters. In addition to the B.A. for all history students, the Master's degree (in history alone or in combination with a second subject) and the Master of Education, the Institute offers a growing number of specific degree programs: The Master in Public History, the Integrated Study Program Bochum-Tours as well as MATILDA. European Master in Women's and Gender History are organized by the Department of History alone. The Institute is also involved in the Master's degree courses Medieval and Renaissance Studies (MARS), History, Philosophy and Culture of Science (HPS+), Gender Studies, Religious Studies and the Master's specialization “Eastern European Studies with Practical Relevance”.

Historical research is always caught between the conflicting priorities of far-reaching temporal perspectives and current problems, which influence our questions and the choice of subjects. The Department of History at the Ruhr-Universität has successfully faced up to this challenge since its foundation: early on, social utopias in different epochs were investigated here or the upheaval and transformation of industrial cultures were examined from the perspective of social, economic, environmental and technological history.

Today, the focus is increasingly on global references and transcultural interdependencies, whose material foundations (“resources”) we examine as part of the Faculty of History as well as socio-cultural characteristics across national and cultural borders (“Supra fines”, Mediterranean studies). The investigation of crises and transformations in the sense of historical change plays a central role, not least with regard to the orientation-giving social function of history (public history and culture of remembrance).

One of the particular strengths of our institute is the combination of exemplary regional perspectives (Ottoman Empire, Eastern Europe, North America), which we consistently combine with regard to global issues. Theory-based approaches as well as spatial-cultural competences and specializations make the research of the Institute of History particularly compatible with our neighbouring faculties at the RUB (Social Sciences, Philologies, East Asian Studies and others) as well as other research institutions associated with the faculty (Institute for Social Movements, Centre for Religious Studies - CERES, German Mining Museum).