Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences

The history of Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences and its predecessor institutions dates back to 1853 (Suderburg), 1905 (Brunswick), and 1928 (Wolfenbüttel).

At the Brunswick location, the Christian-Social Women's School founded in 1905 evolved to become the Higher Professional School for Social Work of the state of Lower Saxony. Twenty-three years after its foundation, the Wolfenbüttel Technical Institute was established. This private academy offered study programmes as well as state-approved final examinations in the fields of mechanical and electrical engineering. In 1968, the Technical Institute was turned into a state academy of engineering, which attained the status of a university of applied sciences in 1971. The same year it merged with the Higher Professional School in Brunswick, resulting in the formation of the Brunswick/Wolfenbüttel University of Applied Sciences with some 850 registered students at that time.

Increasing student numbers led the university of applied sciences to open additional sites: It has been represented in Wolfsburg since 1988, in Salzgitter since 1993, and in Suderburg since 2009. In the fall of 2010, the Faculty of Social Work left its Brunswick site and moved to larger premises on the "Am Exer" campus in Wolfenbüttel.

The university of applied sciences has been operating under the name of "Ostfalia" since 2009, giving consideration to its continuous growth and its regional identity, as all four sites are located in Eastphalia (Ostfalen), a region of Old Saxony extending between the Weser and Elbe rivers, the Lüneburg Heath, and the Harz range. Metropolitan centres such as Hamburg or Berlin are only a two-hour drive away.