Following the reunification of Germany in 1989, five advanced technical colleges were founded in the state of Brandenburg. One of these was in the regional capital Potsdam, just a stone’s throw from Berlin, the new capital of the Federal Republic of Germany: the University of Applied Sciences.
The profile of the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam was shaped by a focus on an original combination of non-technical subjects and inter-faculty collaboration. The rationale for this was that the areas of overlap that exist between subjects should create new potential for innovative development. The fields of co-operation laid down at the time of the University’s foundation have today been made concrete in the form of three competence networks: "New Media and Science Management", "Social and Cultural Construction of Society" and "The Building and Cultural Landscape of Brandenburg".
Studies at the University of Applied Sciences began in the winter semester of 1991/1992 with a total of 144 students in the Faculty of Social Work. In the winter semester of 1992/1993, the faculties of Architecture, Civil Engineering, Design and Archive/Library/Documentation studies were established. In 1994, Prof. Dr Helmut Knüppel was elected to the post of Rector. Prof. Bernd Steigerwald was appointed Pro-rector with responsibility for Studying and Teaching and Prof. Dr Jelena Jamaikina was made Pro-rector with responsibility for Research and Development. Chancellor Volker Bley had already been appointed to his position in 1993. In 1995, courses in Restoration – from the department of "Restoration of Monuments" in the former Technical College for Advertising and Design- were integrated into the Faculty of Architecture. The next courses to be commenced were those in Culture Management, a pilot course of study funded by the BLK. The courses in European Media Science, jointly run by the University of Potsdam, the Academy of Film and Television "Konrad Wolf" and the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam were established in the winter semester of 2000/2001.
In 1994, the first courses moved out of the Friedrich Ebert Strasse site in the city centre to the new campus in Pappelallee. By 2003, five buildings had been converted at the site of the former barracks compound and two new buildings had also been erected there: the International Congress Centre for Science, which serves as a "guesthouse" for scientific institutions in Potsdam and the university’s laboratory and workshop complex. With a total area of 6000 square metres, the complex is home to studios for rapid prototyping, photo, sieve and book printing, workshops and laboratories for model making, woodwork, wall and stone restoration, material laboratories and examination rooms for students and teachers from the fields of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Urban Design, Conservation and Restoration and Design. The site offers excellent conditions for teaching as well as research and development.
On the first of January 2001, Prof Dr Helene Kleine took up her post as Rector. At a party held in the Nikolaisaal in Potsdam on the 17th of January 2001, tribute was paid to the outgoing Rector and "founding father" of the University of Applied Sciences Helmut Knüppel by the university, friends and those who had assisted him in his work. The beginning of a new era with Helene Klein’s appointment was similarly celebrated.
The Diplom courses are currently in the course of being rapidly modularised and Bachelor and Master degree programmes are being established. The University is currently looking to improve both the quality of advice offered to student applicants and the provision of student and graduate welfare. The so-called "key qualifications" should be given special emphasis by connecting start up "know-how", and social and methodical competences in teaching timetables. These skills should be made available in a cross-disciplinary manner under the key term "Management Competence".
By the end of 2004, nearly 2,500 students – 1,400 of them female- were registered at the University of Applied Sciences. Their educational needs are taken care of by 91 professors (26 of them female); 66 research associates (34 of them female) and 20 workshop and laboratory staff – 6 of whom are female. The annual budget of the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam was around 11 million euros in 2004. Funds raised externally/from projects amounted to around 4 million euros in 2003.
Since the university’s inception, professors and students have been the recipients of numerous awards : only one of many tangible pieces of evidence of the quality of teaching and applied research at the University of Applied Sciences in Potsdam.