GERMANY
GERMANY
Deed of Donation Signing
15 October 2019 | Deed of Donation signed between the Philippine Consulate General in Frankfurt and the Ruhr University at Bochum, with the Philippine Senator Loren Legarda as witness
06 November 2023 | Third Amendment of the Deed of Donation signed between the Philippine Consulate General in Frankfurt and the Ruhr University at Bochum
Program Coordinators | Former Consul General Evelyn D. Austria Garcia and continued by Consul General Marie Yvette L. Banzon Abalos and Humboldt University Former Rector Dr. Axel Schölmerich, Current Rector Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. Martin Paul, Vice Rector for Academic and International Affairs Scientific Degrees Professor Dr. Kornelia Freitag, Focal Person for the PSP Dr. Roger Friedlein, Dr. Dirk Brunke, Professor Dr. Christine Moll-Murata, Dr. Sandra Issel-Dombert, M.A. Katharina Pohl, Professor Dr. Christiane Meierkord, and Professor Dr. Laura Morgenthaler Garcia
The Philippine Studies Program at RUB serves as a premier hub for academic exchange in Southern Germany. Anchored by the launch of the Virtual Sentro Rizal, a multilingual digital archive, the initiative actively preserves cultural heritage while advancing interdisciplinary research.
The comprehensive curriculum encompasses intensive Tagalog language training, deep explorations into the sociolinguistic realities of the Filipino diaspora, and major publishing endeavors like the Crónicas filipinas anthology. These initiatives are strategically designed to build scholarly momentum for the Philippines' historic role as Guest of Honor at the 2025 Frankfurt Book Fair.
In October 2024, the Philippines served as Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair, with Ruhr University Bochum contributing to the programme through the presentation of three publications on the Philippines, alongside related scholarly events in Berlin and at the Fair grounds. Among the featured scholars, Dr. Stephanie Coo (Universidade Nova de Lisboa) examined José Rizal’s Noli me tangere through the lens of textile symbolism, highlighting its subversive potential, while Annette Hug (Bern) discussed her German translation of Ang diablo sa Filipinas, a cultural-historical study written in Tagalog by a Filipino ilustrado and religious founder. Ruhr University PSP Coordinators Dr. Roger Friedlein and Dr. Katharina Pohl presented an anthology of reports by Spanish travellers to the Philippines since the 19th century, and Dr. Ricarda Musser (Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut) provided an overview of the Institute’s 19th-century Philippine holdings, collectively shedding new light on the cultural and intellectual history of the archipelago.
Photo Credits: RUB
2024
RUB also presented in the Dialogo: Philippines Studies Goes Global Conference
Art-based Research Seminar titled "Partizipation Aktionsforschung: fur sozialen Wandel und Hdneln" by Prof. Leonard Cruz (27 June 2024)
2023
Tagalog Intensive Language Course at the Landessprachinstitut (LSI) Bochum (13-24 February 2023)
Philippines: Perspectives, Summer 2023
Established in 1962 as the first new public university founded in Germany following World War II, Ruhr University Bochum (RUB) is a prestigious research institution home to 184 diverse study programs.
Distinguished by its striking, centralized brutalist architecture conceptually designed as a "harbor of knowledge" with buildings symbolizing vessels, the campus provides an intensely collaborative academic environment.
This unique and historic setting perfectly positions RUB as a powerful cornerstone for interdisciplinary innovation, international collaboration, and enduring cross-cultural friendship.