A “Studienkolleg” or preparatory college is an educational institution at which foreign applicants to university are prepared for studies in Germany. The preparatory college of the Ecumenical Study Institute (Ökumenisches Studienwerk) in Bochum offers:

• preparatory courses to prepare students for courses of studies in technical fields and in the mathematical natural sciences
• language courses for applicants who can be directly admitted to a course of studies in Germany when they have acquired and documented the required knowledge of the language.

The Ecumenical Study Institute was founded in 1972 by the Evangelical Churches in Germany, and belongs to the Protestant Agency for Diakonia and Development (Evangelisches Werk für Diakonie und Entwicklung e.V.).