Essen is a city in the center of the Ruhr area and the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region. After Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, Essen is the fourth largest city in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and one of the regional centers. With its 592,160 inhabitants, Essen is one of the ten largest cities in Germany and is known as an important industrial and business location.

Although the city of Essen is a comparatively young university city, it doesn’t have to hide internationally. The University of Duisburg-Essen ranks third among the world’s best universities that were founded after the turn of the millennium. In contrast, the Folkwang University of the Arts has existed since 1927 and has managed to attract students from all over the world to study in Essen ever since.