← Back to the rankingUWC Robert Bosch College
Freiburg, Germany · est. 2014 · Private
Illustration · Freiburg
UWC Robert Bosch College in Freiburg is a two-year upper secondary boarding school for 200 students aged 16-19 from about 90 countries; the course ends with the International Baccalaureate Diploma. The school opened in September 2014 as a joint project of Deutsche Stiftung UWC and the Robert Bosch Stiftung; the foundation and the Bosch company provided 45 million euros to convert the former Carthusian monastery. Under German law it is a state-recognised supplementary school (staatlich anerkannte Ergänzungsschule) with boarding. The language of instruction is English, as the school states directly. A quarter of the students come from Germany and three quarters from around the world; places are not bought: students are selected by UWC national committees regardless of family income, and about 96% receive a full or partial scholarship. The school puts special emphasis on peace and sustainability: project weeks across Europe each semester, hikes in the Black Forest, community service with organisations in Freiburg and work in the monastery garden. There are eight students per educator.
Key facts
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
German, French, Arabic, Spanish
Students per teacher
1 to 8
About the fees The school does not publish tuition fees: places are not bought but awarded through UWC national committees. Family income is assessed by the committee after selection, and the school meets all demonstrated need: according to the school, 65% of students receive a full scholarship and about 30% more a partial one. Three meals a day are included in the scholarship package. The school is funded by the State of Baden-Württemberg, the Robert Bosch Stiftung, the City of Freiburg, companies and private donors.
Admissions Students do not apply to the school directly: all applications go through the UWC national committee in the applicant's country (for residents of Germany, UWC Deutschland in Berlin); the committee selects candidates on merit in context and nominates them, and the Rector and the Admissions Officer accept or refuse the nomination. Each year the school offers 100 places: 25 to candidates of the German committee, the rest to committees of other countries, with priority for countries facing environmental distress or conflict, neighbours of Germany and under-represented regions; some places are for candidates committed to French A or German B or to sustainability. The exception is refugees living in Germany: they apply to the school directly, with two to four scholarship places reserved for them each year. Students are 16-18 at entry; English and German are not prerequisites, and English support is given. Family finances play no role in selection: financial need is assessed after selection and the school meets it in full. German students must take German A, a continuous foreign language, Global Affairs, European history and two sciences, as required by the Baden-Württemberg ministry of education.
Stages and year groups Grades 2 years of upper secondary school (first and second year). Only the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, two years, in English. Students choose six subjects (three at higher and three at standard level) from the groups language and literature, language acquisition, individuals and societies, sciences, mathematics and the arts, write a 4000-word Extended Essay, take Theory of Knowledge and complete at least 150 hours of CAS. Language and literature: English, German, French, Arabic, Spanish and School-Supported Self-Taught Language A; language acquisition: English, German, French and German ab initio. Sciences: biology, chemistry, physics, Environmental Systems and Societies; individuals and societies: economics, European history, Global Politics, anthropology; arts: theatre and visual arts; two mathematics courses. Graduates receive the IB Diploma and a Certificate of Attendance. The school does not offer the German Abitur.
Address Kartäuserstraße 119, 79104 Freiburg
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · DP · authorised programmeUWC · part of the movementUWC · school is part of the networkThe school is listed in the IB register and runs the Diploma Programme. The school is a college of the UWC movement.
school is in an official registryconfirmed by a school document, by membership or by taking part in a networkclaimed by the school, no confirmation, not counted in the scoreGuide to all organisations → What stands behind each entry
IBInternational Baccalaureate
A Swiss non-profit, working since 1968. Its programmes are among the most widely recognised school programmes in the world. Authorisation is granted stage by stage, so a school with the final stage does not necessarily run the younger ones; which stages this school holds is set out in the line below.
What the badge means for this school. The school is allowed to run this programme and to award its certificate. This is a confirmation of the programme, not a judgement on the school as a whole. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it. At this school: DP (ages 16-19). DP is the final stage, ages 16 to 19: six subjects plus a compulsory core of theory of knowledge, an extended essay and CAS. The diploma is accepted by universities all over the world, and in a number of countries it counts for admission on the same footing as the local leaving certificate.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →UWCUnited World Colleges
A movement of eighteen colleges on four continents, selecting pupils from all over the world regardless of what their families can pay. A new college does not join the network, it is founded from scratch: the route takes two to six years and requires an endowment and non-profit status.
What the badge means for this school. The school is one of the eighteen UWC colleges. That is not an accreditation, but the status cannot be bought either. Be careful with similar wording elsewhere: a "link to UWC" through a national committee that selects pupils is not the same thing at all. The entry is confirmed in the organisation's open directory.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →Exams and destinations from the school's official website
Average IB score
35.2 (world average 30.88)
Exam results The average IB Diploma score of the class of 2026 was 35.2 against a world average of 30.9 (data as of July 2026). From the distribution chart for 2026: 0-23 points - 2, 24-29 points - 14, 30-34 points - 26, 35-39 points - 35, 40-45 points - 21.
Where leavers go: Columbia University · Princeton University · Brown University · Sciences Po · Luther College · St. John's College · Lewis & Clark College
The universities are taken from alumni stories in the 2025-2026 annual report. The school says many graduates study in Europe, Canada and the UK, in the US through the Davis-UWC scholarship programme; the Laurence Nodder Scholarship offers loans for study in Germany; some graduates take a gap year or start vocational training. Since opening, 1079 students have graduated.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
·Sports hallnot stated on the website
✓Laboratories
✓Theatre or assembly hall
✓Library
✓Catering
·School transportnot stated on the website
✓Boarding
Clubs and activities: CAS (creativity, activity, service) · Community Service · Outdoor Education · Projektwochen (project weeks in Europe) · Schulgarten (school garden) · Peer Support · German conversation class · Kultur in der Kartause (charity concerts)
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
·Teacher qualificationsnot stated
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
✓Students per teacher or class sizein the key facts above
The school states a ratio of one educator to eight students. Staff come from about 25 countries and speak about 10 first languages; language and literature courses are taught by native speakers. Besides teachers, house tutors, psychologists, nurses and social workers work with the students.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
·CCTVnot stated on the website
·Security staffnot stated on the website
·Access controlnot stated on the website
✓Nurse or medical room
✓Counsellor
✓Child protection policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
The school has a child safeguarding statement with a Designated Safeguarding Lead (the Director of Student Life) and the Rector as deputy, and a dedicated email address for safeguarding concerns. The health and wellbeing team meets weekly: school psychologists, the head of boarding, school nurses, academic advisers and social workers. Every student has a personal tutor and a house tutor; since 2016 a student peer support programme has run under the guidance of the psychologists.
Reviews
No reviews yet. The community rating counts towards the score once a school has five verified reviews - until then we do not show a zero, so as not to mislead.
Criteria breakdown criterion weight in brackets
Academics and programmes (16%)82 Community rating (16%)no dataparent reviews are needed: the criterion switches on at the fifth verified one Exams and destinations (12%) scored on disclosed data80 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data70 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data80 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 Value for money (6%) scored at the median95 "Scored on disclosed data" stands where we count only what the school has written about itself on its own site: exams and destinations, safety and wellbeing, teaching staff, facilities, clubs and activities. A low score here means the school does not write about this, not that the school does not have it: a school with good security and a sparse site will score low. A school can fill in its profile, and the score will be counted again.
The score is counted from 7 of the 9 criteria.Only those with checkable data count: programmes and accreditations from official registers, the fee from a published price list. Where it says "scored on the median", the school has no data and the middle of the list is put in its place, so that a gap gives no advantage. Admissions, teaching staff and reviews come in as their data arrives.
The full methodology → Similar schools in the country