Lippstadt

Lippstadt was founded in 1185 by Bernhard II of Lippe as a planned town, and the German Wikipedia calls it the oldest founded town in Westphalia. It was a Hanseatic town in the late Middle Ages, took up the Reformation early, and in the 17th century was one of the few towns where Protestants and Catholics shared the church system. The railway arrived in 1850, and the town became a rail and industrial centre. American forces took it in the spring of 1945.

What you see today is a small, tidy centre with centuries-old half-timbered houses, the towers of the Jakobikirche and the Große Marienkirche, stretches of the medieval town wall, and water everywhere: the Lippe splits into arms and channels that run right through town. Around the centre, 18 districts, villages in all but name, were added in 1975, which is why the town covers 114 km2 for 68,000 people and is so green.

The weather is North German-mild. Winters sit around 3 degrees and are grey and wet, and July averages about 18.6 degrees. Bring a rain jacket and a bicycle.

The Lippe is 214 km long and flows for 26 km through the municipality of Lippstadt. Parts of its floodplain have been restored, and the city's own pages say that rare fish, kingfishers and storks have returned. Twelve nature reserves and many protected landscape areas lie within the town limits, so green space is ten minutes away in any direction.

Students on the HSHL reports page mention cycling around town as the way to get about, and call Lippstadt calm and friendly. nextbike rental stations stand at the station and on campus, with discounted rates for students and staff, according to the HSHL campus page.

Evenings are quieter than in a university city of 200,000. The town has two cinema complexes, a Jazzclub active since 1955, and the Lippstädter Kneipenfestival twice a year. Events in the calendar include the spring Altstadtfest, a summer festival on the Rathausplatz and the Herbstwoche in autumn; the Herbstwoche procession is on Saturday 24 October 2026.

Lippstadt station is on the Hamm-Warburg line. There are about six direct ICE and IC trains a day, for example to Kassel and Munich, and the regional RE 11 runs roughly hourly to Düsseldorf and Kassel. The RB 89 runs every 30 minutes to Hamm, Münster and Paderborn. Seven town bus lines run about every 30 minutes on weekday daytimes.

The HSHL campus is about 15 minutes' walk from the station, or a 2-minute bus ride on lines S60, R63 or R64 to the stop Hochschule/HBPO. Paderborn/Lippstadt Airport is in Büren-Ahden and has flights to Spain, Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria, some seasonal. Most long-haul arrivals come through a larger airport and finish the trip by train.

The second HSHL campus is in Hamm, on Marker Allee. Some programmes are taught there, so check which campus your degree uses before you rent.

The Lippstadt campus is compact. Building L1 holds the canteen, student services, the examination office and the university presidency, L2 the lecture halls and media centre, L3 the laboratories, student workspaces and technical workshop, and L4 the central study advisory, the International Office and the department offices. Buildings are generally open from 8:00 to 20:00, and library members can use the early and late hours with a library card.

International students quoted on the university's reports page, from Cameroon, China, Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkey and elsewhere, say the campus is well equipped and smaller than they were used to, which they value for the close contact with professors, and that Lippstadt is quiet and safe. One student singles out the support from professors and the team spirit among students.

One thing to plan for: HSHL has two campuses, and the AStA office is in Hamm. Most services also work by email or phone, and the International Office holds its open hour in Lippstadt.

HSHL does not provide housing, and the university tells international students that a long-term search often takes several weeks, so start as soon as you are admitted. The Studierendenwerk Paderborn handles student housing for HSHL. Its Lippstadt residence is on Unionstraße, where a room in a two-person flat costs 260 EUR plus 150 EUR in additional costs. The Studierendenwerk also runs a private room portal for Hamm and Lippstadt, and its housing application is at stwpb.de.

Rooms in a small town are cheaper than in a big city, but there are far fewer of them, so an early application matters more than the price. The Studierendenwerk's housing contact for Unionstraße is Gülhan Özbük, and its housing phone is 05251 89207-680.

The Mensa Atrium on the Lippstadt campus is run by the Studierendenwerk Paderborn. It is cashless: you buy a Delicard for a 5 euro deposit and top it up at the machines in the foyer. Students quoted on the university's reports page single out the canteen food.

Sport is free for most courses at HSHL, from badminton to yoga, listed separately for Lippstadt, Hamm and online. The Jahnplatz outdoor facilities in Lippstadt cost nothing, and the Stadtsportverband counts 74 clubs with about 23,000 members across 35 sports. SV Lippstadt 08 plays football in the Oberliga Westfalen and the Lippstadt Eagles play American football.

For a night out the town has pubs, a jazz club and two cinemas, and bigger nights mean the train to Paderborn, Münster or Dortmund. Many students go home or travel at the weekend.

Students from outside the EU may work 140 full days or 280 half days a year. More than that needs permission from the Agentur für Arbeit and the Ausländerbehörde, and is given only in cases of special financial need. A minijob earning up to 556 EUR a month is tax-free, and academic assistant jobs at the university have no day limit, but you still have to tell the foreigners' office.

HSHL's International Office runs career events for international students, among them 'Job Applications in Germany for International Students' on 28 October 2026 and the career fair 'Perspective Career' on 4 November 2026. Bring your CV, and check the date on the university's pages.