Worms

Worms is a city of about 87,000 people on the west bank of the Rhine, with the Pfrimm river reaching the Rhine in the north and the Eisbach and Eckbach in the south. The city calls itself the Nibelungenstadt, after the medieval Nibelung saga, and it is also a Lutherstadt: in 1521 Martin Luther refused to take back his writings before the Imperial Diet in Worms. Few places of this size carry so much European history in one walkable centre.

It is not a big student city, and that shapes daily life: one university, one compact campus, and you will keep meeting the same people. If you want clubs, big concerts or an international food scene, you take the S-Bahn to Mainz, Ludwigshafen or Mannheim. If you want quiet streets, a bike, a river and wine festivals, Worms is already that.

The weather is part of the pitch. The city describes itself as among the warmest and driest places in Germany, and the long-term mean of about 10.3 °C and 608 mm of rain a year (older measurement periods) points the same way. Pack for cold winters anyway, and for a hot summer on the Rhine.

In July 2021 the SchUM sites of Worms, Speyer and Mainz became UNESCO World Heritage, the first Jewish World Heritage in Germany. In Worms they are the synagogue, the Mikwe, the Raschi-Haus museum area on the Judengasse and the cemetery Heiliger Sand. An inscription records a first synagogue on this spot in 1034. The present building dates from around 1174/75, with a women's annex from the early 13th century. After its destruction in the Nazi period it was rebuilt and reopened in 1961, and the Jewish community of Mainz, which owns it, holds services there again.

You can book the public tour of the Jewish monuments (first Sunday of the month, 10:30, April to October) and the cemetery tour on Fridays at 15:00 from March to December. The SchUM-Kulturtage, a three-week festival of Jewish culture across the three cities, runs from 23 October to 14 November 2026. The SchUM cities also publish a companion app to Jewish Worms.

Worms has about 1,650 hectares of vineyard, the largest area in Rheinhessen and the third largest in Rhineland-Palatinate, and the city's wine is known abroad as Wormser Liebfrauenmilch. For students that means wine country is on your doorstep, with vineyard paths that run past Abenheim and Herrnsheim.

The tourist office lists the Lutherweg 1521 (a half-day hike), the Rheinterrassenweg and the Skulpturenweg through the vineyards, plus themed cycle routes and longer loops. For city riding, the regional bike-share VRNnextbike gives students the first 30 minutes of every rental free after registering with the university email address, which the Hochschule's Green Office confirms.

The Rhine itself is the other weekend map: the Nibelungen Bridge takes you across to Hesse, and the city lists a light and sound installation called Eindutzend at the Rhine bridge promenade. Beyond that, Mainz and Mannheim are close enough for a day out.

Worms has two stations in use, the Hauptbahnhof and Pfeddersheim. Since June 2018 the line from Mainz via Worms and Ludwigshafen to Mannheim runs half-hourly as part of the S-Bahn RheinNeckar, which makes Mainz, Ludwigshafen and Mannheim the natural places for weekends, cinema and concerts. The city bus network has nine city lines, seven regional lines and six night-bus lines; the tram was closed in 1956. By car, Worms is on the A 61 and the B 9, and the newer Nibelungen Bridge (2008) links to southern Hesse and the A 5 and A 67.

Fares in the Rhine-Neckar network (VRN) are set by VRN, so ask its tariff hotline on 0621 1077 077 (weekdays 8 to 17) about the semester ticket and the Deutschland-Ticket before you buy anything.

Worms has an industrial base in chemicals, plastics, metals, machinery and wood processing, and logistics is growing. RENOLIT SE, a company with about 5,000 employees at more than 30 locations worldwide, lists its headquarters in Worms, and Klinikum Worms is one of the five largest hospitals in the state, with 696 beds, over 2,000 employees and its own nursing and physiotherapy schools plus a health and nursing bachelor's programme. About 45% of the people who work in Worms commute in from elsewhere, so many jobs sit in the surrounding region too, from Mainz and Ludwigshafen to Mannheim.

The Hochschule's career service runs a student job and internship board, free one-hour career counselling on a monthly consultation day booked through Moodle, workshops on applications and career goals, and the 'Karriere' contact fair with companies.

Everything is on one compact campus on Erenburgerstraße, which has lettered buildings (A, N and so on) and a metal globe on the lawn. You will meet your department every day, which makes it easy to form a study group in the first week. The university's own pictures of campus life show a self-built MINT kart, a Culture Day with food from around the world, graduation ceremonies and the Backfischfest.

Teaching is practice-oriented, as at any German Fachhochschule, and many programmes have a dual version in which you work for a partner company during the studies. The AStA organises the Hochschulball, the best-known student party, and welcome events for new students. The Hochschule's central study advice (study@hs-worms.de, phone +49 6241 509-180) and the faculty advisers are the first stop with questions about enrolment, language of instruction or credit recognition.

A Mensa run by the Studierendenwerk serves campus lunches, and the Studierendenwerk publishes the current menu online.

The Studierendenwerk Vorderpfalz has two dorm sites in Worms. Bebelstraße 22 and 24–26 has 234 places, mostly single apartments plus four-person flats, built in 2007 and 2015. Erenburgerstraße 21 and Hochheimer Straße 37 has eight furnished four-person flats. Every room has a bed, desk, chair, wardrobe and shelf, and the minimum stay is one semester. The Hochschule recommends applying to the Studierendenwerk online as early as possible, even before you have your admission letter.

Without a dorm place, the AStA keeps a housing board for private rooms and shared flats, the Studierendenwerk has a private room agency, and the Hochschule lists local weekly papers and the usual portals (ImmoScout24, Immowelt, WG-Gesucht). Check the portals for current private rents.

Students from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland may work 140 full days or 280 half days a year; more needs permission from the Agentur für Arbeit and the foreigners' office, and is granted only in cases of special financial need. Student assistant jobs at the university have no day limit but must still be reported to the foreigners' office. A minijob pays up to 556 EUR a month without income tax, and the minimum wage is 13.90 EUR an hour since January 2026.

Look first at the Hochschule's own job and internship board, and the regional employers listed above. Always ask the International Center before signing a contract.