The University of Europe for Applied Sciences, shortened as UE, is a private, for-profit university in Germany with its main campus and administrative headquarters in Iserlohn and two further campuses in Berlin and Hamburg.
It was formed in 2017 as the University of Applied Sciences Europe by a merger of the Business and Information Technology School and the Berliner Technische Kunsthochschule. The university was previously owned by the American company Laureate Education and was acquired by Global University Systems in 2018. In October 2020, the university changed its name to University of Europe for Applied Sciences.
Before its merger into what is now the University of Europe for Applied Sciences, the Business and Information Technology School (known informally as BiTS) was a state-approved, private higher education college (Hochschule). It was founded in 2000 by the German entrepreneur and author Dietrich Walther . The college's first and main campus was in a former British military hospital in Iserlohn. Initially, it taught business administration with a special emphasis on entrepreneurship, but over the years more and more subjects were added and the number of students grew steadily. In 2008, BiTS was bought by Laureate Education and established branches in Berlin in 2012 and Hamburg in 2013. In 2013 it had a total enrollment of approximately 1800 students, but by 2016 its numbers had begun to fall. It was at this point that Laureate Education initiated its merger with another Laureate-owned college, Berliner Technische Kunsthochschule, into the University of Applied Sciences Europe. Laureate then began looking for a buyer for the newly formed institution. Alumni of the Business and Information Technology School include the German politician Paul Ziemiak.