In addition to a broad range of study offers, educational science offers students the opportunity to get to know existing and developing research fields and to participate in them. These include, for example, the social-educational fields of action & institutions; family, childhood & gender research; extra-curricular educational research, school development and institution research. Educational science at the location in Osnabrück is closely linked to the Institute for Migration Research & Intercultural Studies (IMIS) as well as to CEDER.

In 2021, the IfE has Erasmus contracts with 14 universities in Finland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Spain, the Czech Republic and Turkey. 34 exchange places are available for students in the B.A. and M.A. programmes. In addition, ‘Staff mobility for teaching’ was agreed with nearly all partners in an effort to ensure internationality in instruction as well. The ‘Costa Rica Center Osnabrück’ offers further opportunities for stays abroad. There are also int. networked research projects (SMOOTH: Horizon 2020/EU & ARCH: UK), with cooperation arrangements among them that also benefit students.

Classrooms are equipped with high-quality equipment (e.g. whiteboards, projectors). virtUOS supports instruction, e.g. by means of recordings and streams. The Stud.IP campus management portal is used to manage all events and conduct digital ones. As a platform for the management of degree programmes, myUOS offers access to the library or the HISinOne system for examination management, among other things. Students are provided with computer rooms with modern equipment. The diverse array of software can be used for data evaluation, etc. A dense Wi-Fi network is available on campus.

The institute is distinguished by active research activities (funding from DFG, EU, State of Lower Saxony, among others) in which students participate as part of internships, project work and courses. The focus is primarily on educational research of the family and childhood as well as topics in social education Research topics. In the DFG project on the Klaus Mollenhauer Complete Edition, educational and editorial aspects are brought together. There are also project-related and personal connections to the interdisc. research centre CEDER, which is dedicated to topics of early education.