A curriculum structured according to topics with interdisciplinary, coordinated courses; in addition to traditional lectures and internships, clinical practice and patient contact from the first semester; Students structure the learning process themselves in small learning and working groups with a focus on problem-oriented learning; comprehensive practical clinical training thanks to the special structure of the clinic (with more than 4,000 patient beds, one of the largest in Europe) with cases ranging from basic to supramaximal care; short study periods.

The Faculty of Medicine has a full-time Erasmus coordinator/speaker for international affairs and a professorial internationalisation officer who support "incoming" and "outgoing" students in the organisation of stays abroad, maintain contact with partner universities and offer networking options for foreign and domestic students. Students have the opportunity to go abroad for a study stay, medical clerkship, practical year and doctoral studies and thus gain a wide range of experience abroad.

NUI - National University of Ireland, Galway, Irland; Uniwersytet Medyczny Wroclawiu, Polen; Universita' di Bologna, Italien; Université de Strasbourg, Frankreich; Universidad de Oviedo, Spanien; National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Griechenland; Charles University Prague, Tschechien; Université de Lausanne, Schweiz; Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgien; University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Carol Davila" – Bucharest, Rumänien

Key research areas are neuroscience, protein research and oncology. In addition to the first two, there are interfaculty research departments (Protein Research Department and Research Department Neuroscience). The Dept. of Medicine participates in research groups, initiatives and CRCs: Research Centre "One Health Ruhr" of the Research Alliance Ruhr, CRC/TR 128, CRC/TR 259, FOR1905, CRC 1280, Network University Medicine (NUM), Multiple Sclerosis Competence Network. The BMBF-funded registry study Colopredict Plus 2.0 and CovidDataNet.NRW are coordinated from Bochum.

In 2023, the Medical Faculty of Bochum founded the first German Institute of Diversity Medicine and established a Chair of Diversity Medicine. Three diversity officers who are specially trained in the topic of diversity are contact persons on the subject. The integrated reformed degree course in Medicine meets the new requirement profiles of the medical profession by incorporating ethical, social and economic aspects as well as the acquisition of communication skills.