Instruction predominantly in the target language, with a wide range of funded stays abroad; Internationalisation of the degree programme by guest lecturers from abroad; Option to select French and Spanish as a 2-subject combination in the B.A. or M.Ed. or to link them together in the B.A. by means of the ‘Additional Romance Language’ profile; Option of studying the respective Romance language in the B.A. (2-subject) even without any prior knowledge; close links between teaching and research through student participation in projects such as multilingualism research (special feature in Germany).

The department has a focus on France, to which the bi-national B.A. Degree programme in Applied Cultural and Economic Studies, Germany-France, contributes. The department’s focus on Latin America centres around the DAAD-ISAP BAILA La Plata programme, which regularly hosts an online alumni seminar in cooperation with UN La Plata, HU Berlin and Bielefeld University. The numerous ERASMUS+ partnerships with France, Spain and Argentina are complemented by a Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) (Besançon, Bucharest, Salamanca).

CIP room and ZIM: Computer access for students, technical media and support with questions relating to hardware and software; Some seminar rooms equipped with projectors and hands-free systems for use in hybrid courses; Continuous work with learning platforms (Moodle in particular); University library with specialised digital offers (free access to journals and databases in Romance Studies, own university-thesis server, flatbed book scanners and lots of study rooms.

Linguistics: Multilingualism, Language Acquisition Research; Literature: Narrative research, exile research; Teaching Methodology: Bilingual Teaching and Learning, Multilingualism Didactics; Co-edition of the journal "DIEGESIS" (Interdisciplinary E-Journal for narrative research). Co-edition of the magazine ‘Hispanorama’ (Association journal of the German Spanish Teachers’ Association). Ongoing DFG project ‘Das literarisch-philosophische Erbe des spanischen Exils in Mexiko’.

Although the degree courses in Romance Studies – with the exception of the B.A. in Applied Cultural and Economic Studies, Germany-France – typically do not prepare students to found business start-ups, there are structurally organised contacts with the business community within the subject area and the university. The practical forum and the internship database in the field are supplemented by the general offers of Career Service Wuppertal and the specific offer for Women Entrepreneurs in Science.