Mercator College is one of the four residential colleges at Jacobs University Bremen . It is a place for students to live and learn in harmony that currently hosts approximately 171 students from more than 30 countries. Accommodation consists of double apartments – two single furnished student rooms with internet and telephone access. The college also contains a dining hall, serviced by the catering giant ARAMARK and providing three meals a day. Further facilities include niches, quiet study area, TV and leisure rooms, the College Office, laundry rooms and separate lockers in the basement, as well as the apartments of the College Masters and the Resident Associates. Official information about housing, policies and the residential colleges can be found at the respective page on the main Jacobs University Website.

Mercator College has been given it's name to honour the Stiftung Mercator GmbH from Essen and the Stiftung Mercator Switzerland, based in Lucerne. In year 2002, these two foundations donated a total of EUR 6.5 million to the then International University Bremen for the renovation and construction of the second college. A year after the generous donation, Mercator College was officially dedicated on the 8th of April 2003. It is the second college on campus to be officially named. The first students already moved into the renovated buildings in September.

The dedication of the college was celebrated with a reception and the unveiling of a copper dedication plate in honour of the donors. This was followed by speeches of Ian Marshall, member of Mercator student government, Mandy Boehnke, College Master of Mercator College, IUB president Fritz Schaumann, and Dr. Hartmut Müller-Peddinghaus and Dr. Michael Schmidt on behalf of the Mercator Foundation. IUB students added to the celebration with a diverse cultural program. Mercator College, a place for students to live and learn is modelled after American residential colleges. Students actively participate in the administration and governing of their colleges. The College Masters, always a faculty member at Jacobs University with his/her family, share every aspect of college life with the students. Their main role is to be mentors to the students and assist them in their self-governance of the colleges.

The Mercator Foundation
The Swiss Mercator Foundation was founded in 1996, the Mercator Foundation in Germany in 1997, both by the Karl Schmidt family. The two foundations support innovative concepts in higher education and also intercultural understanding of children and young people. This in keeping with the famous Duisburg cartographer, scientist and 16th-century entrepreneur Gerhard Mercator after whom the Foundation is named.

The Collegiate System

Jacobs University Bremen's residential colleges are very similar to Halls of Residence found in most UK Universities and the Residential Colleges found in many North American Universities. Following this model,  Jacobs University is home of four independent colleges which not only provide students with living accommodation and dining facilities, but are also micro-communities with diverse cultural life and social atmosphere. The colleges are governed by a college council, which includes the College Masters (usually an Jacobs University professor with his/her family), the Resident Associates (Jacobs University professors and/or research assistants or graduate students) and the College Office Team, which consists of a manager and undergraduate student assistants. Each college also has its representatives to the Student Government, which represents the colleges and the students to the Administration of the university and to the outside world. In an effort to involve the surrounding world in the college life, the residential colleges at Jacobs University Bremen also have honorary members which range from Jacobs University professors and staff to members of the Bremen community.

You can learn more about the Collegiate System here.

Part of the text adapted from
http://wwwback.jacobs-university.de/drupal_lists/archives/news/01048/