Hagen has been home to the only public remote learning university in Germany since 1974, an establishment that is now well-known throughout the country. With almost 45,000 students, FernUniversität Hagen is one of the three largest universities in the country. With study centres in Germany and abroad, the institute stands for a high educational standard and excellent qualifications of its graduates, in particular in the fields of electrical engineering and IT, cultural and social sciences, mathematics, law and business. This is also one reason why young, innovative companies have settled in the vicinity of the FernUniversität Hagen campus. But there is even more on site. The South Westphalia University of Applied Sciences has been training young engineers in the fields of business management, electrical engineering, IT and engineering since 2002. New combined courses integrate studies with intensive operational practice, opening up promising new prospects for both students and companies. Further training is also a motto of the modern Wissenspark knowledge park in Fleyer Straße. Having first opened its doors as a ‘house of science and education’ in 1998, in 1999 the South Westphalia Chamber of Industry and Commerce introduced offers for innovative training at the establishment for the first time. In addition, other renowned institutions also have a presence in Hagen – some of them having done so for many years. These include the Verwaltungsakademie für Westfalen administration academy, the Wirtschaftsakademie Hagen, a business academy, the Berufsfortbildungswerk des Deutschen Gewerkschaftsbundes, a trades union vocational training establishment, and the University of Applied Sciences for Public Administration, the Haus Busch journalism centre and the Bildungszentrum des Gastgewerbes NRW, a hotel and catering training establishment. It is due in no small part to this variety that Hagen enjoys its reputation as a city of training and education.

Art nouveau houses built in the Hagener Impuls architectural style can be found throughout Hagen, the most renowned among them the Hohenhof and the Am Stirnband buildings, as well as those of Waldorfstraße. The contemporary appreciation of art and culture of its founder lives on in the Karl-Ernst Osthaus museum. The open-air museum in Hagen’s South features historic industrial and trade establishments which demonstrate the historic working conditions. However, the region also offers other cultural highlights. Hagen’s historic centre consists of the City Museum, the Schloss Hohenlimburg Museum, the German Cold-Roll Museum and the City Archive and is the main hub of the cultural and museum scene. In the romantic Ruhr valley, near Lake Harkort, lies the moated castle of Werdringen, with a vivid history dating back to the 13th century. The medieval site is home to the Museum of Pre- and Early History with its collection of finds from over 450 million years of development history.