Hertie School of Governance in the context of FU Berlin

The Free University of Berlin (German: Freie Universität Berlin, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period as a Western continuation of the Friedrich Wilhelm University, or the University of Berlin, whose traditions and faculty members it retained. The Friedrich Wilhelm University, being located in East Berlin (East Germany), was renamed the Humboldt University. The Free University's name referred to West Berlin's status as part of the intellectual continuum of the Western "Free World", contrasting with Soviet-controlled East Berlin.

In 2008, as part of a joint effort, the Free University of Berlin, along with the Hertie School of Governance and WZB Social Science Research Center Berlin, created the Berlin Graduate School for Transnational Studies.

The Berlin Graduate School for Transnational Studies (BTS) is a cooperative project of three scientific institutes and institutions: the Free University Berlin, the Hertie School of Governance, and the Social Science Research Center Berlin. It constitutes a platform for research in transnational and international relations. BTS offers an English-language PhD programme for graduate students in the field of transnational and international relations, defined as an interdisciplinary field of research encompassing Political Science, History, Economics, Law and adjacent disciplines.