Länggasse 85, Zollikofen – Campus BFH-HAFL

Near the city of Bern, yet out in the countryside: our campus in Zollikofen is ideally situated. Set among fields and forests, it offers the facilities you need for your studies and countless leisure activities, as well as student accommodation.

Address + contact

BFH-HAFL
Länggasse 85
3052 Zollikofen

Reception and office opening hours

Reception                      Telephone (main office)
Monday to Thursday    Monday to Thursday
8 am – 12 pm                8 am – 12 pm
1.30 pm – 5 pm            2 pm – 5 pm

Friday                            Friday
8 am – 12 pm                8 am – 12 pm
1.30 pm – 4 pm            2 pm – 4 pm

Location + How to find us

Arriving by public transport

You can easily reach us by train. From Bern railway station, take RBS regional transport line S8 towards Jegenstorf. Trains leave every 15 minutes. Leave the train at Oberzollikofen, cross the tracks via the underpass, and follow signs to ‘BFH HAFL’ (around 10 minutes on foot).

During commuter hours, you can travel right to our main entrance by public transport. Take RBS bus number 41 (Breitenrain–Zollikofen) and alight at the ‘Rütti Hochschule’ stop.

Arriving by car

If you are travelling from western Switzerland, exit the motorway at Bern-Neufeld. Anyone travelling from the Bernese Oberland should leave the motorway at Bern-Wankdorf. From Bern, you can reach us in 10 minutes by following Worblaufen–Zollikofen or Wankdorf–Ittigen–Zollikofen. Take the Zurich–Basel A1, exit the motorway at Schönbühl, and drive via Moosseedorf to Zollikofen.

Deliveries

Deliveries – other than post and courier services – can be unloaded directly at the delivery entrance. On Länggasse, coming from Zollikofen, take the first entrance to our campus and turn right after the first building. The entrance is approximately 70 metres on the left. Use the intercom to call the office (open on weekdays, 8 am–12 pm and 2 pm–5 pm).

BFH-HAFL

Berner Fachhochschule
Hochschule für Agrar-, Forst- und Lebensmittelwissenschaften HAFL
Länggasse 85
CH-3052 Zollikofen

+41 31 910 21 11

office.hafl@bfh.ch

Our Campus + Campus life

With its applied research, BFH-HAFL develops solutions for current issues and future challenges. Part of the research takes place in the fields and forests around the campus. Visit us and discover the campus area!

Our campus is not just a place to study and work. With a swimming pool, beach volleyball court, barbecue areas, and much more, there are a wide range of leisure activities on offer. There is also an onsite student residence, with approximately 140 furnished rooms, and a cafeteria.

Virtual tours

Cafeteria

Detailed information and any changes are communicated via the intranet.
Access the current menus here.

Opening hours

  • Meals:
    Monday to Friday: 9.00 am to 4.00 pm
    Closed on Saturday, Sunday and public holidays

Special opening hours apply during the teaching-free periods and will be displayed accordingly. 

Virtual tour

Library

As an academic library affiliated to the nationwide library system swisscovery, we acquire, catalogue and make available printed and electronic documents in the agricultural, forest and food sciences.

Hall of Residence BFH-HAFL

The hall of residence on our campus is available only to HAFL students. Because the demand for rooms significantly exceeds the supply, it is unfortunately not possible for students from other BFH departments to be considered.

Applications are handled differently depending on whether you apply BEFORE or AFTER the start of your course. Before you apply, make sure that you read the brochure “Information on student accomodation” carefully (see download).

Virtual tour

Our campus offers a wide range of leisure facilities. Facilities include:

  • Swimming pool
  • Beach volleyball
  • Pool table
  • Barbecue area
  • Table tennis
  • Gym with climbing wall
  • Sauna

We cultivate a three-hectare area adjacent to the campus: the ‘Liechtifeld’. This means we can perform trials for our applied research directly on site. It also acts as an additional ‘lecture theatre’ for agriculture students – for practical demonstrations and student projects.

Botanical nature trail

Students of Agricultural and Forest Sciences at BFH-HAFL need a sound knowledge of plants. The area around the campus in Zollikofen offers plenty of opportunities to acquire this knowledge: most of our native trees and shrubs can be found there. 
Since summer 2017, students, and anyone else interested, have been able to test their knowledge of local flora by following a botanical nature trail. The plants on the BFH-HAFL site are labelled with signs – but the botanical names have been replaced with a QR code. First, you need to identify the plants, and then you can check the answer by scanning the QR code. The infoflora.ch website also provides further information on the plants.

To use the QR code, you will need:

  • A smartphone
  • A QR reader app
  • Mobile data/Wi-Fi The BFH-HAFL Wi-Fi can be used, depending on your location.

If you don’t have a smartphone, you can use the lists. You will find all of the answers there – sorted by the numbers printed on the signs.

Our sensory lab can be used to perform sensory evaluations of products under controlled conditions. It is equipped with 11 testing booths with FIZZ sensory software (ISO 8589:2007). The booths have red and green lighting, which can be used to mask visual differences, if required for the question or test design.

Test facilities for study, research and development

Our 550 sq. m Pilot Plant is a food technology test centre with a broad range of facilities. It offers students the ideal facilities for practical lessons or tests for their end-of-term assignment or final thesis. The Pilot Plant also enables our researchers to perform important basic food technology operations on a small scale. Food companies may also use the services of the test facilities.

One of the resources used in practical lessons for agriculture students specialising in international agriculture is our greenhouse, which has three different climate zones: tropical highlands, tropical lowlands and savannah. A diverse range of tropical plants are grown there – from coffee and papaya to cotton.

Cultural events are also held in the greenhouse.

Sustainability

Sustainability is an important issue, not only on our courses of study, but also on our campus, where we work to protect nature and the environment.

  • The extension completed in 2012 complies with the Minergie-PEco standard.
  • We also use green energy for a significant portion of our power consumption.
  • The green areas are designed to encourage native plants to grow and contribute to biodiversity.

Permaculture – pioneering spirit at BFH-HAFL

Global Field permaculture garden

The BFH-HAFL Global Field complements the existing forest ecosystem. Cultivated and wild fruits, berries, edible perennials, herbs, and mushrooms are planted here. They are surrounded by plants that can absorb nitrogen from the atmosphere. This provides the edible plants with important nutrients and, at the same time, increases biodiversity. You are welcome to explore the Global Field with us!

Permaculture Show Garden

Our permaculture garden features various elements, such as fruit tree guilds, raised beds, and windbreak hedges. Explore the garden and read about the benefits of each element.