With around 2,300 students and 65 professors, the HNEE is the smallest university in Brandenburg, about 50 kilometers from the metropolis of Berlin, is located in the middle of an extensive natural landscape and is spread over three locations. The faculties of landscape use and nature conservation and sustainable economy are located on the architecturally diverse and green city campus, and the faculties of forest and environment and wood engineering are on the forest campus. The forest botanical garden, the oldest garden in Europe, is affiliated to the HNEE as a central unit and is used e.g. used in teaching and research.

The 20 innovative and sometimes unique courses have a very independent profile that is committed to sustainable management and some of them are unique in Germany. The distinctive sustainability profile of the HNEE pervades all areas of the university and is constantly being further developed in a participatory manner. HNEE has been EMAS-certified since 2010 and has been climate-neutral since 2014. Most recently, in 2017, the family-friendly university received the European EMAS Award for exemplary environmental management.

The HNEE is one of the strongest research universities in Brandenburg. The research profile of the HNEE is characterized by three main research areas:

1) Sustainable Rural Development
2) Sustainable production and use of natural substances
3) Sustainable management of limited resources