Recognition of courses from abroad for Computer Science students is carried out after your return from abroad by the recognition officer of the Department of Computer Science Benjamin Mann (benjamin.mann@fau.de).

If you have questions such as „Can this module from university X be recognized at FAU?“, please ask Benjamin Mann.

If you do not study Computer Science, please find out who your recognition officer is. For AI and CE students, it is Dr. Felix Schmutterer.

In addition, you might want to obtain (e.g., in the area of minor subjects) the consent for recognition of the lecturer(s) by their signature on the „Recognition Agreement“.

You can use this form for this purpose: Recognition Agreement.

This document does not replace the Erasmus „Learning Agreement“, the confirmation of which is done by the Erasmus coordinator.

Internships abroad can be an alternative to a semester abroad. They are shorter and improve your „employability“.

Under some circumstances you can apply for an Erasmus internship-scholarship of internships and the practical part of a thesis. More information can be found here.

Internships abroad are organized decentrally at the Department of Computer Science. If you have any questions, please contact the individual chairs directly.

Here you can find general information about planning and carrying out internships abroad.

Please look up the List of our Erasmus partners (external link, in German).

• Please pay attention: some partners accept only Bsc or only Msc students!
• In the list of Erasmus partners, the number of students  is given per year (not per semester)
• Fall semester or autumn semester = winter semester (WS) at FAU
• Spring semester = summer semester (SS) at FAU
• 5 months = staying abroad for 1 semester, 10 month = two semesters (1 academic year)
• Nx5 means N students per year, each for 5 months
• Nx10 means that students can apply for 1 semester (5 months) or for a year (10 months), and the number of students varies between N (if everybody applies for 10 months) and 2N (if everybody applies for 5 months).
• If you go abroad for winter semester and would like on site to extend for the following summer semester, please submit an application for an extension to the FAU S-INTERNATIONAL Office (not to your Erasmus coordinator!) at least one month before the end of the originally planned stay.
  • Extending from the summer semester to the following winter semester is NOT POSSIBLE.
  • An extension is only possible if both the responsible department at FAU and the host university agree to it.
  • However, an extension of the duration of stay does not automatically mean an extension of the scholarship. The latter will be decided on the basis of the available funds, such that you might have to pay for your extension stay with your own funds („Zero Grant“).

You are going to need the following PDF document for your application. Please apply through the StudOn course below, which will have the link to the current application course in due time.

https://www.studon.fau.de/crs4353846_join.html

Please have your PDF document ready when you enter the application course. You will have to select universities BEFORE entering the course. Please do this carefully, because UNIVERSITIES SELECTED IN THE COURSE AND THEIR ORDER COUNT. Thus, if there is a mismatch between your PDF and your selected universities in the course, it is likely that the PDF WILL NOT BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT. Information in PDF is used for verification, but it is supposed to match the information entered in the course. Please also note that 2nd and 3rd choice of universities in the course are OPTIONAL, meaning that it is possible to choose only one university.

Submit your PDF in the current application course after you enter it, in the exercise called „Erasmus Applications (single PDF file)“.

Please merge the following documents into a single PDF document in the below order:

• Informal cover letter in English not longer than 1 page A4 with brief motivation for each of your chosen universities:
  
  • Please do not include general motivation for going abroad. Instead, include 2-4 sentences per university as motivation, and mention your language skills for a particular country (if applicable). If there are specific programs or courses that are offered at your chosen universities and are important for you, please include this information. There is no need to compose a long essay, unless you feel that you absolutely must say something additional.
    
    • Please note: although we are trying our best to give everybody their 1st choice, it is still quite likely that you will be nominated for your 2nd or 3rd choice.
• Put the following information in a separate, clearly visible section of the cover letter (not in body text):
  
  • Semester for the stay abroad
  • your  degree program at FAU: subject, semester, Bachelor or Master
    
    • If you are a studying double degree FAU-USI or EUMaster4HPC, provide this info
    • If you are going to change from Bachelor to Master at the time of your planned stay abroad, please mention this
  • at most three desired universities as a list (priority 1-3)
• Informal chronological (!) tabular CV in English with contact details, date of birth, the indication of your current course of study (subject, semester, Bachelor or Master) and language skills, picture and signature
  
  • Please put your Education first, and NOT your Working Experience. You are not applying for a job, but for study abroad. So the most important information is your study subject.
• If you are studying double degree FAU-USI or EUMaster4HPC, provide a proof of this fact (e.g., the acceptance email that you received)
• Proof of language skills of your countries of choice (e.g., through certificates of completed language courses or reference to language courses currently taken), see also https://www.informatik.studium.fau.de/studierende/wege-ins-ausland/#language-requirements
• English grade statement (Notenspiegel) for your current semester.
  
  • Please also insert it if you are in your first Master semester and the grade report is therefore still empty!
• For Master students: Bachelor’s degree certificate
• High school diploma

After reviewing all application documents, the Erasmus coordinator will inform the applicants about the result and send a nomination list to the Central office for International Affairs.

The RIA is the central International Office of the University, which is responsible for the administrative process of the ERASMUS+ program and the payment of the study grant:

https://www.fau.eu/studying/organizing-your-studies-and-where-to-go-for-advice/going-abroad/studying-abroad/studying-with-erasmus/#application-process

After the successful nomination, this office is an important contact for you, informing you about the further formalities. The RIA will ask all nominated students by e-mail to register in the RIA online system. Furthermore, the RIA informs the host university about the nominated students as well as the students about the registration modalities of the host university.

Please note: The email from RIA may come several weeks after your nomination by the Erasmus coordinator. Please check your spam folder regularly, as these emails sometimes go there.

Adherence to the respective registration deadlines is very important, or exchange place cannot be guaranteed! Please be prepared that these deadlines are quite short-term.

To go abroad within the Erasmus+ program, you need to fill in a document called Learning Agreement, independently on whether you want the courses from abroad recognized at FAU.

• Learning Agreements (LAs) can be online or on paper.
  
  • If you filled in an online LA and have not received a signature for 5 days, please contact the Erasmus coordinator. Online LAs sometimes do not work.
• LAs (online and on paper) may differ slightly for different universities, but they usually have the following parts:
  
  • Table A: courses you take at the host university
  • Table B: corresponding courses at FAU that can be recognized
  • Table with signatures of involved persons

In addition, you might want to obtain (e.g., in the area of minor subjects) the consent for recognition of the lecturer(s) by their signature on the „Recognition Agreement“.

You can use this form for this purpose: Recognition Agreement.

This document does not replace the Erasmus „Learning Agreement“, the confirmation of which is done by the Erasmus coordinator.

If the number of applications exceeds the number of available places, students are selected according to their course of study, subject grades, motivation in the cover letter, language skills, and social/voluntary commitment for FAU:

• First priority group: students of the Computer Science Department (CS, AI, CE)
• Second priority group: students of Medical Engineering (Medizintechnik) and IIS
• All other applications will be considered after the placement of the above priorities

Other criteria are applied inside each of the three above groups of students in the following priority order:

1. Students with better grades have a higher priority
2. Good motivation for the chosen universities in the cover letter (e.g., they offer courses that are particularly useful for your study program)
3. Language skills for the particular country
4. Social/voluntary commitment for FAU (e.g., Buddy-program)

After your arrival at the receiving university, you might need to change your LA, for example if some courses are not taking place, or you decide to cancel a course, or to enroll in a new course. This is not a problem at all, just do the following:

• Use the part of your LA that states „During the Mobility“. It contains two tables: „Changes to Table A“ and „Changes to Table B“, where you can mark the corresponding changes.
• Don’t forget to sum up your ECTS anew!
• Fill in the same fields as in your first LA:
  • Responsible person(s) at receiving institution (with signature, if possible)
  • Responsible person at sending institution: name (Dr. Zinaida Benenson), position (Erasmus coordinator) and date. Thus, the only thing I have to add to the document should be my signature.
  • When sending your changed LA to your Erasmus coordinator for signature, explain briefly why the changes were made.

• The official proof of language will be required (if needed, see below) from the guest university. For the application at FAU, a German school certificate or equivalent is sufficient.
• Important: you need a proof of language skills for the language of study, not the language of the country. For example, if you only take courses at a French university that are taught in English, you need a certificate for English, not for French.
• If you want to study in English, please look up if they have enough courses in English for your degree program at your chosen universities  (Bachelor or Master).
• Especially Bachelor’s degrees are often taught in the language(s) of the country.
  • If you consider going to UPC (Universitat Politécnica de Catalunya, Spain) during your Bachelor studies, please note that the require B1 in Spanish, even if there are enough courses in English.
  • Generally, if you plan to go somewhere during Bachelor, we recommend to verify language requirements by asking the corresponding university (as the requirements may change without us noticing).
• Universities have different language requirements, even if they are in the same country. Moreover, these requirements can change from year to year. Therefore:
  
  • Before you ask your Erasmus advisor about language requirements, please use a search engine on a query like “university name student exchange“ (or similar), and look for language requirements there.
  • Language requirements for some universities (please notify your Erasmus coordinator if you discover that a link does not work, or information changed):
    
    • ESIGELEC: B1
    • Bordeaux: French B1 if you plan to attend courses in French, English B1 if you plan to attend courses taught in English, see step 3 Application: https://www.u-bordeaux.fr/en/international/come-to-bordeaux/international-students/exchange-programmes
• Sometimes no formal proof of language is needed
  • Examples: NTNU, Umea do not require proof of language for students from EU countries
  • Polimi (Politecnico di Milano) does not require a proof of language, but recommends B2/C1 in English
• Sometimes the German school certificate (Abitur) is sufficient.
  • Example: SDU
• The generally accepted language certificate is the Mobility test at the FAU Language Center. According to experiences of previous exchange students, you may need around 3 weeks of waiting time before you can complete the test.
• Double-degree FAU-USI students going to USI do not need a language certificate.
• For English, TOEFL, including TOEFL iBT Special Home Edition, is usually accepted. Please note that TOEFL is only valid for 2 years.

• If you study Computer Science:
  • Choose your preferred courses at the university abroad.
  • Fill in the Learning Agreeement. Write something like „Free choice FAU“ in Table B.
  • Let Erasmus coordinator sign the LA.
  • After you are back at FAU, Benjamin Mann will recognize all sensible courses. If you have any questions on what courses can be recognized, ask Benjamin Mann (benjamin.mann@fau.de).

• If you do not study Computer Science:
  • Choose your preferred courses at the university abroad.
  • Ask the person responsible for recognition in your course of studies if your chosen courses can be recognized.
    • For CE or AI that is Dr. Felix Schmutterer (studienberatung-ce@fau.de, studienberatung-ai@fau.de)
  • Fill in the Learning Agreeement.
  • Let Erasmus coordinator sign the LA.
  • Recognition of courses will happen when you return to FAU.

Students who are unable to attend the regular date of a written examination due to the completion of a study abroad program may apply to the Examination Committee for a substitute examination date in agreement with the respective examiner (cf. ABMPO § 16).

It is also possible to change the form of examination, e.g. to an oral examination, if this is compatible with the qualification objective of the module. The decision is made by the examination board. Evidence of the intended study abroad must be submitted with the application. This also applies to compulsory modules and second or third attempts. However, these cannot usually be converted into an oral examination. In consultation with the examination office, these can be made up for in the next examination period after the stay abroad.

Here you can find the application for substitute examination date(s) during a stay abroad.

For stays abroad, it is possible to take a leave of absence from FAU for one semester.

Please observe the applicable leave of absence guidelines.

The application for leave of absence must be submitted to the Student Administration Office before the start of lectures for the semester in question.

Erasmus students receive a partial scholarship, the amount of which depends on the partner country, and they are waived the tuition fees at the partner university (Erasmus+ funding). In addition, DAAD grants, Auslandsbafög or educational loans can be applied for.

If you are unhappy with the selection process or the course recognition, please get in touch with department management or the responsible contact person.

FAU offers a large variety of options to prepare yourself for your stay abroad:

• Courses for your „Schlüsselqualifikation“ (intercultural trainings of e.g. the Ziwis or the language center)
• Language courses at the language center
• The certificate „Interkulturelle Kompetenz für Studierende“
• The Buddy-program