FAQ about going abroad
We collect typical questions about preparing a stay abroad and answer here. Please read it before asking us. This way we gain time for more individual support to you.
If you are enrolled at the Hochschule Mittweida and
- complete an internship in another location in Germany
- or take a semester off
- or write a thesis in another place than Mittweida,
these steps must be followed:
- Register for the new semester by transferring the semester fee within the specified deadline.
- Deregistration at the registration office in Mittweida (townhall) and registration at the registration office at the new place of residence. This new registration certificate is required in the Student Service to stay matriculated.
- Extend or terminate the dormitory contract. Because: The dormitory contract continues as long as you do not terminate it within the deadline or have found a subtenant. Talk to the Studentenwerk Freiberg about this in time!
- Continue the health insurance contract. Without proof of health insurance, you can’t be matriculated. Health insurance contributions must therefore be paid even if you spend the semester abroad. The obligation to pay contributions ends with the removal from the register of students or with a FINAL cancellation of a residence in Germany for the period of study. This is only an option if you are able to complete your further studies online until the end.
- Communicate the new address to the German health insurance company. The health insurance company also accepts an address abroad if you spend the semester abroad.
- Keep the German bank account for the purpose of booking the health insurance contributions.
- You must pay the GEZ fee as long as you have a registration address in Germany. The registration address must be given by the registration office to the GEZ. If you complete this semester abroad, the GEZ fee is not applicable if you have registered with the resident registration office.
If you are enrolled at the Hochschule Mittweida and
- complete an internship in another location in Germany
- or take a semester off
- or write a thesis in another place than Mittweida,
these steps must be followed:
- Register for the new semester by transferring the semester fee within the specified deadline.
- Deregistration at the registration office in Mittweida (townhall) and registration at the registration office at the new place of residence. This new registration certificate is required in the Student Service to stay matriculated.
- Extend or terminate the dormitory contract. Because: The dormitory contract continues as long as you do not terminate it within the deadline or have found a subtenant. Talk to the Studentenwerk Freiberg about this in time!
- Continue the health insurance contract. Without proof of health insurance, you can’t be matriculated. Health insurance contributions must therefore be paid even if you spend the semester abroad. The obligation to pay contributions ends with the removal from the register of students or with a FINAL cancellation of a residence in Germany for the period of study. This is only an option if you are able to complete your further studies online until the end.
- Communicate the new address to the German health insurance company. The health insurance company also accepts an address abroad if you spend the semester abroad.
- Keep the German bank account for the purpose of booking the health insurance contributions.
- You must pay the GEZ fee as long as you have a registration address in Germany. The registration address must be given by the registration office to the GEZ. If you complete this semester abroad, the GEZ fee is not applicable if you have registered with the resident registration office.
Please pose any questions about a stay abroad to the International Office: outgoing@hs-mittweida.de. We advise you to collect information independently Websites beforehand.
Theoretically at all university worldwide. But unfortunately, it´s not easy to get a study placement only for one term. Therefore, we advise you to make full use of our network of partner universities. A stay abroad at one of our partner university holds many advantages:
- No tuition fees with partners of our ERASMUS+ program.
- International Office abroad as a counterpart.
- You will be treated as a representative from a partner university.
Certainly, you will act as an ambassador from our university. You have several options for a stay abroad at one of our partner universities:
study at a partner university of ERASMUS+ in Europe
study at a partner university of our university worldwide
For example: You could study at our partner university "University of Bradford" in Great Britain and search for a study permit: https://www.bradford.ac.uk/exchanges/incoming/erasmus/ Additionally, you could apply for funding at the International Office. You will find other exchange places in our search portal.
You can also plan differently:
Internship abroad
Free mover - study worldwide, but not at one of our partner universities
Yes, you can. You will need to go abroad as a "free mover“. You won´t get advice, nor support by the International Office. You can apply for a scholarship at DAAD ( German Academic Exchange Service). They can provide further information.
You will need to search independently for an internship abroad in Internet. The university doesn´t offer a network for this. But we have assembled a list with helpful links.
In case you attend an engineer technical study programme, you will probably be able to receive help and available spaces from Leonardobüro via ERASMUS+ SMP. This is a requirement to apply for a ERASMUS+ scholarship at this office.
ERASMUS+ is a funding programme, which aims to support education in the European Union. It provides the possibility to study abroad at one of its partner universities (ERASMUS+) or to do an internship abroad in Europe. The programme will support participating students financially. Every year, the International Office offers ERASMUS+ scholarships. Depending on the country, you will be guaranteed a fixed rate for a min. 2 months stay (internship) or a min. 3 month stay (studies).
All students who are matriculated at our university and who seek to complete their final degree at our university. You will need to have completed your first year of studies successfully (at least two terms), if you want to study broad. (Rules differ for master studies.) Internships are promoted within the first year of studies as well. The study abroad must be mandatory in your study programme. Internships should also be part of your curriculum. Your primary residence shall not be in your country of destination.
At each ERASMUS+ partner university in Europe, Turkey, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. For research you can use search engine. As search key you can use "ERASMUS+ SMS (study visit for students)".
"Free mover" are students who don´t apply at partner universities. The International Office only provides limited support. You have to complete your application and organise your finance independently.
Yes, students of all study programmes are eligible to participate in a semester abroad.
If you want your credits to be recognised, you will need to arrange a “Learning Agreement” with your faculty beforehand.
Alternatively, you can take a break semester. Following this, you won´t be able to be financially supported, because it would have been dependent of the recognition of your credits.
Your courses are dependent of the university abroad. We only have cooperation between two faculties of our partner universities. Therefore, most of the time you can only choose courses of certain faculties.
After your arrival, there could be changes in your choice of courses because of various reasons. You should prepare yourself, that you will possibly need to choose new courses.
Additionally, you will need to know beforehand if you want your credits to be recognised. In this case, you will need to talk to your faculty, to prepare their recognition as test performances.
You will need to organise a "Learning Agreement" if you participate in the ERASMUS+ programme. The university abroad confirms the courses you have had chosen. The responsible person in your faculty will agree to your choice of courses by signature.
A "Learning Agreement" is a document, which contains all your courses at the university abroad. You will need to research well. Afterwards, the responsible person in your faculty will consider if your choice of courses fits into your learning schedule at Hochschule Mittweida and resembles the courses at Hochschule Mittweida. He/ She will agree to your choice of courses by signature.
After your stay abroad it is mandatory to submit a Transcript of Records. Only with this, it is possible to process the recognition of your courses abroad. You will need to submit a "Learning Agreement" to participate in ERASMUS+ programme.
ECTS means European Credit Transfer (and Accumulation) System. This credit system has been introduced to all European Universities, to provide a consistent and easy recognition of your academic performance. ECTS is not a grading system. It only compares the time invested in a study course. This way, you can proof a formal equivalence. Normally you can earn up to 30 ECTS per term at universities which work with the ECTS system. This matches a particular time investment, which can also be called "Workload". To complete a bachelor degree as a full-time study you will need to accomplish 180-240 ECTS points.
To claim mobility grant it is mandatory that you have earned at least 20 ECTS after your semester abroad with ERASMUS+. This applies to all study programmes.
In the study programme: Global Communication in Business and Culture you will only need 15 ECTS points, if you don't participate in an ERASMUS+ programme.
You have to bear in mind, that non-European countries use different credit-systems, which cannot be compared directly with ECTS.
After an agreement with the responsible person of your faculty, your semester abroad is eligible to be recognised. You will need to choose courses, which fit into your study programme at Hochschule Mittweida. The recognition of your credits won´t happen on its own. You will have to become active yourself.
If you receive an ERASMUS+ scholarship, you will have to arrange a “Learning Agreement”. This document confirms the recognition of your choice of courses abroad by a signature from the responsible person of your faculty.
You will need to talk to your faculty, to prepare the recognition of your semester abroad as test performances beforehand. You will need to choose courses, which fit into your study programme at Hochschule Mittweida. To evaluate your semester abroad, the faculty will need exact module descriptions in your “Learning Agreement”.
The responsible person in your faculty will agree to your choice of courses by signature. After your stay abroad, you will have to bring forward a motion for your courses to be recognised by the examination board of Hochschule Mittweida. Therefore, you will need a Transcript of Records of your courses abroad and the Learning Agreement, which you organised before your stay abroad.
Further suggestions about the recognition at our university you will find here.
To participate in the ERASMUS+ programme you only have to submit you A-Levels certificate to IKKS, to request the confirmation of your English language skills. They should be equivalent to B2.
In case you own a Cambridge-Certificate or similar certificate, you are eligible to use those as proof of language skills for your application.
First of all, you look up a place in our search engine, ask for support by the International Office and submit your papers via our application portal. We will process your application once it´s completed and forward your information to our partner universities, as an ERASMUS+ exchange student. Attention: It is mandatory to know the different deadlines of each partner university. We will inform you about all important deadlines during the consulting.
To get an ERAMUS+ scholarship, you will need to submit your application to our partner Leonardobüro Saxony. The application process will not proceed via the International Office.
Basically, you will need enough money to finance your stay abroad. You can support those funds whilst you apply in time for a scholarship.
You should care about options to financially support your internship abroad well enough in advance.
There are several organisations to support your internship abroad, for instance the ERASMUS+ programme. Additionally, the DAAD offers diverse scholarships to support your proposition.
There is an amount of exemption of 300€. We advise you to apply to Auslands-BAfög (German federal law on support in education in foreign countries).
The duration of an ERASMUS+ scholarship is dependent on the duration of your stay abroad. You have to apply for a residence permit. The finances will be calculated exactly per day. Every full month set as a 30-day month.
Every study abroad with a duration between 3 and 12 months is eligible to be financially supported. Every internship abroad with a duration between 2 and 12 months is eligible to be financially supported.
Per study period (Bachelor, Master, Postdoctoral) you can receive 12 months of financial support. The months of study and the months of an internship add up. You will be supported up to 24 months if you study a diploma degree programme which can´t be combined with a master degree programme.
With every application you will need to imply the months of financially support you have already received.
If you participate in a partly virtual ERASMUS+ stay abroad via an online study programme, you will only receive financial support at the days you spent abroad.
Mostly the partner universities provide dorm rooms for their students. In the majority of cases, they will reserve spaces in student housing to nominated international students. You should receive information about your housing abroad by our partner universities as soon as the process of nomination is completed.
Additionally, some partner universities offer to stay at host families. You are free to choose your own accommodation as well.
Please enquire about your insurance early enough. We advise to submit to a global health insurance.
Read all visa requirements. They often include more statutory provisions to enter your destination. For example, they recommend certain vaccinations.
Please regard, at some partner universities a national health insurance is mandatory to enrol in their university. Probably, you will need to conclude it before or immediately after your arrival. In instance this is mandatory for Canada.
The DAAD offers health insurances especially to participate in a semester abroad: https://www.daad.de/en/study-research-teach-abroad/scholarships-funding/daad-insurance/destination-abroad/.
There are several other providers of a global health insurance. Please regard, travel health insurances do not provide sufficient coverage over a longer period of time. It is mandatory to conclude a comprehensive health insurance.
You request the international student ID online here. In instance, you will receive student reductions, in case you buy tickets.
During an internship abroad, we advise you to apply for an international student ID.
At your university abroad you will receive an additional student ID. This is only valid during your semester abroad and is limited to the country.