Before your arrival
This section provides you with first step information in order to make the preparation of your stay in Mittweida as easy as possible. The tips ensure an optimum preparation of your arrival.
Visa Application
Please apply for your visa as soon as you have received your admission letter.
As this process is usually very time-consuming. Please note: It is not allowed to enrol you with a tourist visa!
By applying for visa you need to proof how you will finance your stay. The embassy requires an average amount from all applicants. This amount is defind by German law. It does not matter, where you like to study in Germany. German universities have no influence on that average amount.
You may submit a guarantee from your parents or from family members or friends in Germany or a bank statement or a scholarship letter.
It may be, that you need to open a blocked account in Germany and to transfer the whole amount to this account. This is a decision of the German embassies. Please read the application information of the embassy. Opening a blocked account takes time! The German Foreign Office lists various blocked account providers.
With an invitation for one semester you need to proof means for 6 months, with an invitation for one year means for 12 months. After that period you need to extend your residence permit at the Foreigner´s Registration Office in Germany and proof again your finances. To make the finance proof easier, we usually invite exchange students for one semester only.
Please inform us once you have received the visa!
To find accommodation
Please care for accommodation BEFORE YOUR ARRIVAL!
We cooperate with Studentenwerk Freiberg and provide a certain number of places in a dormitory. But we do not have dormitory places for all international students. Please apply for a dormitory place latest by the end of June for the winter semester and latest beginning of January for the summer semester, independent of the visa application process:
Apply now. Application is possible only online.
If you cannot receive a place in the dormitory, you need to look for private housing in Mittweida or surroundings. But we do not support you in looking for housing. You are responsible on your own for that! Be aware that to find accommodation is not easy! Please book accommodation before your arrival. No arrival without room.
Information about dormitories:
Our modernly equipped student housing facilities are located directly on campus. The student cafeteria and diverse possibilities for shopping are close by. Students can choose between several types of rooms. Living in the dormitory offers you perfect studying conditions, you can easily get in touch with other students, it helps you with the start of your studies and makes it easy to find new friends. The dormitories are maintained by the "Studentenwerk Freiberg".You need to open a German bank account immediately after your arrival, because the monthly loan for the accommodation will be taken from a German bank account.Additionally you have to pay a deposit - for example 2 monthly loans -, which will be refunded at the end of your stay if you leave the room without damages and clean.
Please note: Arrival is not possible during the weekend and German holidays.
Living costs
Please plan the following monthly costs for your study stay in Mittweida:
dormitory around 210€
food and drinks 300€
health insurance 105€ *
public broadcast 17,50€**
In total 632,50e per months.
Expenses once per semester:
administrative fee "Semesterbeitrag" 97€ (transfer online after receipt of visa)
deposit dormitory 300€ ***
electronic residence title 100€
In total is it 497€ and for one month 42€ additionally.
cost for 12 months in total per months: 674,50€
* obligatory to become enrolled, contract should be taken out online from home before arrival in advance (guiding by us is possible). Travel insurance is not accepted.
** Reqired after hiring a room anywhere in Germany. After receiving a letter from "Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk" (Beitragsservice von ARD, ZDF, Deutschlandradio) you need to pay a legally fixed Licence fee for public-service broadcasting channels with the amount of 17,50 EUR per monthly and per flat. This amount can be shared between the roommates.
*** The dormitory requires a deposit in the beginning with the first payment, which will be refunded at the end of the contract period if you leave the room clean and without damages.
You do not need to calculate costs for public transport. Mittweida is a small town. Everything is very comfortable in a walking distance.
Our university library provides many books (printed and as e-books), journals and online databases for free for students. You decide on your own, which books you like to buy. There is no obligation to buy a book, you can work in the library.
This video by the Deutsches Studentenwerk explains requirements and options for financing studying in Germany for international students.
Tution fees
There is no tuition fee for the undergraduate courses at our university. This is a regulation by the law in Saxony.
Master courses as continuation af Bachelor courses are also free of tuition fees.
In other cases a tution fee will be charged per semester, still depending on some other further circumstances (exceeding the regular period of study with more as 5 semesters for example).
Courses in distance learning and programmes that require postgraduate work experience (weiterbildend) are subject to tuition fees.
Health insurance
Proof of health insurance is compulsory and a prerequisite for your enrolment.
Students from EU countries have to bring their European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) or the previously valid form E111 (this has been largely replaced by the European Health Insurance Card). There are still some transitional periods for the European Health Insurance Card, during which a provisional certificate is valid. If you have such a provisional certificate, you must have it confirmed by a statutory German health insurance. Nationals from Turkey please bring the document A/T11 with you and have it approved by a German health insurance fund. Every statutory health insurance fund in Germany will issue you with such a certificate.
EU students who are not insured in their home country and all non-EU students must take out health insurance with a German health insurance company. Please take out this insurance before your arrival (online) or immediately after your arrival in Germany. Some companies offer to transfer the first monthly instalment after arrival and opening a German bank account. In case of questions contact the International Office please. If you are under 30 years old, it is compulsory to take out statutory health insurance. If you are over 30 years old, you can take out private health insurance or take out voluntary statutory health insurance. Please note: Travel insurance is not accepted for enrolment!
"Semesterbeitrag"
Please transfer the "Semesterbeitrag" like described here after the receipt of your admission letter/invitation and, if necessary, the receipt of your visa.
You cannot be enrolled without that payment. Only after your enrolment you are able to receive your login for the university, to the free wifi account, to the online enrolment to the selected study modules and to your university email address, which is used for all communication with the university staff. Out of this reason you need to transfer the amount before arrival. Please make sure that you take over bank charges for the transfer, because, if the amount is arriving not complete, you will not receive enrolment. Payment in cash after arrival is not possible.
Scholarships
On principle each applicant need to be able to finance his/her stay out of own means.
There are different organisations and foundations, who offer financial suppport for foreign students. Such support depends very often on study results or different social activities.
One of the main organisations in Germany to provide scholarships is the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
The following links lead you to pages in German language:
Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst
You may also look here: http://studieren.de/stipendien.0.html
foundations: http://www.stiftungsindex.de/recherche.htm
other scholarship programmes