FAQ for foreign Students

Erasmus students can attend all  FAU-courses, also parts of the complete modules.
They can take classes at other departments and faculties (in Erlangen) if they have the requirements determined in each module description.

Graduate students are always allowed to attend undergraduate courses, in the other way a preliminary interview with the teacher is necessary.

Who can send me individual course programs and subjects?

Sorry, but the  International Office can’t give personal course suggestions or individual schedules to incoming students, because there are too many options/ degrees at the FAU.
It’s up to you to check the resources (CAMPO, Modulhandbuch, homepages of the chairs, etc.), which requires some self-organization skills. Don’t worry- during our introductory courses in spring/ autumn we will give help and assistance.

So we suggest you:

1. read the general FAU info about „how to make your schedule“ and get familiar with the use of CAMPO

2. get in touch with German students/ buddys or chairs when you arrive.

3. speak with our team during the introductory week  before getting signed your learning agreement in our office

You have to make your plan of studies individually in CAMPO and according with the requirements of your home university.
Pay attention to the information given in the first session of the course.
If you need a signed learning agreement in advance, the International Office in Nürnberg or Erlangen can do this via the DLA-platform or with pdf-transfer, but we can’t advice you concerning your course choice.

The course catalogue/ survey CAMPO is available here:
(2-3 month before the new semester starts).

In the „Modulhandbuch“ (pdf, only in German) you’ll find more detailed information about the courses

For further questions please refer also to the websites of our Chairs:

https://www.wiso.rw.fau.eu/school/institutes-and-chairs/chairs/

to the key qualifications:
https://www.ziwis.fau.eu/home/courses/key-qualifications/

and the vhb courses:
https://kurse.vhb.org/VHBPORTAL/kursprogramm/kursprogramm.jsp

The codes are in the „Modulhandbuch“, in the left upper corner (see screenshot).

Please note: language of the module description = language of instruction (Deutsch or English)

For a complete up to date list for each semester do the following:

1. go on https://campo.fau.de/qisserver/pages/startFlow.xhtml?_flowId=searchCourseNonStaff-flow&_flowExecutionKey=e5s1
2. choose „teaching language“ (english / Deutsch und Englisch)  and „organizational unit“ (Rechts- und Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät) => see the results for each selected term

or click here for an Overview

All exchange students register at the examination office („Prüfungsamt“) via „CAMPO“, as do all regular students, Master and double-degree students. All transcripts of records and other ECTS-paperwork will be drawn up automatically via“ Mein Campus“.

Important: the exam registration is only in the middle of each term. No access to CAMPO is available before the enrollment, so there is no need to hurry.
The registration process will be supervised by one of our tutors. Also your buddies will help you if necessary.

If you want to participate in an exam (written or oral) at another faculty in Erlangen, please contact the teacher there.
This grades will be added to your transcript at the end of your stay.

In the „Modulhandbuch“ you’ll find  when the course takes places in point 12.
Exams for any course can be taken each semester even if the course does NOT take place. Please contact the responsible person at the concerned department/ chair.

Regarding the CAMPO- Website, you may choose the term (SoSe or WS). The course information there will be updated 2-3 month before the classes start..

Please read this  FAQ: http://sz.fau.de/abteilungen/daf/faq
In case of doubt please address to the infotheque in Nürnberg (LG 2.430) and ask the local team there.

Yes, but the exams are probably weighted differently, e.g. a 2-hour business lecture normally counts for 5 ECTS, sometimes only 2,5 ECTS depending on the workload.

German language classes during the semester are free of charge (not the intensive classes during spring or fall holidays!) Courses for other languages are free, too.

http://www.sz.uni-erlangen.de/ 
http://www.sz.uni-erlangen.de/abteilungen/daf/english

use the CAMPO-roomfinder

For detailed questions concerning special courses/modalities, ask the international assistants at each department („Lehrstuhl“): Ansprechpartner der Lehrstühle

You also can ask our advice during the FAU/WISO-introductory-courses

The Career Service of the School of Business and Economics provides a variety of services and resources to both students at the school of Business and Economics and employers within the metropolitan area Nuremberg. The range of events includes seminars on application and career entry, soft skills trainings, presentations by organizations, counseling interviews and job fairs. The events are usually held in German. A basic knowledge of German is essential for participation.
The Career Service doesn’t provide any placement service. Moreover they can’t give you any legal advice. They only give advice concerning applications but don’t develop application documents. For job offers, use the Stellenwerk

Generally, the rooms become available for prospective residents on  1st  April or October, respectively. As an exception, you can also move in shortly before this date. Janitors of the student hostels (Hausmeister) are responsible for this. Normally, you can move in from Monday till Friday, either before or after noon (predominantly, before noon). It is not possible to move in the evening, at night, or on the weekend or during public holidays.

Contact the janitor before you arrive to discuss your exact arrival date and the best time for you to move in. Once informed about your arrival, the janitor will be there. You can find telephone numbers of the janitors by clicking on the following link:
http://www.studentenwerk.uni-erlangen.de/wohnen/

In any case, if you have to arrive on the weekend or in the evening, make a one-night reservation at one of the youth hostels or hotels in advance (prices starting at  €20).

(see page 14 of „Basic Information“)

The student hostels of the so-called Student Union (Studentenwerk) are spread all over Erlangen and Nuremberg. Many of them are located in the central area of the city. Others lie outside the city centre, like Rommelwohnheim, which is in the southern part or Erlangen (Südgelände). It lies close to the technical faculty, which is especially convenient for the technical students. Moreover, there is a number of student hostels belonging to the student union, which are located in the suburbs (Herzogenaurach, Ingolstadt , etc). Details, photos and links of the student hostels can be found on this page.

The facilities of the Student Union (Studentenwerk) are usually designed as single rooms or apartments. There are smaller apartments (single apartments) and bigger apartments, where a group of students live together (Wohngemeinschaften, WGs).

Normally, you are the only person in you room, so you don’t have to share .

The furnishing depends on, in what particular student hostel you are going to live. Normally, the rooms are equipped with a bed, a lamp, a wardrobe (a closet), a writing table, as well as a couple of shelves and curtains (drapes).

NO! You have to buy it separately. Mostly for hygienic reasons, bed linen is not distributed to  students. You can still ask other students in private, so that the bed linen could be handed over or stored by your friends.

You can buy bed linen in „Kaufland“ or „Kaufhof “ supermarkets or even find something on sale in other shops in Erlangen/Nuremberg. „IKEA“ is popular for buying furnishings and décor (it lies a bit further away in Fürth-Poppenreuth). In Nuremberg you can find bed linen almost in every furniture store.

Since only furniture is available in the rooms, you should also buy towels, tableware and cutlery. In some hostels (Alexandrinum) you can find community tableware, which anyone can use (unfortunately, only few students do this).

They are normally used on a communal basis (shared). In some rooms you can find your own wash basin. Student hostels with single apartments, like Hoffmannwohnheim, Henkestraßewohnheim etc., offer a separate bathroom and a little kitchen corner for each student.

You can get access to the internet almost in every student hostel (see information on the black board of your hostel or ask other students in the hostel). In every hostel there is someone (among students), who is responsible for setting up connection with the internet. In order to be able to do this, you need the IP-address of your own computer and money for the internet fees (depending on the hostel, starting at 10 € pro semester). You should simply inform the responsible person, that you would like to have the internet connection. Normally, it doesn’t take much time before you can start using it.

In case there is no internet connection available in your student hostel, you can use the university’s CIP-pools („computer rooms“) alternatively. Matriculated students get a user account for the CIP-pools, which enables them to use internet also at their faculties. You can get information about how to activate your internet account either during the orientation course of the international office or by clicking on:

https://www.rrze.fau.de/internet-e-mail/internet-zugang/wlan

Moreover, you can also find a lot of internet cafes in Erlangen/Nuremberg (especially near the central railway station or the city centre), where you can surf the internet for reasonable price (about 1, 50 € per hour).

Normally, each student hostel provides a number of washing machines. Some hostels simply charge about 1-2 € per load, but in some cases you have to buy special washing tags (Waschmarke) . Consult the black board of your hostel for more information.

Tumble-dryers are not available in some hostels. Nevertheless, you can find a clothes horse (stand or line) in almost every student hostel.

In most cases you can also find an iron and an ironing board on almost every floor.

Only few student hostels offer a standard phone connection (phone wire). The majority of students use mobile phones. General information about mobile (cell) phones will be distributed at the orientation course.

In most cases, there are refrigerators or community refrigerators, which have to be shared with others, available in every student hostel.

Almost every student hostel has its own community rooms, as well as, rooms for learning. In most cases, there is also a little bar, where parties and other events are held on regular basis. The offer on parties is fairly large.

ou can park nearby your student hostel. However, the parking spaces are not free of charge. While registering at the city hall you can also pay a fee and acquire a parking pass (Parkausweis), which enables you to use your hostel’s parking spaces for free.

The rooms are distributed to the students by the Student Union (Studentenwerk), because it’s difficult, especially for exchange students, to find an accommodation on their own here! In case you don’t like your room, the student union will not provide you any support, and you will have to look for a new room by yourself!! It’s important for the student union to make sure that you are provided with an accommodation on your arrival. Moving to another place, either to another student hostel or to a private accommodation (probably, on a temporary basis, as Zwischenmiete) will have to be organized on your own!

Since the contracts for exchange students run for 2 semesters at most, any preterm termination is, basically, not possible. The contracts are signed either for a half of the year or for the whole year, depending on how long you are going to stay here, and , therefore, you cannot terminate them before the end of this term. It means, even if you would like to leave before you contract runs out, you will still have to pay your rent for the rest of the time. Thus moving out before the end of the contract’s term is only possible if you pay money in advance for the whole duration of your contract.