studying abroad

After you have handed in your declaration of acceptance and after we have nominated you, the partner university will establish contact with you and ask you to hand in further application documents. You are responsible for submitting the entire required application documents in time. At the same time, you should also establish contact with the partner university to inform yourself about the next steps necessary.

Furthermore, you should consider the following things:

Financing

• In case you are going to study abroad within the ERASMUS program, you can apply for the ERASMUS scholarship. Further information on financing options can be found on the homepage of the Central International Office under “Finanzierung"
• In case you are going to study abroad outside the ERASMUS program, you can apply for the PROMOS Scholarship
• Besides one of these options, you can also apply for Auslands-BAFöG

Health Insurance

It is your responsibility to obtain sufficient (health) insurance coverage. More information on this can be found of the website of the Central International Office under “Visa- und Versicherungsbestimmungen”

Visa

Inform yourself if you need a visa for your stay abroad and how to apply for it well in advance. Information and application documents are available on the websites of the embassies and the corresponding Consulate General. You can find the addresses of the embassies on the website of the German Federal Foreign Office.External link

Accomodation

Consider that you will probably have to take care of accommodation yourself. Most of our partner universities offer support, some organize accommodation directly. It is best if you inform yourself before your study abroad period and as soon as possible.

Language courses

The Language Center de of the FSU offers several langauge courses you can attend, e.g.: English, Finish, French, Italian, Dutch, Norway, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and many more.

Semester on Leave (“Beurlaubung”)

You can apply for a semester on leave if you study abroad. The semester abroad will not count to your regualar study period. The maximum number of semesters on leave is 2. You have to fill out the application formExternal link and either have it signed by the central International Office (Jana Blumenstein) or by the DIO. After that you hand it in at the Student Service Center in time. You won't have to pay the semester fee ("Semesterbeitrag") if you hand in the fully signed application form before the deadline. Consider that if you don't pay the semester fee, you won't have the opportunity of the student benefits. More information about the deadlines are available on the website of the Student Service Center under: » Homepage » Studium » Semestertermine » Rueckmeldung. de

Learning Agreement (part 1)

Before you leave Jena, you should list the courses you are going to attend at the partner university (worth 30 ECTS) on a Learning Agreement.External link Fill out the document and come to our office, so we as your Departmental Exchange Coordinators can sign the document. In case you are going to study abroad with the DIO, but won't attend any courses in the field of business administration /economics, have your Learning Agreement signed by your responsible Departmental Exchange Corrdinator. You can find a list of the coordinators on the website of the centeral International Office under: » Homepage FSU » Internationales » Studium im Ausland » Auslandsstudium » Programme » Erasmus » Ansprechpartner/Fachkoordinatoren.External link

Course Recognition

The teachers of the School of Economics and Business Administration are principally willing to recognize courses. Information about the recognition process and an overview of recognized courses as well as grade conversation charts are available here: Course Recognitionxlsx, 52 kb · de and Grade Conversionxls, 292 kb · de.

After the selction process and nomination, the DIO needs the following documents from you (no matter if you study abroad with the ERASMUS program or within the framework of other bilateral agreements):

• a copy of your Learning Agreements  and
• a copy of the Transcript of Records.
• a report about your study abroad experience (word document) or an equivalent which we agreed upon beforehand
• WiWi-IWK-questionnaire (a link will be sent to you via e-mail)

As we are your Departmental Exchange Coordinators if you attend courses in the field of business administration /economics or general language courses, we will be the ones signing your Learning Agreements (I,II,III).

The central International Office is responsible for administrative issues and requires documents from you as well. An overview which documents you have to hand in to which person in which way is available online on the website of the central International Office under: » Homepage FSU » Internationales » Studium im Ausland » Auslandsstudium » Programme » Erasmus » Unterlagen, Fristen und Formalitäten.

Whenever you have questions, do not hesitate to contact us. Questions related to your courses abroad or organizational matters at the partner university should be directed at the coordinators abroad.

In case you cannot attend the courses listed on your Learning Agreement I at the partner university (i. e. because a course is full), use Learning Agreement IIdocx, 75 kb · de to indicate the changes. You then need to get the Learning Agreement II signed by both the coordinator at the partner university and us (via e-mail).

Once you have completed your studies abroad, we (and prospective students) would like to benefit from your experience and hence will ask you:

• to hand in a study abroad report (3 A4 pages in a word document; you can also use the sampledocx, 33 kb · de) in which you describe your personal experience or an equivalent which we agreed upon before your stay abroad.
• to participate in our online survey (WiWi-IWK-questionnaire), so we can use the data to keep our homepage up to date (i. e. profiles of partner universities). We will send you an email for the questionnaire once its ready.

Please let us know if you do not want us to publish your study abroad report (or equivalent) on our homepage. To guarantee an anonymous publication, please do not write your name on the document.

Also note that the Central International Office will ask you for (the same) documents as well. To get an overview of what they will ask you to hand in, you can check out this website[2].

• Students who study business administration and economics as a minor or students who have to attend business courses as part of their minor study programs (e.g. intercultural business communications),  have to fill out the form "Antrag zur Modulanerkennung" (application for course recognition) and hand it in together with the required documents at the Departmental International Office (DIO).
• We will examine your documents and decide if we can send a recommendation for course recogntition to the ASPA which decides if the courses can be recognized and registered via Friedolin.
• Students can establish contact with the DIO before their study abroad period in order to discuss possible course recognitions.
• In case you would like to know if courses in other fields (e.g. your major) can be recognized, we suggest you establish contact with your corresponding Departmental Exchange Coordinator and examination office to find out more information about the procedure. You can also use the hints for course recognitions for other disciplinesExternal link as a basis.

• Students who would like to have courses recognized at the School of Economics and Business Administration fill out the form "Antrag zur Anerkennung" (application for course recognition) and hand it in together with the required documents at the DIO.

• The recognition procedure for languages (BW 36.3 BM "Fremdsprachen für Wirtschaftswissenschaftler) remains the same. This means you have to establish contact with the language department (the corresponding language teacher) yourself, communicate the Feedback to the DIO, so the DIO can recognize the course on behalf of the language teacher.
• Modules or rather examinations (e.g. seminar papers) that were passed during your study abroad period can also be recognized for BW 36.3 as circumstances require. The corresponding language instructor decides if a recognition can take place and which documents should be handed so he or she can examine the facts. 

• Students who would like to have courses recognized at the School of Economics and Business Administration fill out the form application for course recognition and hand it in together with the required documents at the DIO.

Language courses 

Language courses can be recognized for the module interdisciplinary foundations ("Interdisziplinäre Grundlangen"). The ECTS credit points listed on your ToR/certificate will be used for the recognition. The following rules, which you can find in the corresponding examination regulation in which the regulation for the basiscs and your major field of study are explained (see Friedolin), must be followed:

• The language level according to the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) must be stated in the certificate; an equivalence test (carried out by the Language Department of the FSU) can be requested if necessary.
• In case the language courses have already been recognized during your bachelor (undergraduate) studies, they cannot be recognized in your master (postgraduate) studies again. As a general rule, the completion of the language course has to take place during the master studies. You have to proof that your current language level is higher than the level beforehand (e.g. above the level during your bachelor studies).
• Language courses will only be recognized if they show an (upper-) intermediate level (B1-B2 accordingt to the CEFR) or an advanced level (C1-C2 according to the CEFR). Naturally, these language courses can also include cultural related and cultural specific content.
• Courses stating an A2 level according to the CEFR can be recognized in exceptional cases. You have to proof that you learned a new language (neither should you have learned the language during your bachelor studies nor at school).

Free modules

• Foreign courses that don't have an equivalent, but are useful for your specialization can be recognized in the area "specialization" if the foreign course shows a master level. The person responsible for this decision is the the professore responsible for the specialization.
• The ECTS credit points listed on your ToR will be used for the recognition.Yet, the there is a maximum of 12 ECTS credit points altogether.
• Free modules will be considered in the calculation of the average grade.
• The professors responsible for the course of studies and specializations are listed on the homepage of the School of Economics and Business Administration.External link

Special hints for students enrolled in our program "M.Sc. BWL für Ingenieure und Naturwissenchaftler"

• A maximum of 2 foreign courses can be substituted with courses listed in our module catalog under the section "specialization" (this refers to recognition of equivalents). We highly recommand you establish contact with the professor responsible for your course of studies before you study abroad.
• Free modules can only be recognized in the area "specialization". The the professor responsible for your course of studies will decide if foreign courses can be recognized as free modules.