Information for Visiting Students

Welcome to the English Department of the Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg!

Every semester the English Department welcomes students from countries inside and outside the European Union. We are very grateful for the injection of knowledge and perspectives from individuals influenced by educational systems and cultural contexts other than our own. Their presence enriches our learning environment in general and in many cases leads to most productive modes of cooperation between students from different backgrounds. Integrating into our academic system is usually not a problem. All our faculty and staff are aware of the potential problems visiting students face and are eager to assist when help is necessary. In many cases your first port of call will be the Geschäftsführung of the Englische Seminar when planning your studies. It is here where European and international exchange programs are being coordinated and where 'free movers' will find advice on their particular access route to English studies at Freiburg. The only big obstacle to studying successfully in our department have arisen in cases where the level of English language skills of non-native speakers of English was insufficient to cope with the established standards in the department's teaching. Students at Freiburg's English Department tend to have had around 8 years of instruction in English, many have lived or spent time abroad in an English speaking country, and thus the command of both oral and written English is rather high, even at the entry level. In fact, beginning students are only admitted if their score in a TOEFL-test is not below 90 or 230 or 570 points, depending on the type of TOEFL taken. Thus, the levels of expected performance do not differ from those encountered in an English Department at a respectable university in an English speaking country. Therefore, we recommend that you assess your command of English before you set out to study with us in order to avoid an unrewarding experience. If you intend to learn English from scratch or upgrade your basic English, you need to be looking for an alternative institution to provide the desired type of instruction. Maybe you will not have to look far as the university's Sprachlehrinstitut offers courses in English (for a small fee) which may very well be just the ones you are looking for. Welcome to Freiburg!

On these pages incoming students, both Erasmus/LLP and free movers, will obtain important information on the organisation of their semester/s in Freiburg, on the ECTS-grading system, and on life in the city itself. For further information, please visit the English version of the department's homepage.