Information for incoming students (all programs)
Welcome to Freiburg University’s Department of Political Science! We would like to give you some advice on how to organize your stay in Freiburg once you are a registered exchange student.
Please notice that if you are registered as a regular (non-exchange) student, there is another contact person available to you!
We offer different types of courses:
- Vorlesung / lecture
- Einführungskurs (Vorkurs) / introductory course
- Proseminar (= Grundkurs) / intermediate courses
- Hauptseminar / advanced courses
In general, students who have been studying for one or two years are entitled to enrol in courses of the intermediate level. As studies in political science are comprised of three different areas of study, you can choose from among courses in:
- Comparative Politics (Proseminar / Grundkurs I)
- International Politics (Proseminar / Grundkurs II)
- Political Theory (Proseminar / Grundkurs III)
German students have to cover all three areas. As a foreign student, however, it is advisable to validate in advance which courses/exams will be acknowledged at your home university. Please check the current list of courses (link can be found below) and follow the registration procedures indicated in every course description. Most of the time, you will be required to send an e-mail to the lecturer, but this might vary from course to course.
The ECTS-Points will be given as described in the table below as far as the options are offered by lecturers.
To receive credits in an intermediate course, you will have to participate in group work to prepare an oral presentation about one topic the course deals with and write an essay of 5-6 pages (4 ECTS). If instead of a short essay you write a course paper (10-12 pages) or take an equivalent written exam, you will be awarded 6 ECTS-points. Furthermore, 8 ECTS-points can be obtained of you write a lengthier course paper (15-18 pages) or take an equivalent written exam and write an essay of 5-6 pages. If you write a course paper (10-12 pages) and take a written exam, it is worth 10 ECTS-points.
Vorlesungen / lectures are optional and open to all students without prior registration. It is worth 2 ECTS-points to attend and 6 ECTS-points to attend and write the end-of-term exam or hand in a paper (10-12 pages) upon agreement with the lecturer. Lectures and the introductory courses usually also offer tutorials that are free for you to attend as they help you prepare for the written exam but no ECTS-points will be awarded (see table below).
ECTSTable
| Type of Class | Performance | Credit points (Starting with the Winter term 2010/2011) |
|---|---|---|
| Vorlesung | Regular attendance | 2 |
| Regular attendance and written homework/exam (and participation to tutorial if offered) | 6 | |
| Vorkurs/Grundkurs Seminar (intermediate level) | Regular attendance and preparation, presentation and handout, essay (5-6 p.) | 4 |
| Regular attendance and preparation, presentation and handout, course paper (10-12 p.) /or written exam | 6 | |
Regular attendance and preparation, presentation and handout, course paper (15-18 p.) /or written exam + essay (5-6 p.) Regular attendance and preparation, presentation and handout, course paper (10-12 p.) and written exam | 8
10 | |
| Hauptseminar Seminar (advanced level) | Regular attendance and preparation, presentation and handout, course paper (20-25 p.) | 8 |
| Regular attendance and preparation, presentation and handout, course paper (25-30 p.) | 10 | |
| Regular attendance and preparation, presentation and handout, course paper (30-35 p.) | 12 | |
| Tutorat (Tutorial) | Regular attendance and preparation Starting with the Winter term 2010/11 tutorials will not be awarded any ECTS points as they are part of the exam preparation at the end of the lecture (Vorlesung) |
0 |
Courses
The courses offered change every semester. For detailed descriptions of all courses offered in the relevant semester see here. For further informations about registering for the courses see here.
Administration
The International Office is your main port of call for administrative issues:
http://www.studium.uni-freiburg.de/de/international/incoming/austausch
Coordinator
For any further information on how to organize your timetable, how to enrol for courses or how to deal with bureaucracy, please do not hesitate to contact:
Julian Schärdel, M.A.
Seminar für Wissenschaftliche Politik
Room 00 12
Werthmannstr. 12
79085 Freiburg
julian.schaerdel@politik.uni-freiburg.de
Office hours: Wednesdays 13 - 15 hrs
Accommodation
In recent years, most of the students have been given a place in a Wohnhein / student resident hall. University staff does its best to find accomodation for every incoming student, but the housing situation remains tense in Freiburg. Accommodation for ERASMUS students is allocated by the International Office together with the local Studentenwerk. In general, students are notified rather late (mid-August) on whether they have been given a place in a Wohnheim. If you have not been notified by early August, please contact Frau Dunja Groß at the International Office (gross@verwaltung.uni-freiburg.de)
If you are not given a room in one of the university’s dormitories, it can be quite a difficult endeavor to find suitable housing for your study abroad experience. When looking for accomodation in Freiburg, you might find the following information useful:
Student dorms:
(application recommended before January 15th /June 15th respectively)
- Alban-Stolz-Haus (Reinhold-Schneider-Straße 37, Freiburg-Littenweiler, take tram #1) www.albanstolzhaus.de (follow the links: Bewerberformulare, Formular für ausländische Studierende)
- Thomas-Morus-Burse (Kappler Straße 57, Freiburg-Littenweiler, take tram #1) http://www.thomasmorusburse.de
- Collegium Sapientiae (Lorettostraße 24) http://www.collegiumsapientiae.de
- Protestant Dormitory (Falkenbergerstraße 20) http://www.esw-freiburg.de/
- Women’s Dormitory (Quäkerstraße 4) http://www.stluitgard.de/
- For detailed information see: http://www.studium.uni-freiburg.de/de/service_beratung/zsb/Broschueren/908.pdf
Private market:
Accomodation database: www.io.uni-freiburg.de/wohnraumvermittlung/wohnungsdb
Badische Zeitung, www.badische-zeitung.de; room offers Wednesday and Thursday
Zypresse, www.zypresse.de, which you can find for free in bars, cafés and supermarkets on Wednesdays and Saturdays
General information and help:
Studentenwerk Freiburg (Schreiberstraße 12-16) http://www.studentenwerk.uni-freiburg.de
The best place to spend a few nights while you are looking for accomodation is the Black Forest Hostel: http://www.blackforest-hostel.de/
Introductory week / language courses
During the instruction free period of the University term, the Language Training Centre (Sprachlehrinstitut, SLI) offers three different intensive language courses in German
as a foreign language. They include courses of language and culture as well as a variety of extra curricular activities. For the three week introductory language courses in March, August and September please check http://www.sli.uni-freiburg.de/internationale_sprachkurse.
During the semester you are entitled to attend up to three language courses for free (marked with a „P“ on the SLI website)! They deal with German grammar and writing, but also German history, society and culture.
Erasmus students please check: http://www.sli.uni-freiburg.de/sokrates_erasmus;
For the one week introductory courses "Studying in Germany"/ "Studieren in Deutschland" in April and October please check: www.sli.uni-freiburg.de/studienvorbereitung
Participants of AYF, IES, UMASS or other programs please check: http://www.sli.uni-freiburg.de/int_programmstudierende
Dates
About Semester beginnings and endings, holidays and other dates you can find out on this page: http://www.uni-freiburg.de/de/aktuelles/termine_fristen/