CU Graduate Exchange Programs in Germany

Students apply to the graduate exchange programs through CU’s Study Abroad office.  During the year in which students are on the study abroad program, they are registered as a CU student, and are eligible for GSLL/Graduate School Fellowships.  (Students are enrolled in STDY 1001-800 for 15 credit hours – this is a placeholder course.  If a student receives transfer credit while he or she is abroad, the STDY 1001 course is dropped and replaced with the transfer credit received.)

In exchange for working part-time in the Akademisches Auslandsamt office at Regensburg, the student receives a monthly stipend of 600 Euros per month.

The Partnerschaft arrangement with the University of Goettingen includes a stipend (about 600 Euro/month)

Fees (approx):

Note:  CU Insurance is required for students on a CU Study Abroad Program.  Students are also required to purchase German health insurance (this expense is included in the "personal expenses" cost below).  The CU health insurance covers some things German health insurance does not.  It also covers the time the student is in Germany before and after the semester begins, and any travel outside of Germany.

Estimated Costs Not Included in Program Fee:

NOTE: The above program fee and cost estimates do not include vacation travel even though it is an important element of the educational experience.  While students are registered as a CU student while on study abroad, they do not pay CU tuition, only the program fee and additional expenses related to the program.  Students will be responsible for paying student fees for the university in Germany, as well as residency visa fees

Academic Calendar - University of Regensburg: October - February (Wintersemester); March – April (break); May – July (Sommersemester).

Academic Calendar - University of Goettingen:  early October to mid-February (winter semester);  early April to mid-July (summer semester). See their website for exact dates: http://www.uni-goettingen.de/de/24440.html.

For more information, contact the Study Abroad office at: http://studyabroad.colorado.edu/.

Helpful Information from a Göttingen Exchange Student

Make sure to attend the information session by the international student office at the beginning of the semester; you will be given a list of various details that need to be taken care of.

You have to turn in paperwork to various offices. For this I recommend making sure you have at least three photocopies of your passport and several passport-size photos. If you have lived in Germany before, know where you stayed, when, and for how long.

Students are required to have health insurance. You also need to have a bank account in Germany, as most transactions are carried out electronically via bank transfer. We were given a chance to sign up for health insurance (with Techniker Krankenkasse) and open a bank account (with Deutsche Bank) during the information session; however, I highly recommend taking care of this as soon as possible after you arrive, because there are a lot of things you can’t arrange until you have your bank account number.  (Deutsche Bank partners with Bank of America. I don’t know the exact details, but if you have an account with Bank of America it may make transferring funds around easier.)

Once the paperwork for the student visa ("Aufenthaltserlaubnis") is processed, students are permitted to work a limited number of hours in addition to their studies (up to 90 days in one year).

Room & Board

Rooming is arranged by David Starr, dstarr@gwdg.de.  Check your housing contract carefully – it may be a year-long contract, obligating you to pay rent for the entire year.  The international student office also offers a ‘Gretel-Service’ where a student volunteer will pick you up at the train station and help you settle in.

Note:  as of 2012, the stipend in Goettingen is 400 euros per month (students do not have to work to receive the Goettingen stipend).

A Hauptseminar or Masterseminar is the equivalent of a graduate-level course and an Aufbauseminar or Vertiefungsseminar is the equivalent of an undergraduate-level course. You cannot generally get credit for a Vorlesung. To receive credit for the courses, you need to get a Schein from the professor indicating that you participated in the course, and submit the Schein to the International Office in Germany. The International Office in Germany will send CU's Education Abroad office a transcript listing your courses and grades.  Education Abroad will post these courses to your degree audit.  Courses can then be used toward your MA degree if they are graduate-level equivalent courses,  and approved by the Graduate Associate Chair and the Graduate School.  You must have received a grade of B or above to receive transfer credit for a course (1.0 = A; 1.3 = A-; 1.7 = B+; 2.0=B).  Students may apply only nine hours of transfer credit toward the MA, but this rule can be appealed if the student has completed more than nine hours of coursework abroad.

Note: this information is accurate to the best of our knowledge.  Please contact the CU’s Education Abroad office and/or the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures to verify information.