Information for Commerce students going to
German/Austrian Universities 2015-16
1)
Learning Agreements (LA):
You will need to fill out an LA in the summer before you go. For this you will of course have to choose courses, and get the LA signed by the departmental representative as well as Clare Murphy. It will then be sent on to the relevant people at the host University or v.v. The same process will apply for any changes you make as well as adding new subjects for summer semester. You should not worry if you cannot find sufficient information on courses, as you can make amendments when term has settled after you arrive.
NB: The LA does NOT constitute official registration for courses you have chosen. The university website will have details on dates & times for registration for specific courses. Registration sometimes takes place during the summer and online at specific times, so make sure you find out early or risk courses being full.
2)
Subject choices:
I need to have a list of the subjects you have chosen each semester so that they can be approved by the board of studies and School of Business. Students should return all subject choices by e-mail to me as soon as you have them showing modules being taken, together with their ECTS credit values and the number of hours per week. I need this by the end of October for winter semester and by the middle of April for summer semester, along with all available Winter semester results. Please explicitly declare any course that is taught through English.
3) Early in the second semester I will also ask for any available results from Winter Semester courses you were assessed in. In cases where a student is unlikely to achieve the required 45 ECTS, the board of studies may refer them to the summer exam boards:
Excerpt from Marks & Standards Third Year BComm Int’l 2015:
“Students must achieve a pass standard on a set of courses taken at the host institution and approved by the Faculty of Commerce on the recommendation of the Board of Studies, on a term-by-term basis, typically in November and in February of the student’s year abroad. Courses approved for each student will be assessed by the host institution and the marks will be validated by the BComm (International) Board of Studies. Where a student has failed to have the requisite number of courses validated before the end of the second term of the year abroad (or in cases of failure to attend approved exams such that requisite credit numbers cannot be achieved) the student’s record will be referred to the Summer board for a preliminary assessment. This will normally result the requirement to repeat year 3.”
For the learning agreement you will need to look up the book of modules (called 'Vorlesungsverzeichnis' / ’Lehrangebot’ at German universities) for your university and see what is being offered for the semester. ECTS-Punkte should be listed for each course.
For those going to German universities:
If ECTS-Punkte are not listed, for German universities you should assume that if you do full assessment and pass the course you should get approx 6 ECTS, partial assessment about 4 ECTS, and attendance only you should get about 2 ECTS, although this may vary from one university to another, and from lecturer to lecturer. You would need to talk to lecturers when you arrive about doing attendance-only (Teilnahmeschein), as some will not do this as they may not take attendance lists. Pay attention to the sign-up dates and times (also online ones) as these are important and you may risk courses being full. Find some courses that interest you and put them in your LA. Most universities also have a Sprachenzentrum / Sprachlehrinstitut where they teach German for foreigners (called DaF or Deutsch als Fremdsprache). When you arrive and things settle into term you will find some of the courses you have listed might change, and you will need to do a new LA after term has begun and your course load has firmed up.
Most German universities require you to do an ‘Einstufungstest’ for your German language at the beginning. This will determine what level of German language courses you may sign up for.
4)
You must register for 60 ECTS and you must pass 45 ECTS in total for your year abroad, spread approx 50/50 across Commerce and German. Fewer than 45 passed credits will mean a fail mark and you will be given extra project work in September to make up for the credits you are short. Those who pass 55 credits or more will be awarded an honours mark for their year abroad.
Try to spread your work out over both semesters and take into account how they are assessed. (You might prefer not to have to write several essays in July & August if you can spread the work out over winter and summer)
The German Department will accept credits for Tandem if certain conditions are met: You must furnish the German department coordinator with an official tandem log, portfolio and certificate from the host university if this is offered. The German Department will need to see your tandem log and portfolio in full before we can give you credits. Depending on the quality of the log, we can offer you a maximum of 6 ECTS for tandem continued across two semesters, or 3 ECTS for one semester. You must also send a sample log entry to Siobhan Mortell in November to make sure you are on the right track. See document on Tandem Learning Criteria.
5)
ECTS credit values are your own responsibility. ECTS values are assigned by each university individually and UCC cannot change them.
6)
In the course of your year abroad, you may do not more than one course taught through English.
7)
You must do one Proseminar in German Literature or Culture. Please consult Siobhan Mortell/Claire O’Reilly if you are in doubt.
8)
You do not have to write a year abroad thesis for UCC, assessment takes place solely in conjunction with the courses you attend.
It is imperative that you get full 45 ECTS on your year abroad. The exam board is strict on that. With 40 credits you have not fulfilled the requirements to proceed to final year and you will be given extra work on your return. If it looks like there are going to be problems with this, please contact the departmental coordinator as early as possible so we can deal with it.
When you are sending us your credits at the end of the year, please keep a copy of everything for your own safekeeping.
It is your responsibility to ensure that all Scheine are sent to us in full and on time. Final transcripts should be sent to Clare Murphy by about 15th August. Speak to your lecturers at the beginning of semester about this. If you do not get all your Scheine to us in time for the Autumn Exam Board your case will be postponed to the Winter Exam Board (November). You would then have to provisionally register for final year and proceed as normal, and finalise registration after the Winter exam board.
Please check also that the transcripts you send to us tally with the course list you sent me by email. Sometimes a course(s) you listed and sent by email does not appear on the final transcript. If this is the case, please email me to explain what happened (failed course? Dropped course? Other reason?)
Even if you failed a course and were not given a Leistungsschein, ask your lecturer for a Teilnahmeschein (participation/attendance only). This will be proof for us that you attended the course and put in the work – we need this in writing. It is good to check with lecturers beforehand whether they do this.
Please also check the book of modules for any additional info on the year abroad.
9)
Placements
Credited placements are only available currently at two companies: Jena (Jenoptik) and Klagenfurt (Infineon). There is a lot of coordination involved in setting up a suitable placement, and we have chosen the companies very carefully, liaising with employees so that they understand the requirements our students have to fulfill when they return. If you are interested in doing a placement and have found a company who has accepted you, please liaise with for approval and requirements. We would encourage you to apply for the two options we currently have on offer. The ultimate decision on the placements is taken by the companies and based on the quality of your CV and in some cases also an interview. We forward on CVs usually in June of any given year, and students can expect to hear back from the companies by October.
Please keep this sheet/email and take it to Germany/Austria with you.
Also make sure that your email address is correct or if you change it let us know immediately.
10)
Housing:
If you are thinking about getting private accommodation, check this website, which was recommended to me by the International Office of the one of our exchange universities, but can be used for many cities in Germany and Austria. Some university accommodation offices also have their own internal service by which students going abroad can make their room available to incoming foreign students.
“Students that go abroad can advertise their rooms for free, and incoming students can respond to these offers for free. Only students can post rooms on the website, by allowing only those people with a university e-mail address.”
http://www.housinganywhere.com/
Siobhan Mortell, Dr Claire O’Reilly 2015