Outgoings of the Faculty of Automotive Systems and Production

1. Semester abroad
You can choose from the faculty's own or the university-wide partner universities. You can find the corresponding lists under Partner Universities. To make it easier for you to find the right university, we also provide a portfolio and a detailed overview of the study programs offered by our partners. We recommend that you start organizing your stay approximately 1 year before your planned stay. The following funding opportunities are available to you for financing: Erasmus+, Promos, Auslands-BAföG, DAAD scholarships and other external scholarship providers.

2. Internship abroad
You can also complete your internship semester at a company abroad and thus gain intercultural experience and improve your foreign language skills without wasting any time. Information on how to best proceed in your search for an internship can be found on the website of the central Department of International Affairs of TH Köln and the DAAD. Internships abroad can also be supported by Erasmus+, Promos and Auslands-BAföG, among others.

3. Final thesis
In the same way as during the internship semester, you can gain experience abroad without any loss of time and improve your foreign language skills by writing your thesis in English and in cooperation with a supervisor from a foreign institution, university or company. You can find more information here. Funding is available through the Promos program.

4. Language course at a university
For various reasons, it is sometimes not possible to spend a longer period of time abroad during your studies. By attending a language course abroad (e.g. during the semester break) you have the opportunity to gain experience abroad in addition to improving your language skills. You can find more information here.

5. Summer or Winter Schools
Summer or winter schools are short-term stays in which compressed seminars are combined with regional events or language courses and offered during the lecture-free period. For example, our partner Tec de Monterrey (Mexico) offers a Winter School for German students. More information about this and other schools can be found on our faculty website International Affairs and on the website of the Department of International Affairs of TH Köln.

Students of the Faculty of Automotive Systems and Production can gain international experience abroad mainly through internships or exchange semesters at our partner universities in Europe and worldwide. A special offer for students is the faculty's double degree program with our academic partner Tecnologico de Monterrey in Mexico.

You can find further general information about your stay abroad on the website of the Department of International Affairs.

Due to the variety of possibilities to gain experience abroad, there is no model solution for planning your personal stay abroad. The question of the right time to go abroad depends mainly on your degree program and your individual plans.

In general, however, we recommend a semester abroad in the 5th semester and an internship abroad during the internship semester. We therefore recommend you to contact the Vice Dean for International Affairs, Prof. Dr. Michael Frantzen, at least one year in advance with regard to academic matters. General questions regarding scholarships, accommodation etc. can be answered by the staff of the International Office.
If you are considering a scholarship program, you should start planning earlier and make sure to inform yourself in time about the application deadlines and the required application documents (application forms, curriculum vitae, letter of motivation, transcript of records, proof of language skills, letter of recommendation).

When choosing a host country or a program, you should inform yourself about the language requirements of the host institution. In some cases, basic knowledge may be sufficient, in other cases, a proof of sound language skills may be required.

In general, most of our partner universities with courses in English expect a level of B1/B2 (European Frame of Reference). You need to prove this by submitting a certificate. For Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, etc. basic knowledge (A1/A2) is usually required by the partner universities. However, if you wish to attend courses in one of the above-mentioned languages, knowledge at level B1/B2 is required. Therefore, please enquire the application deadlines for the available language courses at the Sprachlernzentrum.

Regardless of the modules you have chosen, we recommend that you acquire (basic) language skills before your stay abroad to make it easier for you to get started in the new environment.

In order to transfer the credits obtained abroad, you should contact the Vice Dean for International Affairs of the Faculty of Automotive Systems and Production, Prof. Dr. Rainer Haas, who will inform you about the recognition at TH Köln.

We recommend to fill in the Learning Agreement, on which the courses you wish to take are listed. The Learning Agreement should be signed by the foreign partner university and Prof. Dr. Rainer Haas in order to ensure that your credits will be recognized upon your return. The Learning Agreement is obligatory for Erasmus+.

Scholarships
In addition to the possibility to apply for "Auslands-BAföG", various scholarship programs (Erasmus+, PROMOS) as well as external scholarship providers (DAAD, BMBF, educational loans, foundations) are available as financial support. In addition, the scholarship provider HAW.International has recently become available, which supports students at universities of applied sciences.