Course Selection
for Erasmus/ Short-term Students
As a short-term student at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities you can freely choose your modules and courses from the short-term study programme of our faculty. Learn more about your study options and the process of course selection at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities below!
Course Offerings
The short-term study programme gives you access to a large number of Bachelor and Master modules from the various departments of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. Additionally, you can attend courses from UoC’s Studium Integrale and in the Department for German as a Foreign Language.
View current course listings on KLIPS 2.0
> please select desired academic year in the menu
Module guide for Erasmus-/Short-term Students (Faculty of Arts and Humanities)
> contains information on all modules: ECTS credits, co-requisite courses, workload reduced options, exams
Please note that all study programmes at the University of Cologne are structured into modules. A module is a teaching unit that is made up of one to five thematically related courses/classes that must be taken together (for example: 1 lecture + 1 seminar + 1 practical course + 1 exam). In many modules, reduced workload options are available for short-term students (see module guide).
Detailed information on UoC's module system as well as rules and instructions for course selection can be found here: Course Selection - Instructions for short-term students at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Languages of instruction
The English Studies programme is entirely taught in English. The language of instruction in the other programmes is German.
In the following programmes, a few courses are usually offered in English (1.) or in other languages (2.) (sometimes only at Master level):
- African Studies, Archaeology, China Studies, Digital Humanities, History, Linguistics & Phonetics, Media Culture Studies, Musicology, Philosophy, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Slavonic Studies etc.
- Dutch Studies (Dutch), History (Spanish), Romance Studies (French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish), Scandinavian and Finnish Studies (Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish), Slavonic Studies (Polish, Russian).
How to look up the language of instruction of a course/class in KLIPS 2.0: instructions.
German Language (DaF) Course
ERASMUS+ and other exchange students at the University of Cologne are offered the chance to participate in one free German language course per semester by the Department of German as a Foreign Language (DaF):
- Pre-semester course in September or March: four-week intensive course with an amount of 20 hours per week (9 ECTS) or
- In-semester course: language course with an amount of 6 hours per week during the semester (9 ECTS)
Students, who wish to take both courses (pre-semester course and in-semester course) in one semester, will be charged a course fee of 250€ for the second course.
Registration
Nominated exchange students of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities will receive an e-mail with a link to online registration in July (for the fall/winter courses) or January (for the spring/summer courses).
Foreign Language Teaching Assistants and enrolled Master's or Doctoral students interested in taking a German language course please directly refer to the German as a Foreign Language Department (DaF) for registration.
Learning Agreement
If you are coming to the Faculty of Arts and Humanities for a short-term study abroad, you have to submit a Learning Agreement, i.e. a list of your desired modules and courses to philfak-incomings(at)uni-koeln.de for approval by mid-August (winter semester) or end of February (summer semester). Winter semester's course listings are published in mid-July, summer semester's course listings at the beginning of February.
Rules and instructions on how to select courses and format your Learning Agreement can be found here: Course Selection - Instructions for short-term students at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities
You should choose your modules and courses in coordination with your advisor at your home university, as this is the only way to ensure that your home university will accept the credits you earned during your stay at the University of Cologne.
Learning Agreement form
If you are participating in the ERASMUS+ programme of the European Union, your home university will usually provide you with a specific form for the Learning Agreement or ask you to fill in an Online Learning Agreement (OLA). In case your home university doesn't provide a form or you would like to discuss a draft Learning Agreement with us first, you can use this template.
Course Registration in KLIPS 2.0
Following the approval of your Learning Agreement (see above) by philfak-incomings(at)uni-koeln.de, you have to register yourself for the courses/classes.
Course registration - Instructions for short-term students at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Registration for courses is done online via KLIPS 2.0 during designated course registration periods. During that time, students may submit "course place requests" (applications for courses). At the end of the registration period, course seats are allocated through a lottery system. You will be informed, if you have received a "confirmed place" in your desired classes.
Course registration periods winter semester 2024/25:
- Publication of course listings: July 16, 2024
- 1st Registration period: July 17 to August 5, 2024
- 2nd Registration period: August 27 to September 18, 2024
- 3rd Registration period: starting October 2, 2024 (only for left-over places and waiting list)
Generally, we recommend applying for a few more courses than you actually need because in seminars, practical courses, and language classes the number of course places is limited. Please make sure to avoid timetable clashes.