In order to become an exchange student (e.g. ERASMUS) at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Cologne, you need to go through the application process at your home university first. Please note that we only accept students from universities, faculties and departments that we hold an exchange agreement with.

We recommend at least a B1 level. If you are interested in courses from the department of German language and literature (Germanistik), a level of B2.2 is required as a minimum to be able to follow the course.

You can find information and links to the course catalogue on our website. Course listings are usually published two months before the start of the lecture period.

If you are required to include a preliminary study plan in your application, you can choose courses from the current winter or summer semester. You should be aware, however, that course offerings can change from one semester to the next.

After your home university has selected you for a study abroad programme, you will officially be nominated at the University of Cologne. Once we have reviewed your nomination, you will receive an email with further information on the registration process at the University of Cologne which includes these steps:

1. (ERASMUS students only): Registration in the information portal "UKI"
2. Application for admission through the campus management system KLIPS 2.0
3. Enrolment

As an ERASMUS student, you need to apply for admission through the online application portal KLIPS 2.0. Please pay attention to the application periods:

• Winter term or full academic year: until 15th of July
• Summer term: until 15th of January

Please start by creating a KLIPS 2.0 applicant account and then follow all further steps, as described in UKI (information portal for Erasmus students). Once you have completed the online application form, please print out the application for admission and the registration form and have the application form signed and stamped by your home university. Please send both documents via email to Ms. Annika Schwarz a.schwarz(at)verw.uni-koeln.de (ERASMUS students only!).

You can track the status of your application online in your applicant account on KLIPS 2.0. As soon as your application has been processed, you will receive an email notification and you can download your letter of admission from KLIPS 2.0.

After your admission, please follow these four steps to enrol at the University of Cologne:

1. Pay the social fee: Pay the social fee by bank transfer as soon as possible. You will find the bank details in your applicant account in KLIPS 2.0.
2. Upload a portrait photo: Upload a recent high-quality portrait photo of yourself in KLIPS 2.0. It will be printed on your electronic student ID card (UCCard).
3. Upload a proof of health insurance: Upload a proof of health insurance (EHIC, membership certificate of a German statutory health insurance or exemption certificate) in KLIPS 2.0.
4. Activate your student account: Once your social fee payment has been registered (this can take up to two weeks!) and you have successfully uploaded the required documents, you will receive a Welcome email from the University of Cologne containing a PIN number. Please use this PIN number and your matriculation number (instead of a username) to activate your electronic student account.

The semester contribution (Semesterbeitrag) of approx. 270 Euro is not for tuition, but covers all of the subsidized services for students. All students – both regular students and exchange students – have to pay this contribution every semester.

Subsidized services include:

1. Travel Ticket for North-Rhine Westphalia (UCCard)
2. Student Services of the Kölner Studierendenwerk (restaurants and cafés, housing, social and financial counselling, psychological counselling)
3. Sport: Unisport and Hochschulsport

Citizens of an EU/EEA country or Switzerland can enter Germany and study at the University of Cologne without a visa. A valid ID or passport will be sufficient.

Citizens of Non- EU/EEA countries can find further information on visa regulations on our website.

You can apply for a room in one of the university's student residences or find private accommodation online, for example a flatshare. Further information can be found on our website.

CAUTION: Do NOT transfer any money before seeing the apartment or signing a rental contract!

Within 14 days after finding permanent accommodation (moving in), you have to register your address at a local residence registration center in Cologne. In case you live in Hürth or Hürth-Efferen, you will have to register in the service center there. Further information can be found on our website.

Information and links to course listings can be found on our website. Course listings are usually published two months before the start of the lecture period. This means that course listings of the winter semester are usually published in July, those of the summer semester are published in February.

Vorlesungen (VO) are academic lectures which means that usually there is limited or no interaction between the lecturer and the (up to 800) listeners.

Seminare (SE) (seminars) are interactive. Usually about 30 to 100 students take part in a seminar. Students are supposed to participate in classroom sessions, which means that they are invited to take part in discussions, they give presentations and/or write papers.

• Einführungsseminare (ES) convey basic knowledge and are primaly aimed at students in their first or second semester.
• Proseminare (PS) are aimed at students in their introductory study period (first to third semester).
• Hauptseminare (HS) are advanced seminars, designed for students who already have a certain knowledge in the areas of study that are covered.
• Oberseminare or Kolloquien (KO) are aimed at master's students or advanced bachelor's students working towards their degree.
• Blockseminare (blocked seminars) are seminars that take place over the course of one week or three or four weekends, usually with an initial meeting at the start of the semester and group work before the intensive week.

Übungen (UE) (practical courses) are interactive and there are between 30 and 100 participants. They are similar to seminars but with a stronger focus on practical skills or work.

Tutorien (TT) (tutorials) help students to prepare for exams and accompany and run parallel to a lecture or seminar.

As an exchange students at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, you can take courses from different departments in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities (Philosophische Fakultät).

Please note that access to courses from other faculties is limited and we cannot guarantee your participation in these courses!

We recommend studying complete modules (Regular Track), but in many cases it is also possible to take only certain parts of modules (workload reduced study options). All available study options are listed in the module guide for short-term students.

Yes. The Department of German as Foreign Language (DaF) offers German language courses for international exchange students before and during the semester.

Please note: There are special application procedures and deadlines! For more information, please visit our website.

There is no specific number of credit points. It depends on how many credit points your home university demands!

We recommend a number of 20 - 30 credit points per semester.

You can find the number of credit points for each module on KLIPS or in the module guide.

Your Learning Agreement has to be approved and signed by both the advisor at your home university and your advisor in Cologne.

Please send your Learning Agreement for approval to philfak-incomings(at)uni-koeln.de

At the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, we do not have a specific deadline for the submission of your Learning Agreement. Please ask your home university if there is a deadline for handing in this document.

To avoid unnecessary paperwork, we kindly ask you not to send Learning Agreements before the course listings of the upcoming semester have been published.

Course listings of the upcoming winter semester are usually published in July, those of the upcoming summer semester are published in February.

To avoid unnecessary paperwork, we kindly ask you not to send Learning Agreements before the course listings of the upcoming semester have been published. Course listings of the upcoming winter semester are usually published in July, those of the upcoming summer semester are published in February.

If your home university needs a Learning Agreement urgently, you can choose courses from the semester before and subsequently change your Learning Agreement.

Yes, there is a "During the mobility" section in your Learning Agreement. There you can make changes to your courses and/or ECTS. Your changed Learning Agreement has to be signed by both the advisor at your home university and your advisor in Cologne.

Signing up for classes is possible online via KLIPS 2.0 during course registration periods (dates). During these periods, students may submit "course place requests" (applications for courses). Subsequently, course seats will be allocated through a lottery system.

Here is how you apply:

1. Log in to KLIPS 2.0 with your S-mail address of the University of Cologne and switch your KLIPS 2.0 profile from "applicant" to "student", if necessary.

2. Then follow these instructions.

To sign up for classes via KLIPS 2.0, you need to be fully enrolled at the University of Cologne. This means that you must have paid the semester fee and you should have activated your student account (S-mail) as described on this website.

You should then log in to KLIPS 2.0 with your S-mail address of the University of Cologne (not with the email address you used to create your applicant account before).

If you are still facing problems after performing these steps, you can try this procedure (switching profiles from applicant to student).

Shortly after each registration period has ended, you will see on KLIPS whether you have received a "confirmed place" (Fixplatz) in your desired classes or not.

In case you did not get a "confirmed place" (Fixplatz) in your desired course, we recommend you go to the first session and ask the lecturer politely if you can still get a Fixplatz in the course.

For the German language courses, you can apply solely through a special online form (not through KLIPS 2.0). Applications for the winter courses can be submitted in June, applications for the summer courses in December. We will inform all incoming students via email about the exact registration process and periods.

The German language courses are free of charge for ERASMUS and other international short-term students.

The Department for German as a Foreign Language (DaF) offers language courses on the following levels of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEF): A1, A2, B1, B2.1, B2.2, C1.

Please find further information on their website.

Both the pre-semester courses as well as the German language course that runs during the semester are worth 9 ECTS credits.

There are the following types of exams:

• term paper / essay:
  A term paper is an independently written elaboration of a specified topic. It usually encompasses a cover sheet, table of contents, several chapters and a bibliography, as well as in-text citation and references. An essay is usually shorter and does not necessarily contain formation or a bibliography.
• presentation:
  A presentation is a lecture on a specific topic within a course.
• presentation with elaboration:
  On top of the lecture within the course, a written account and expansion is demanded.
• written exam:
  A written exam is a test that takes place under supervision. The time period is usually 45 to 180 minutes.
• oral exam:
  An oral exam consists of a 20- to 30-minute conversation between the examiner, the examinee and an observer in which the examinee is asked to show their awareness of the relation between different exam topics and to answer questions accordingly.

Information on the specific type of exam can be gathered from the module guide.

Most written exams take place in the last week of term or during the first three weeks of the semester break, meaning end of January to middle of Februrary for the winter semester and mid- or end of July to middle of August for the summer semester. However, it is also possible for written or oral exams to take place later in the semester break. Please ask the lecturer about the specific date of examination at the beginning of term!

The due date for term papers is usually March 15th for the winter semester and September 15th for the summer semester.

We have compiled extensive instructions on exam registration via KLIPS 2.0 in this document.

A Transcript of Records is an official certificate listing all of your courses taken at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, as well as your achievements (credit points and grades).

To receive a Transcript of Records (a certificate that lists all of your courses, credit points and grades), you need to submit a confirmation of achievement (Leistungsnachweis) for each course that you have studied in the Individual Track. The confirmation of achievement form can be downloaded here. Please have your lecturers fill it in, sign and stamp it and then send all of your confirmations, in addition to the completed data sheet, in one pdf-document to philfak-incomings(at)uni-koeln.de.

The Center for International Relations (ZIB PhilFak) will then enter your credit points and grades in KLIPS 2.0 and send your Transcript of Records to you and/or your home university.

Please make sure that you know your home university's deadline for handing in your Transcript of Records.

The "Certificate of Arrival" and the "Certificate of Departure" (sometimes also called Certificate of Attendance or Confirmation of Study Period) officially confirm the beginning and end of your study period in Cologne. Especially ERASMUS students need both certificates to get paid the full amount of their grant/scholarship.

You can have these certificates issued/signed, either at the International Office (SSC building, Universitätsstr. 22a) or at the Center for International Relations at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities (Robert-Koch-Str. 41).

Please note: We can only issue a "Certificate of Departure" (Confirmation of Study Period), if you hand in a "Certificate of Arrival" or some other proof of your date of arrival (e.g. flight tickets, rental contract with date etc.)!

Please also note that we will enter the date of signature as your date of departure!