Before your Mobility to Frankfurt

Nomination:

Before you can apply as an exchange/program student at Goethe University, you must be nominated by your home university. Your university must be a partner university of Goethe University and there needs to be an active agreement for student exchange.

Please contact your home university for information on an exchange student application in Frankfurt.

Deadlines for nominiation: 15 May (application for winter semester) / 15 November (application for summer semester)

Once you have been nominated by your home university as an exchange student, we will send you the link to our online application form via e-mail (April/November).

e.g. German Academic Exchange Service, CAPES, China Scholarship Council (CSC), Fulbright...

You need an academic supervisor at Goethe University in order to apply as a scholarship holder. Contact details of all departments can be found on the website of the university. Please contact the respective department independently to find a supervisor. If you do not have an academic supervisor yet, you can find suggestions for contacting professors in the tab application > How to find a supervisor.

Please e-mail us a copy of your letter of award by: 15 May (application for winter semester) / 15 November (application for summer semester).

Once we have checked the letter of award, we will send you the link to our online application form.

• You are not planning to receive a degree from Goethe University, but from your home institution – outside of Germany – only.
• Your planned study period at Goethe University coincides – for the most part – with the semester dates

Visiting doctoral students who come to Goethe University as part of an exchange also need to find an academic supervisor. The supervisor's information/confirmation is not required at the time of nomination, but it is needed for the application (a simple email from the supervisor will suffice).

If you do not have an academic supervisor yet, you can find suggestions for contacting professors in the tab application > How to find a supervisor.

Once you have been accepted for an internship/as a trainee, you may enroll as a Freemover guest student during your internship. Please find information on enrollment as a Freemover in the tab below.

Interns/Trainees at the university hospital (Universitätsklinikum) and the faculty of Medicine can find all necessary information on practical training here.

The following enrollment periods are standard and cannot be adapted individually to your internship schedule:

• Enrollment is only possible for the entire duration of the semester (October until March or April until September).
• Enrollment for only part of a semester (e.g. summer internship: June until August) is impossible.
• Also it is not possible to be registered in between semesters (e.g. from February until June).

Starting in winter semester 2023/24: 

All students (independent of their study level) may apply as a Freemover guest student. Please note that we do not accept Freemovers from partner universities. In order to apply as a Freemover guest student, you need an academic supervisor at Goethe University. Please contact the respective faculty independently, in order to find an academic supervisor. The Global Office cannot assist in finding an academic supervisor. You can find suggestions for contacting professors in the tab application > How to find a supervisor.

Please send us the letter of invitation from your academic supervisor by 01 June (application for winter semester) / 01 December (application for summer semester) via e-mail, in order for us to send you the link to the online application form.

Academic year 2022-23: 

You need an academic supervisor at Goethe University, in order to apply as a teaching assistant. Contact details of all faculties can be found on the website of the university. On the website of the Goethe Welcome Center you can find information on contacting professors.

• Please send us an e-mail with a copy of your letter of award and the confirmation/contract which attests your placement as a teaching assistant (usually combined in the document: Stipendienvertrag und Schulzuweisung)
• Then, we will send you the link to our online application form.
• Please mind the deadline for application as a guest student.

Information on the so-called Common Reference levels (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2) can be found here on the website of the Council of Europe.

For summer semester: approx. beginning of November - 15 December

Admission/Enrollment as a guest student is not possible after the deadlines above! 

• Before you start looking for a suitable host, you should have a rather precise idea/concept about your research project.
• You should first get detailed information about the different faculties, institutes, departments and professors at GU to find out which professor would be the most suitable host in your case. It should be someone whose research area covers the same or a similar topic to the one of your own research project.
• For this purpose, use the overview of all the faculties at GU, which refers you to the respective faculty homepage, to obtain information about the respective departments, research areas and professors. Additionally, you should acquire an idea of the most important research centers, -projects and -cooperations at GU.

• Once you have found the ideal host for your project, you can apply directly to him or her (not the Global Office!) by writing an application enclosing a letter of motivation, your curriculum vitae, a list of publications, and an outline of your proposed project or letter of intent. The more detailed you set out the reasons why you believe you can best carry out your project with this particular host at GU and how you plan to fund your stay, the greater your chances of success.
• If you have the opportunity, you could also approach the individual concerned in person, e.g. at a meeting or conference.
• You might search for the contact details of your potential host with the following list of GU's faculties:

01 - Law
02 - Economics and Business Administration
03 - Social Sciences
04 - Educational Sciences
05 - Psychology and Sports Sciences
06 - Protestant Theology
07 - Roman Catholic Theology
08 - Philosophy and History
09 - Faculty of Linguistics, Cultures, and Arts
10 - Modern Languages
11 - Geoscience and Geography
12 - Computer Science and Mathematics
13 - Physics
14 - Biochemistry, Chemistry and Pharmacy
15 - Biological Sciences
16 - Medical Science

The semester contribution stated above is for guest students only! The 50€ administration charge has been waived for guest students only!

The composition of the contribution is illustrated in the following chart.

The semester contribution of passed semesters can be found here.

After your application for admission has been processed, you will receive the letter of admission from us; the letter contains important information about the enrollment of guest students (account data for the transfer of the semester social contribution). The letter of admission for guest students will be sent via e-mail:

• in August (application for winter semester)
• in February (application for summer semester)

Once the admissions letter has been sent, the work flow of your personal account will show a green check mark: “Letter of admission sent by the Global Office."

Students who need to apply for a visa might need the admissions letter before February/August. In this case please contact us, in order to ask for a preliminary letter of admission. The preliminary letter can only be issued, once we have received your complete application.

Regulations on mobility within the EU applying to students of non-EU nationality (third-country nationals) coming to the EU for the purpose of studying have been eased.

If you wish to study at Goethe University under an exchange program and have already been issued a residence permit for studies in another EU member state, you can come to study at Goethe University without having to apply for a visa for Germany. In this case, you have to submit additional documents to Goethe University (incoming@uni-frankfurt.de). Then, Goethe University can apply for a confirmation for your stay here. Without this confirmation, you are not allowed to come to Germany for studies!

Mobility within the EU is facilitated under the following conditions (not valid for Great Britain, Ireland, and Denmark; students coming from these states have to apply for an entry visa with the German embassy when they want to study at Goethe University.)

• Studies in an EU member state with a residence permit of this EU member state for the purpose of studies
• Studies at Goethe University under an exchange program (ERASMUS, bilateral exchange program [e.g. direct exchange Charles University Prague], departmental exchange program)
• Studies at Goethe University for a maximum of 360 days
• A residence permit of an EU member state that is valid for the duration of studies at Goethe University (if necessary, have the residence permit extended in due time before the mobility!)

Submission of the additional documents to Goethe University by

15 July (for winter term; earliest planned arrival: September)

15 January (for summer term; earliest planned arrival: March).

Note: The complete notification has to be made available to the National Contact Point (Federal Office for Migration and Refugees) at latest 30 days before the planned entry into Germany. In order to avoid delays in your arrival, it is your responsibility to make sure that the Global Office of Goethe University receives the complete documents, in the format described below by the above stated deadline, in order for the Global Office of Goethe University to have enough processing time to forward the documents to the National Contact Point.

If the documents submitted are incomplete or submitted after the deadline, Goethe University will not be able to apply for a confirmation for your stay. In that case, you will not be permitted to come to Goethe University for studies! 

Documents to be submitted:

Submit all documents in PDF format and name it with your family name and the document type: e.g. Family name_Pass.pdf. Submit the documents to incoming@uni-frankfurt.de.

1. Copy of the residence title by the EU member state (issued for study purposes; validity for the duration of the stay at Goethe University)
   Document title: Family name_Aufenthaltstitel.pdf
2. Copy of the passport/replacement passport
   Document title: Family name_Pass.pdf
3. Proof of participation in a program organized by the EU or other multilateral program entailing mobility and/or the agreement between the higher education institutions
   Document title: Family name_Mobilitätsnachweis
4. Proof of financial resources in the amount of EUR 934/month
   E.g. current print out from your bank account or your parent's bank account; in case you receive an additional grant: letter of award from the scholarship donor.
   The proof needs to show that a continuous support is taking place and that you have sufficient resources to cover the monthly costs while studying at Goethe University (approx. monthly allowance: EUR 934 (Bafög-Satz)
   Document title: Family name_Lebensunterhalt.pdf
5. Health insurance certificate (copy of EHIC)
   Document title: Family name_KV.pdf
6. Admission letter
   Guest students receive the letter of admission approx. in February for summer term, in August for winter term. You may ask for a preliminary letter of admission after the Global Office has received your complete application form via postal mail.
   Document title: Family name_Zulassung.pdf 

All documents, with the exception of the passport and the residence title, must be submitted in German. Where applicable, the BAMF (Federal Office for Migration and Refugees) can accept easily comprehensible documents in a foreign language, but decides whether the documents submitted meet the requirement.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

According to section 2 (information and access to personal data), Articles 13 and 14 of the GDPR, we are hereby informing students about processing of the personal data they need to provide, in order for the Global Office of Goethe University to register them for the eased mobility under the EU Directive 2016/801. According to Article 13, point (e), we hereby inform students – specifically – about the direct and indirect recipients of the personal data: Your personal data will be shared with the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees in turn may share the data with contact points of other European member states or immigration authorities. Students will not be informed separately about processing of their data and direct and indirect recipients by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees.

Under the following link of the European Union students may find the relevant General Data Protection Regulations:

• Article 13
• Article 14

Please keep in mind that the certificate for mobility issued by the Federal Office pertains to the originally planned study period. If you extend your study period, you must contact incoming@uni-frankfurt.de, in order for the Global Office to request an extension at the Federal Office.

Additional Information:

Federal Office for Migration and Refugees

Addresses of German Foreign Representation

Entry Requirements

 Further information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Auswärtigen Amt)

• German Missions Abroad
• Entry requirements
• Make it in Germany

You must apply for a European Health Insurance (EHIC) (equivalent to Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC)) from the relevant authority in your home country. The cards are issued by your insurance company in your home country. After your arrival in Germany, you must present your EHIC card to one of the statutory health insurance companies and indicate that you are studying at GU (GU company number: H0001406). The health insurance company will then send a digital certificate to GU confirming that you have sufficient insurance coverage. 

Please note that the EHIC card does not automatically make all medical services free of charge. Please check with your health insurance company at home which services are covered. 

• Flyer Insurance and Health Care
• "First Aid. An Illustrated Health Dictionary: Information for Foreign Students in Germany" (Deutsches Studentenwerk)
• List of social security agreements (alternatively here)
• List of all statutory health insurances in Germany
• Health insurances in Frankfurt am Main
• European Health Insurance Card

Guest/Exchange students can apply for student housing. Unfortunately, accommodation is very limited. Therefore, placement for all exchange students cannot be guaranteed. Your admission as an exchange student does not guarantee your accommodation through the allotment.

Unfortunately, we do not provide student housing for Freemover guest students.

Here a list of common signs of a possible rental scam:

• The rental price is too good to be true. Rooms in flat shares for students in Frankfurt usually cost between €400 - 600.
• Prepayment required. Do not wire money for a security deposit, application fee, first monthly rent, etc. to someone you have never met for an apartment you have not seen. Legitimate proprietors / real estate agents do not ask for money before you have not seen the accommodation.
• Contradictions between advertisement picture(s) and text/description. Read advertisement promoting accommodation with a certain skepticism.
• Pictures that seem taken out of a brochure, e.g. from a furniture store catalog. In order to check, if pictures have been copied from other sources, upload the pictures in the Google reversed photo search.
• Poor German, advertisement in English. Look for grammar and spelling errors in the advertisement as it may be an indication that it was translated by a translation software.
• Copied advertisement texts. Often, real estate scammers copy their advertisement from real, existing real estate offers. Enter parts of the text or the headline in a search engine for review: If a very similar advertisement appears with different contact data on other portals, caution is advised.
• Missing information: Legitimate proprietors provide information on rent with and without utilities as heating and hot water (in German the so called “Warmmiete" with utilities vs. "Kaltmiete" without utilities). If only the Warmmiete is specified, this can be an indication of a fake apartment. Also, be suspicious if there is no specific contact person or no imprint on the site of the real estate provider. If a phone number is specified, it is worth checking whether the phone number is active.
• Suspicious e-mails: Do not open file attachments in e-mails that end on “.exe" regardless of whether they are sent by alleged housing providers or by the real estate portal itself. They can come from real estate scammers and contain malware or Trojans. Also, pay attention to the e-mail address of the sender: Real estate fraudsters often use e-mail addresses with conspicuous domains for correspondence, such as Name@affordable-dreamappartment.de.
• Wire transfer abroad required, i.e. outside Germany: Special caution when transferring abroad! Check the payee's account number (IBAN) before each transfer: which country code does it start with? 'DE' stands for an account in Germany, 'AT' for Austria and so on. If, on the other hand, a country code occurs that you did not expect, you should not transfer money.

Here a link to signs of scam as listed by the US government agency Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

• Alfred-Delp-Haus
• Friedrich-Dessauer-Haus
• Jugendherberge Frankfurt for temporary accommodation
• Susanne-von-Klettenberg-Haus
• Guest House of the BFW Frankfurt
• Raumfinder Offenbach

You will find the online course overview (of all faculties) on the following website: qis.server.uni-frankfurt.de. You can access the course overview without login, by simply clicking on "Courses", then "Course Overview".

• for the winter semester will be updated in approx. June
• for the summer semester will be updated in approx. January.

*Some English language courses may be found in the course overview under "Language of instruction" -> "German / English". This category lists courses that are bilingual, but not necessarily "German / English" other bilingual constellations may also be listed. It is worth checking this section for additional English language courses not listed under "Language of instruction" -> "English".

Below Links to English Courses in the Summer Semester 2024:

Dep. 1, Law / bilingual* 

Dep. 2, Economics and Business Administration (Bachelor; Master) / bilingual*

Dep. 3, Social Sciences (Bachelor; Master) / bilingual*

Dep. 4, Educational Sciences

Dep. 5, Psychology and Sports / bilingual*

Dep. 6, Protestant Theology / bilingual*

Dep. 7, Roman Catholic Theology 

Dep. 8, Philosophy and History / bilingual*

Dep. 9, Linguistics, Cultural Studies, and Art / bilingual*

Dep. 10, Modern Languages (Bachelor; Master) / bilingual*

Dep. 11, Geosciences and Geography (Bachelor; Master) / bilingual*

Dep. 12, Computer Sciences and Mathematics (Bachelor; Master) / bilingual*

Dep. 13, Physics (Bachelor; Master) / bilingual*

Dep. 14, Biochemistry, Chemistry, and Pharmacy / bilingual*

Dep. 15, Biosciences (Bachelor; Master) / bilingual*

Dep. 16, Medical Science

In order to differentiate between Bachelor and Master level courses, you can select a “Header structure" on the "Search for Lectures" query. Select the faculty/ department, then, select the level of degree programme.

• Law
• Economics and Business Administration
• Social Sciences
• Medicine

The German Intensive Course for Exchange Students (Deutsch-Intensiv-Kurs für Austauschstudierende), or later referred to as DIA-Course, takes place every year in March and September before the start of the semester. The course lasts 4 weeks (in September) / 3 weeks (in March) and consists of about 20 hours per week. The course is free of charge for registered exchange students and you can earn 4 ECTS (in September) / 3 ECTS for the course.

Preliminary dates DIA-course March 2024 : Monday, 11 March - Thursday, 28 March.

Information about the online placement test will be provided before the course begins. Your score determines which group you will be placed in. You can join the DIA course without any previous knowledge of German as we also have a beginners course.

• DIA-course March: 15 December
• DIA-course September: 15 June

During the course of the semester, there will be various courses offered by the ISZ to help improve your knowledge of German. Further information and links pertaining to these courses can be found here under "Courses during the semester".