Index

I was admitted with the condition to submit my bachelor’s certificate within one year. To whom do I have to submit my bachelor’s certificate?

You need to submit your bachelor’s certificate to our Student Records Office (not your study coordinator). Only if you submit your bachelor’s certficate in time (i.e. until the end of your second semester at the very latest), you can be re-registerd for your third semester.

Can I stay enrolled for 1 or 2 more semesters after I have graduated?

No. Although you will stay enrolled until the end of the semester in which you graduate, our Students Records Office is bound by law to inform the immigration authorities of your exact graduation date (i.e. the date on which your graduation documents are issued). Since your residence permit for study purposes expires when you graduate, you need to apply for a job seeking visa in time in order to be able to stay in Germany. Please inform yourself in time about this option!

It is not possible to extend your studies in Medical Engineering beyond the semester of your graduation. If you want to enroll in another English-taught master’s program at FAU in the subsequent semester after your graduation you need to officially apply for this program and receive admission for it. In addition, you must obtain the permission by the immigration authorities to start another study program (even if you plan is not to finish it and just to buy some time this way, e.g. to take German courses or look for a job).

Are all people who teach at FAU professors (and should I address them as such)?

In Germany, “professor” is not only a job description but an academic title that is obtained after a doctorate/PhD. A person who teaches at university is not automatically a professor, therefore you should only call them “Prof.” in emails or in direct communication if they actually hold the respective title.

In the 20th century, after their doctorate, German scholars who wished to go into academia usually worked towards a Habilitation by writing a second thesis, known as the Habilitationsschrift. Once the scholar passes their Habilitation, they are eligible for a call to a chair. Only if their application for a university chair (e.g. Chair for Pattern Recognition etc.) is successful they are now considered a professor and can bear the respective title.

Since 2002 alternative paths can also lead to a full professorship. One can reach a professorship at a university by habilitation, a successful evaluation as a junior professorship (after 5 years), a tenure track period (6 years) or equivalent performance. In engineering this is often attained through expert knowledge in the industry.

It is important for you to know who of your university teachers have a PhD and who are professors in the German understanding of the word, as only the “real” professors are authorized to assign you a thesis topic or supervise a PhD project.

 

I have admission to the master’s program but the waiting period for my visa is very long. What should I do?

We grant you the possibility for late arrival until May 15 for the summer semester and November 15 for the winter semester. If you are unable to travel to Erlangen until this deadline, you cannot join our program in the respective semester anymore. In this case, you must deregister from the semester you are currently enrolled in (please find the deregistration form on the website of our Student Records Office). If you deregister until May 15/November 15 the semester will not count towards your studies. However, you will not receive your semester fee back.

After you have de-registered from our program you can re-apply to our master’s program for the following semester. In order to do so, you must apply within the official deadline, submit all required documents again and, aditionally, upload your previous admission letter. Once you are done, please send an email to zimt-qfv[at]fau.de and inform our officers of your re-application to accelerate the process.

If you received your first admission letter in winter semester 23/24 or later, we will admit you again – without you having to retake the digital admission test.

 

Is there a support service for international students?

Your study advisor will be happy to help you with any question you might have concerning the Medical Engineering program. In addition to that, various introductory events are held at the beginning of every semester to provide you with general tips and information about your studies. We highly recommend that you attend those events, as the knowledge provided there is oftentimes the decisive factor in whether international students study successfully and obtain their degree (or not).

If you have questions that are specific to your status as an international student (e.g. regarding your visa situation, specific working conditions for Non-EU students etc.) you are welcome to contact our International Office.

Moreover, FAU offers a “buddy program”, in which international students are assisted by an experienced German volunteer from their faculty. Your personal “buddy” can help you with everyday problems, show you the city etc. and hopefully will become a good friend! You can apply for this program here.

Our student body representatives, who participate in various committees of the university and help shaping the study conditions at FAU, also have a working group for international students. If you would like to become a member of this group or are just looking for support, please contact them here.

I have sent an email to a university staff member but have not received an answer from them. What should I do about it?

First of all, if the waiting period between the sending date and the current date is less than 7 days, you shouldn’t do anything but just wait until the 7 days have passed. Our staff receive hundreds of emails everyday, therefore it is perfectly normal that they cannot get back to you right away. Just be patient! This statement holds even more true if there were public holidays or school holidays in Bavaria since you sent your email. Please inform yourself about those holidays online and deduct them from the 7 day-rule if applicable.

After the 7 regular days (non-holidays) have passed, you can send a friendly reminder to the recipient and ask them whether they already found the time to look into your email.

What else could be the reason you don’t receive an answer?

  • What you are asking about has already been explained elsewhere (on a website, in a StudOn course, in a lecture or at an information event). Therefore, the recipient sees no need to reply to you.
  • You have not selected a helpful subject for your email. A good email subject primes the reader for the topic of the email and helps them to decide if/when to read it or to whom to forward it. “Question”/”inquiry”/”need help” are not good subjects. “Problem with registration for exam 1234567” is.
  • Your email doesn’t address the person with their name and title, you have spelled their name wrong or used a wrong name.
  • You have addressed the person with the wrong gender (for example “Dear Sir” for a female ricipient).
  • Your email was generated with the use of ChatGPT and therefore transmits to the recipient that you are not willing to put any effort in your communication with them.
  • Your email was too long. As a rule of thumb, your email should not be longer than 3 – 5 sentences maximum and you should get to the point right away.
  • You message was not understandable for the ricipient. You can check this by putting yourself in the recipient’s spot: Does somebody who doesn’t know your current situation understand what you are talking about? For example, if you talk about “my exam” without giving any specific information, the recipient will not know which exam you mean. It should be possible for the recipient to understand your request without asking you any questions back for clarification.
  • You have not signed your email with your full name (first name(s) and last name(s)) and student number.
  • You have not added a greating and a thank you to your email.
  • There are a lot of spelling and/or grammar mistakes in your email, which makes it hard to read.
  • Your email contains severe formating errors, which makes it hard to read. A normal font size for emails is 11 or 12, your text should be left-aligned or in a block setting, never right-aligned, when writing in English or German.
  • You have not re-read your email before you sent it.

You can greatly improve your chances of receiving an early answer if you check for the above aspects in any email that you send.

What happens if I cheat in an exam or in a paper?

If you use unauthorized aids in an examination, copy from fellow students or communicate with them, the examination will be graded with a 5.0 and the case of cheating will be reported to our Examinations Office. The same applies to plagiarism and missing or incorrect citations in seminar papers and the master’s thesis.

If several attempts at cheating are reported to our Examinations Office, you will be de-registered from the study program.

Is it possible to work part-time and finish the master’s degree in 4 semesters?

Experience shows that it is close to impossible to graduate from our master’s program within the standard period of studies of 4 semesters if you need to work a significant amount of hours (~20 hours per week) alongside your studies. This is due to the fact that study programs in Germany are designed to be a “full-time job”, meaning that you will only be able to pass your exams and fulfill the standard workload of 30 credits per semester if you actually make your studies your main priority and dedicate most of your time to them. A regular full-time job is defined as a time commitment of 35 to 40 hours per week, which you spend attending classes and preparing/revising your course material at home.

Studying with a low time commitment (due to work obligations etc.) will either result in your eventual deregistration from the program (due to failed last exam attempts) or in the need to extend your study period to 5, 6 (or, in justified cases, even more) semesters. Please be aware that this extension will affect your planned financial budget significanty! Unfortunately, we have seen many, especially international, students drop our of our study program because they were unable to handle the double burden of work and our highly demanding study system. Please take care of yourself and assess your financial possibilities as well as you mental and physical health before you take on this challenge.

What happens with my visa when I graduate?

The university has to inform the immigration authorities of your graduation date. If you want to stay in Germany after graduation, you need to apply for a job-seeking visa (duration: 18 months) in due time before you graduate!

I have finished my first round of exams and only received unsatisfying grades so far. What should I do?

Many (international) students are surprised or even shocked when they receive their first exam results. If you received several grades between 3,0 and 4,0 it means that you are struggling with your studies. It is not uncommon for students who join a completely foreign academic system to find out that their lecturers’ expectations and exam design differs extremely from what they are used to. If this “shock” has happened to you once, it is time to adapt your strategies for studying and exam preparation:

  • Go to the exam inspections of all of your exams and find out where you made mistakes and what you can improve in the future. Ask the tutors of the exam inspection any question you might have.
  • Make it a habit to attend all of your courses physically and regularly. If you need to work a lot alongside your studies and have trouble attending your courses physically, choose fewer courses (15 – 20 ECTS) that do not clash with your work schedule and invest your full energy into those courses.
  • Start preparing your courses from the first week of the lecture period on. Prepare each course session by looking up the material that is available in StudOn and writing down questions. Attend the physical lecture and ask your questions there. It is important to know that our lecturers love it when their students engage in class and ask questions (if this is different in your home country, adapt this new mindset of “asking questions is showing interest and respect for your lecturer’s work”). Sit down after every course session and revise the contents. If you are still unsure about some topics, look them up online or get additional literature from the library. You can also ask your lecturer for recommended literature. Always attend the last course session of the lecture period, as your lecturers will sum up the course content and oftentimes will give you hints regarding the exam.
  • If your lectures are accompanied by additional exercises and/or tutorials, attend them regularly and use this time to clear your doubts. The tutors are literally being paid for helping you with your questions.
  • Observe the other students in your lecture and find out who seems to have a good understanding of the topic. Approach those students after class and suggest to form a study group. Important: You cannot be passive and expect your study buddies to be your teachers, you have to do your part, too. But studying in a group can help you to stay motivated and to compare your learning progress with others. Go through the lecture slides on your own and meet up weekly or bi-weekly with your study group to work through old exams, which you can get from the study association for Medical Engineering (FSI MedTech). Increase your study sessions as the exam date approaches.
  • Make a time schedule for your exam preparation. For example, you can plan to study from Monday to Friday for 6 hours each day, but rest on the weekend. Use your online calendar and mark in advance on which day you are going to study for which exam for which amount of time. Develop a strategy to prepare for several exams in parallel. It can help to study for one exam in the morning and for the other one in the afternoon or to study in the library for one exam and at home for the other etc. Map out how many topics/lecture slides you need to revise for each exam and estimate the time you will need to complete each task. Start studying early! As a rule of thumb, you should start at least 8 -12 weeks before the exam dates. Organize your study time in chunks – the pomodoro technique has proven to be very helpful for many students and can also be facilitated via several online tools. Be consistent but also plan in time for breaks and unforeseeable events such as illness etc. When in doubt, rather plan in more time so that you can stay ahead of your schedule and don’t experience time pressure.
  • Talk to fellow students who have already passed the exam you are studying for. Ask them about their experience, how they prepared for the exam and how much time in advance they started studying.
  • If you feel stressed or anxious and these feelings are keeping you from studying, make an appointment with our psychologists early on. The earlier you tackle this problem, the more successful you will be in your studies.

If you have adapted your exam preparation strategies according to the above tips but your grades are not improving and you feel that your studies are torturing you, start thinking about an exit strategy:

  • With a grade average between 3,0 and 4,0 you will have a hard time finding a supervisor for a master’s thesis as well as applying for a job in Germany. If you are planning to return to your home country after your studies anyway and believe that your grade average will be considered acceptable on your local job market, you can take the risk and continue your studies. It might still make sense to look into the options outlined below.
  • Start looking for English-taught master’s programs at German Universities for Applied Sciences. They are less theory-based and teach with a more hands-on approach. Therefore, our FAU students usually find that they receive better grades when they transfer to a University of Applied Sciences. You can find an overview of all German Universities of Applied Sciences and their study programs in this database. Study programs at Universities for Applied Sciences are often more structured and students are usually guided more by their professors regarding their course selection, their final thesis etc. If you feel our study system at FAU is too free for you, a University for Applied Sciences might be better suited for you.
  • If your main goal is to work in Germany you need to develop a plan of action:
    • Take German classes every lecture period (for free) and in every lecture-free period (with a fee) to improve your Germans skills. Make it your top priority to learn German fast. Being an enrolled student at FAU is the last time you will get German courses for free or at a low fee. Your German skills are going to be one of the crucial criteria for your job hunt.
    • Improve your programming skills in C/C++, Java, Python and Matlab as much as you can. Take any course you can find at FAU and VHB to improve your skills in this area.
    • Consult with our officer of the German Employment Agency (michael.huemmer[at]arbeitsagentur.de) about your chances to enter the German job market. Use your remaining study time to acquire the necessary skills and qualifications. With the help of Mr. Hümmer’s advice, apply for jobs based on your bachelor’s degree, German skills and solidified programming skills. It might not be necessary for you to finish your master’s degree in order to find a well-paid job in the STEM area.
    • Consult with Mr. Hümmer about options to join an apprenticeship program at one of our local global players (Siemens, adidas, DATEV etc.). The German apprenticeship system is highly renowned worldwide and offers you attractive career options. To start an apprenticeship in Germany, usually German skills on B2 level are required.
  • If you are having a hard time taking a decision about your academic and professional future, our psychologists are here to support you.