2015-2016 Report 1 faculty/college Humanities level bachelor s master s PhD name study programme German Philology exchange application process PREPARATION The application in Osiris was failry easy. The only thing that was a little bit more difficult was writing a good motivation letter. Because there were only 4 places for Berlin, they would choose people based on their results and motivation letters, so I spent a lot of time on it. counselling & support at Utrecht University I didn't need a lot of help for the preparation, as it was fairly easy, but if there were any questions I knew who to e-mail and where to get help. academic preparation The subjects I chose before I went to Berlin were not the ones I ended up doing, so everything worked out quite differently in the end. language preparation I didn't need to do any language preparation, because I was already proficient in German finances The Erasmus grant was really nice to get, and also very needed, because you do spend a lot more money than you would at home. Berlin is a cheap city, so rent and food isn't that expensive, but there are just a lot of nice things to do which cost money. study programme (content and organisational issues) STUDY ABROAD PERIOD Registering for the courses was very easy, the only thing that is a bit difficult is getting your grades on time, because in Germany the teachers can take as much time as they want for correcting something. The content and difficulty of your courses depends on what courses you take. academic quality of education activities I think academically the FU is on the same level als Utrecht university counselling & support at receiving university abroad There is a lot of support at the University, and there is an office open three days per week where you can go and ask questions. Every student also has a tutor assigned to them, whom you can e-mail or visit to ask stuff. transfer of credits My credits haven't been transferred yet, so I don't really know if this goes well STUDENT LIFE
welcome & orientation programme We had four days of introduction, which was very helpful and also nice to meet new people. And there were also a few introduction parties organised, they were also very good to meet new people and make friends. accommodation The accomodation provided by the uni is nice and cheap, it is just that they are located outside of the center. And because Berlin is so big it can take upto an hour to get to the center of Berlin from you house. This is why I chose to look for a student room myself, somemwhere closer to the center. leisure & culture Berlin is a great place for everything. It has a lot of museums and other cultural things to do, a great nightlife. There is something to do for every type of person and you can also do a lot of things on your own. You don t have to be bored in this city! suggestions/tips Find your own accomodation and look on Facebook pages to find cool (free) stuff to do! CONCLUSIONS would you recommend this university/destination abroad to others? please explain Yes, I would recommend it. It is a nice university and they offer nice courses. The help you get from there is also good. do you have any additional advice or comments? Berlin is a really big city, which is really nice, but can also be overwhelming and sometimes hard to know where all your friends are! Smaller cities will be cosier and easier to hang out with all your Erasmus friends. Report 2 faculty/college Humanities level bachelor s master s PhD name study programme German Language & Culture exchange application process PREPARATION I've followed the application process and deadlines that have been sent by UU and Erasmus+ counselling & support at Utrecht University In case of doubt, I've contacted UU through e-mail. academic preparation My bachelor programme was sufficient. German study programmes and the level of education don't differ very much from UU. language preparation Bachelor courses in German Language and Literature. finances
Erasmus Grant. study programme (content and organisational issues) STUDY ABROAD PERIOD At FU Berlin you can choose your courses after zou've visited the first seminar (the first week is a sort of a "shopping week" where you can visite any seminar in order to determine if the course suits you). All programmes are held in German, but there are specific courses for Erasmus students that are either taught in German, or in English. I did two Erasmus courses in German and was a bit disappointed by the elementary level (both content and language level). academic quality of education activities High, except for Erasmus and language courses, that don't have many similarities with academic education. counselling & support at receiving university abroad FU Berlin is very well organised and there is an infodesk where you can always drop by. transfer of credits I haven't finished yet so I don't know (yet). welcome & orientation programme STUDENT LIFE Very useful and clear instructions, but also time to relax and get to know your classmates. There are excursions and events organised by both the Erasmus Committee and the International Club (a membership costs 10) accommodation Accomodation can be regulated by University, but I chose to find a room myself, which was considerably harder than I thought. I found a room after one month via a Facebook Group "Nederlanders in Berlijn". So be prepared for a tough search if you decide to not take a room from your University (they are not very well located + only for Erasmus students, which does not improve your German skills in general). leisure & culture IT IS BERLIN! suggestions/tips Du bist verrückt mein Kind, du musst nach Berlin! CONCLUSIONS would you recommend this university/destination abroad to others? please explain Absolutely, because of the international and inspiring atmosphere at Freie Universität and in Berlin in general. do you have any additional advice or comments?
Report 3 faculty/college Humanities level bachelor s master s PhD name study programme Comparative Literary Studies exchange application process PREPARATION Rather easy actually. Motivation Letter is the only thing that probably takes up the most time. Do not let yourself be frightened by all the forms, really it is easier than one may expect. The only thing for me was that there was not yet a Erasmus Literary contract between the FU Berlin and the UU, so I do look back with a bit of a traumatic look, since I had so send billions of emails to make the contract happen. counselling & support at Utrecht University Really good, got replies from my emails within a few days. Answers were clear. academic preparation Not much really. The courses I was planning on following all related to either my Master's thesis (which I will write immediately after I will return) or reflected to courses I did at the UU language preparation Took two language courses at the Babel Institute at Utrecht, mainly to freshen up my knowledge of the German language. Eventhough it is not obligatory to obtain a certain level before going to the FU (highly recommended though), I played it safe (and cheap) and started my language courses in january. When my second B2 course was finished I felt more secure and safe in the german language finances not much preparation, had a humble savings account (approx. 700 euros) to cover any unexpected costs. Berlin is cheaper then Utrecht, so one does not necessarily need more money. study programme (content and organisational issues) STUDY ABROAD PERIOD Even though the FU is pretty well organised, one may have issues with courses that one wants to do outside the faculty. I for example only followed one course within the Literary Studies department, the rest was from theatre studies and english philology. If you follow course outside your ''fachbereich'' one cannot enroll officially in Campus Management (the german equivalent of osiris), meaning that you have to hand in several forms and need to collect tons of autographs. But apart from that the system here is really convenient: the first two weeks are ''shopping weeks'' meaning that you can attend several seminars for a few weeks and see if it fits your style and/or interests. academic quality of education activities Quality is about the same as the UU, eventhough the teaching methods are a bit different. The classes I took were rather 'democratic' in that the teacher does not really 'teach', but it is rather up to the students to figure out the concepts/texts. This was fun and inspiring, but sometimes also difficult since most of the time the texts needed some explanantion by the teacher, but it was not provided. counselling & support at receiving university abroad The overall ERASMUS team is okay, they have a big office near the main building. It was a bit hectic in the
beginning. I didn t have any contact with the Literary Studies erasmus person. This was quite inconvenient at some times since she would not really answer any of my emails, even when the emails were about the Grant or Learning Agreement transfer of credits Still in the process of writing essays, so cannot comment welcome & orientation programme STUDENT LIFE I arrived in August to do a Vorkurs here at the FU, meaning that, when the official orientation programme started (in october), I was already quite used to the FU and was not really impressed by the programme. Its quite 'massive' in that there are simply too many erasmus students for a 'fun' programme. During the Vorkurs, however, there were tons of fun stuff to do: visits to the museums, tours around town etcetera. This was more appealing since the group was smaller and therefore a bit more 'intimate' accommodation Be really carefull with this one. You may choose to use the student housing accomodation, but be prepared to live about 30 minutes outside town. I choose to look for a room myself via WG-gesucht (German 'Kamernet') and facebook, and eventually found one on Facebook. I went to check out the room in May (and I highly recommend this, since plenty of people around me got scammed or were utterly dissapointed when they saw the actual room). While living there I noticed that I was not quite satisfied with my roommate nor the area where I lives (a more fancy part), so I decided to look for a new room for the last two months of my stay. I found what is probably the most perfect room in Neukölln, the area where I wanted to live with a really nice girl. So my advice would be to start looking early, check out the room, and once you are there the option is always available to move during your stay there. In this way you have secured a room but you are also allowed to move around for a bit. Be prepared to püay around 400 euros on rent (and probably even more in the next few years, rent prices are going crazy in Berlin) leisure & culture don t think I really need to comment here: Berlin is one of the most fun cities to go, be it for the culture, their history, the amazingly big leftist activist sphere, the bars, the clubs. All is within reach. suggestions/tips Go visit abandoned lots and places, especially the swimming pool Blub is a fun one to go to. CONCLUSIONS would you recommend this university/destination abroad to others? please explain I would definetly recommend the destination, not necessarily the University. The University did not manage to inspire me, nor did the environment of the University. Sure, some courses were fun, but the teaching methods did not really get me any further. But apart from that living in Berlin has been the greatest and most fun experience so far. Just do it do you have any additional advice or comments? 2014-2015 Report 1
exchange application process PREPARATION Once we were told, that a semester abroad was a compelled part of our study, we were given very good guidance by our professors in Utrecht. We were told about the possibilities and the different issues we could be confronted with. Every document we had to submit, every signature we had to receive; everything was made very clear to us. counselling & support at Utrecht University As stated here above the counselling & support at Utrecht University was very good. If I had any questions, there was always someone standby who would answer them. If I ran into any other problems or questions about my stay abroad, I would be able to solve these with my fellow students, who were going abroad as well. academic preparation From one academic life you go to another. Are these two lives more or less the same? No. That's not the case. Of course once you apply for a semester at a university abroad, you should be well informed. Once you get the releaving message, that you actually are allowed to go to the university of your wish, the real preperation begins. I took the time to prepare myself, read a lot of information of my guestuniversity and about the city of course. Once I got here, i got the comfirmation of the things I'd read on the internet about the FU. In comparison to Univerisiteit Utrecht it was a big change, but luckily I saw it coming. language preparation Since I study German language and culture, I didn't have real language issues. To improve my German, I took a language course on level C1. finances Before I left I made a financiel plan for my stay abroad and reviewed it over and over. Life abroad is expensive, mainly because from the moment you leave, you don't have a income anymore. I was able to stick to my financial plan and on the way I only had some unexpected additional costs for trips to other cities and study materials. study programme (content and organisational issues) STUDY ABROAD PERIOD Before you leave, you have to select courses, you would like to participate. Once I got here, most of these courses were available but i found other courses of my interest. I also tried to do two courses in economics, an unknown faculty for me, but unfortunately this wasn't possible. In the end I'm happy with the courses I chose here. They are of my interest and I haven't had any courses of this kind at Univerisiteit Utrecht. academic quality of education activities In general the courses are of good academic quality. You have to be well prepared in order to really participate in class. The dicussions in class are of a high level and I had to put a lot of thought into the things a I wanted to say. Some courses organised additional excursions to historically important places here in Berlin. These excursions were free of charge and really useful and interesting. counselling & support at receiving university abroad Counselling and support at the Freie Universität Berlin is very well organised. Frome the very beginning fellow students tell you where to go if you have any questions. The Freie Universität Berlin hosts a lot of Erasmus students every single year, so they really know how to deal with all the questions. transfer of credits
Transfor of credits still has to follow, but I already received several emails about how to get my Transcript of Records. Once I have al the results of all my exames, I know what to do and I'm sure that any problems regarding this transcript, will be solved easily. welcome & orientation programme STUDENT LIFE In the orientation week you get to know fellow students, the university and the city (as far that is possible, with a city this big). Together with other Erasmus students from the same faculty I got a guided tour at the campus, the Blackboard platform and the course enrolment was explained to me. Next to that we had a international barnight to get to know eachother. Everything was well prepared and before the semester really began, the university and the people were familiar to me. accommodation I rented a room at a student village in the south of Berlin. This studentvillage was recommended to me by email. The accomodation itself was very decent and from that point of view I'm happy with my choice. Unfortunately, from the student village it was a long way into the city centre. That was a bit of a dissapointment. But If you travel in a groupe, time will fly! leisure & culture In a city like Berlin there is so much to do. If I wanted to, I could go out every night. The trick is: pick your moments. At the beginning of my stay I took every opportunity to go into the city for sightseeing and cultural events. Later I realised it is nicer to hang out with friends and spread these activities you originally planned to do for moments when your friends are not there. Or take them with you, that makes even more fun! As stated above: the excursions I participated were extremely useful to show different parts of the city. suggestions/tips If you have to decide what city you might like, focus on two things: city & university. If both suit you fine, you will have a very nice stay abroad. Almost guarantueed. CONCLUSIONS would you recommend this university/destination abroad to others? please explain Yes I would. It is such a great life experience. To live in a different country, in a different culture, to meet a lot of new people and to let go of your 'normal' life for a period of time is fantastic. I can honestly say, that my stay here in Berlin has developed me as human being, more than any other experience. Everything I learned about life, living here, the country, I take that with me back to Utrecht. do you have any additional advice or comments? If you hesitate about going abroad, ask fellow students who have already been there, to tell you how it was. Ask as many as you can. They will tell you different stories, but I'm sure that most of them will be positive. Report 2 exchange application process PREPARATION The exchange application process was unclear at first, mostly because the university requires a clear plan of what you are going to do at the university you would prefer to go to. This is logical and luckily not as strict as it might sound like at first. There is quite some time to alter the original plans after you are allowed into the exchange program, in order for them to relate to the constantly changing course programs offered at the foreign
university. The exchange process itself was not very transparent and the exact selection criteria the university used were unclear. counselling & support at Utrecht University At first, most of the counselling at the UU resulted from the own master program. This was mainly concerning the location I would be studying at. After the first probings into the possibilities, the Erasmus officers came in to narrow down the possibilities by pointing out that there were quite little (in my opinion) exchange programs with universities around the world. These programs were heavily concentrated within the European Union, which unfortunately resulted in me abandoning my plans to go the Australia or the USA. The Erasmus officers luckily were able to help my find a suitable replacement within the Erasmus+ program that fitted to my wishes. The impossibility to go abroad to universities that do not have a direct exchange program with the home university seriously hinders students in their ability to go to the best institution for the subjects they are interested in. academic preparation My academic preparation for the stay abroad mostly consisted of contacting the professors I would be in close contact with during my exchange period. This consisted mainly of gathering permissions to attend their classes, as well as introducing myself and finetuning the topics I would most likely would be studying with them. This resulted in some reading assignments before I left, in order to get a head start before my arrival. language preparation I knew the courses and program would (mostly) be in English. As my English language skills did not need any training I focussed on the second language I would need for my stay abroad: German. I read German books, watched German language movies and studied a grammar book occasionally, but mostly I waited for the presemester language course I was enrolled in to start refreshing my memory of the German classes I finished in high school. finances The finances were quite easily arranged, as I would have similar expenses in Germany, with the addition of income by the Erasmus+ grant, which easily covered the extra travelling costs and the other costs that resulted from my stay abroad. study programme (content and organisational issues) STUDY ABROAD PERIOD My study programme abroad was grouped around the Global History master programme of the Freie Universität, in collaboration with the Humboldt University in Berlin. Originally this program was not accessible for international exchange students, as it is a highly selective master programme. Luckily I was able to secure access by contacting the master coordinator and explaining my intention and the position my master programme has at my home university. Therefore I was able to attend the general introductory classes of the master programme aswell as several high-level courses and gatherings with just professors and PhD candidates. academic quality of education activities The academic quality of the education activities were quite high, as the masters programme is a highly selective one. The different academic backgrounds led to some integration problems at first, but in the in-depth courses these were quickly overcome. The teachers also expected a big dedication to the courses and required quite a lot of reading every session. counselling & support at receiving university abroad The counselling at the receiving institution was very good. Communication about who to approach was very clear and the different contact persons were very approachable. The website was clear on the rules and
regulations and the required documents were easily available on the webiste. transfer of credits The transfer of credits has not taken place as of yet, but without a doubt this will not provide any issues. I am in close contact with the professor responsible for my Transcript of Records and this will be taken care as soon as I receive all my grades. welcome & orientation programme STUDENT LIFE The welcome programme was very satisfactory, mainly because I also participated in the pre-semester language course my receiving university was offering. I would highly recommend this language course as it will give you a serious head start on other international students arriving at a later date. It serves as an excellent introduction in the university, as well as the social life in the new city. Because of the clear plans I made before coming to the university, the other orientation programme was not as useful as it perhaps might have been for other students, but it offered clear guidance in the practical side of university life. accommodation Accommodation advice was offered by the receiving institution, which I gladly accepted, as I heard it was hard to find an affordable room in Berlin. There have been two sides to this coin however. Yes, it is hard to find a good room, but the accomodation offered by the university was not the best one can get. It certainly was cheap, but quite far from the city centre and the university, as well as not the most student-esque environment one could wish for. The concentration of Erasmus students, as well as local students helped in the social aspect of the stay in Berlin. Finding a room in Berlin might be hard, but pay close attention to where it is located as the city is huge. leisure & culture Berlin was a great city to study in with a extreme variety of cultural and other activities. I could probably write an entire travel guide on this topic, but this information is widely available on the internet. suggestions/tips Take care of accomodation in advance and attend a pre-semester language course!! CONCLUSIONS would you recommend this university/destination abroad to others? please explain Berlin is a wonderful city and I wholeheartedly encourage people to go here. The universities are excellent and provide an extreme variety of studies to partake in. The city is perfect to emerge oneself into and the large amount of international students make the student life exceptional. do you have any additional advice or comments? Enjoy, explore the city, get to know yourself, meet people, make friends for life, but also study hard. That's the reason you go abroad! 2013-2014
Report 1 exchange/placement application process preparation In order to be selected for an Exchange with Freie Universität Berlin, I had to present a study plan, a financial plan, a proof of language proficiency, my curriculum vitae as well as a motivation letter - which seemed to me to be the most important part of my application. I also added a letter of recommendation, written by the professor of a course I deemed both very challenging and interesting and an important reason for me to expand my curriculum through an exchange semester at Freie Universität Berlin. After my request was conditionally approved, I had to send in various documents to my host institution in order for my application and immatriculation to succeed. Although this part of the application process took less time than preparing the documents for Utrecht University, I did have problems communicating with the staff members of the at Freie Universität Berlin, which at some point was very distressing. Different staff members provided me with different answers on the same question and in some cases misinformed me. For instance: I got immatriculated as a student of Dutch Philology, although I applied for Philosophy and I had to revise my Learning Agreement, although it was not made clear what exactly needed to be revised. counselling/support at home university The at Utrecht University proved to be very helpful and made some parts of the application process much clearer. Nonetheless I tried to figure out most of the problems I stumbled upon myself. academic preparation I didn't have to make specific changes to my study plan in Utrecht in order to be well prepared for the exchange. language preparation In order for my German to be on a sufficient level, I took a 6-weeks preperatory German course at Freie Universität Berlin. Before the course started I took a test and got placed in a group with a fitting level, in my case in a B2.2/C1 course. The course took place before the start of the semester and proved very useful. Not only my language skills improved enormously, I also got to know a lot more about Berlin, German culture and met a lot of interesting people. finances I (succesfully) applied for an Erasmus Grant and submitted a request for a monthly Public Transport compensation. Apart from that, my own savings, as well as parental support helped me to finance the exchange. study/placement abroad period study programme/work plan (concerning content and organisational issues) The study programme I prepared in advance was based on the courses offered in the previous winter semester and proved to be fully outdated. All the courses I planned to take part in weren't offered anymore, so I had to write a whole new study plan. In the first week of the semester, all students were able to visit as many courses they wanted; in the second week decisions had to be made. In the end I decided to take 6 different courses: the preperatory German course, a German writing course (focussed on journalism and literature in Berlin), a series of lectures on (mainly German) metaphysics, a seminar on Michel Foucault and his critical enquiries, a seminar on contemporary film philosophy and a seminar on interdisciplinary intersections in modern art and
theatre/dance productions. The enrolling system was very outdated, since the online system was newly setup and in my case (being immatriculated in the wrong study area and all) didn't work, so in the end I just had to personally ask the professors of the courses I wanted to follow if I could take part. All courses were given in German. academic quality of education/placement activities Although the academic level of both students and professors is very high, I generally thought of the education at FU Berlin as too free, or too loose. All the seminars are highly (if not fully) dependent on discussion between students, which can be very interesting, but also very annoying and most of the time it just didn't work out very well. Especially for those who aren't native speakers. The professors only served as moderators and seemed to be hesistant or unwilling to share their thoughts on a subject before starting these group discussions. Personally, I think it would have been much better if the professors had taken a bigger role in the seminars, since they have great expertise, but seem to do everything to not place themselves 'above' the students. Hierarchy is actually banned in any way at FU Berlin, which is beautiful, but at times also has a bad influence on the learning process and depth of the discussions. Nonetheless, the expected quality and level of papers and presentations is high, which motivated me to be serious and diligent. counselling/support at host institution/organisation Distributed Campus, an online medium with a lot of information for exchange students, is a very helpful service. The is not that great, though. The staff members working there, somehow seem to be quite inexperienced. In any case I have very clearly experienced what "Deutsche Bürokratie" is. Digitalization is still in its infancy at FU Berlin and everything has to be arranged through forms, which can be pretty annoying at times. transfer of credits The credit system used (the FU works with Leistungspunkte) could be easily translated to ECTS, but it was not always clear how many LP or ECTS would be granted for taking part in a course. Much had to be discussed with the professors in advance and the final amount of credits awarded depended on the length of the final paper handed in as well as the level and length of presentations and hence could differ per student. Since my transcript of records has not yet been finished, I cannot not comment more extensively on this particular subject. welcome/orientation programme student life Since I started with the preparatory German course, I took part in 2 different orientation programmes (before the start of the preparatory course and before the start of the semester). These included a tour through the main building of the University and of course the distribution of a lot of information. It actually was exactly right: not too long, containing enough information and including a boat trip for those wo wanted to join. accommodation To find a room, I used WG-gesucht.de, which is the common website for finding shared student houses. I found a great appartment, where I lived together with with two wonderful german students until the end of December. For the second half of my stay, I found another room via my former housemates, again living together with german students. I think I have been really lucky though, since I know several people, that have been searching for weeks or even months. The housing in Berlin becomes more problematic every year. FU Berlin also offered rooms in big student housing complexes. The costs for such rooms are very low, but the complexes are all located far away from
the city centre and just didn't (and still don't) seem attractive to me at all. leisure/culture What can I say - Berlin is breathing culture. Festivals, Music, Art, Fashion, History... There hasn't passed a single day in which nothing exciting was going on in the city. It is really a fascinating capital, in which you never know if a place will be still there the next day, or if it's already replaced by something refreshingly new. Berlin is always on the move and has a lively pounding creative heart. suggestions/tips no comment conclusions would you recommend this host organisation/destination to others? please explain As for the host institution: yes and no. I have already stated before that I deem some elements - mainly in the organizational structure of the FU Berlin as well as in the outline of the seminars - a bit problematic. Let's say there is room for improvement. Nonetheless, I think the FU offers any foreign student a great experience, a warm welcome, a great language course and many enlightening activities to take part in. As for Berlin: I would recommend anyone to go there and to experience the myriad things and people that this astonishing city has to offer. I will definitely return there myself, hopefully for a long period and cannot think of anything that one could think of as negative regarding Berlin. do you have any additional advice or comments? no comment