Outgoing Students
Many students dream of spending a study-related period abroad during their studies. The motivation for this is manifold. Students wish
- to acquire new academic knowledge
- to get to know other teaching and learning systems
- to experience the working world in another country
- to improve their knowledge of foreign languages
- to immerse themselves in foreign cultures
- to make new friends
- to develop their personality
- ...
No matter what your motivation is, whether you plan to study in Argentina or write your thesis in Norway, whether you want to do an internship in the USA or in China: The KIT-Faculty of Mechanical Engineering maintains numerous partnerships worldwide, within the framework of which you can implement your plan and carry out a study-related stay abroad.
All information relevant for a semester abroad such as program offers, partner universities, application processes, deadlines can be found on the following pages.
Exchange within Europe
ERASMUS+ |
1. General information
The KIT Faculty of Mechanical Engineering has concluded exchange agreements (Inter-Institutional Agreements) with more than 50 partner universities within Europe. These agreements regulate student mobility according to the guidelines of the ERASMUS+ program. Students decide themselves on the timing (BSc from the 5th semester on, MSc and PhD) and the duration of their stay (one or two semesters) and can go abroad in Europe for up to 12 months in each study phase (BSc., MSc and PhD). ERASMUS+ offers the following benefits:
- Exemption from tuition fees at the partner university
- Recognition of achievements successfully completed abroad after appropriate prior consultation (recognition agreements)
- free online language courses in the "major" languages and/or low-cost intensive language courses at the partner university
- Mobility grant based on the cost of living in the host country
The first point of contact for all questions regarding partner universities, application requirements or recognition of achievements abroad is
- ISIM - International Service in Mechanical Engineering (Building 10.23, R.706)
Head: Sarah Witte
Office hours: Tue 9 am - 12 pm and by individual arrangement; e-mail: isim ∂ mach kit edu
Furthermore, you can get information about the ERASMUS program at:
- IStO - International Students Office of KIT. In regular events the ERASMUS team there informs about the basic features of the program, the organization of the stay and the administrative procedures. The dates can be found here.
- Information and experiences from a student perspective are provided by the Erasmus Student Network (ESN) Karlsruhe.
2. Application for ERASMUS+
Before you apply for an Erasmus spot, you should consider what else you want to achieve with the study abroad besides the acquisition of language skills and social competences. Should the stay abroad specifically serve your academic further education, do you want to attend courses not offered at KIT for the purpose of broadening your horizons, or do you even plan to do a project, BSc or MSc thesis abroad? Check out the websites of our partner universities to find out which university is best suited to achieve your goals. You can receive funding for a maximum of 12 months in each of the Bachelor's and Master's programs as well as in the doctoral phase.
Selection criteria include:
Performance, language skills, motivation, personal commitment, completeness of documents, timely submission.
The Presentation on the application procedurefor the academic year 23/24 can be found in the ILIAS course: International Exchange Programs - Outgoer (in German) |
Documents
The following documents are required for the Erasmus application:
- one to max. two-page letter of motivation in German. Please also explain your study plans for your first desired university.
- Curriculum vitae in tabular form
- high school diploma
- current transcript of grades of your previous studies (BSc and MSc, if applicable)
- current proof of knowledge of the language of instruction (for required level, see list of partner universities). Additional knowledge of the local language may be advantageous for the application. As proof of a B2-level English according to the European Framework of Reference, the highschool diploma is sufficient for the faculty-internal application if it shows that the language was also taken during high school and the grade is at least equivalent to 10 points refering to the German grading table. For a C1 level, at least 13 points must have been achieved. Notwithstanding the above, the partner university may require more recent/other evidence as a prerequisite.
- Learning Agreement: Complete only your personal information and use Table A to outline your proposed studies at your first priority university. The final LA must be prepared only after a confirmation of the exchange place. Therefore, no recognition agreements need to be attached to the application.
Application Procedure
- Please complete this application form and submit the completed form. For this you have to log in with your u-account.
- Please fill out the application form completely and in one go.
- Please do not change your provided student email address(uxxxx∂student.kit.edu).
- After you submit the application form, you will receive a confirmation email. Included in the email is a link. Please open this link and log in with your u account as usual. You are now in the Mobility Online portal.
- Complete all the necessary steps displayed in Mobility Online to finalize your application.
- From here on, you can access your application and correct errors until you perform the final operation "Confirmation of completeness of application documents submitted, application finally submitted" (see step 5).
- Make sure that the information (including typos) is correct.
- In the Mobility Online Portal you can now also upload all required documents (certificates*, language certificates, letter of motivation, CV, etc.).
- Here, too, you can update or re-upload documents until you perform the final operation "Confirmation of completeness of application documents submitted, application finally submitted".
- Please note that you can only upload language certificates if you have answered the question "Language certificate available" in your master data with YES.
- *Master's students must upload both their Bachelor's and Master's grade transcripts.
- Tip: If you are applying to the partner university, you should also submit both grade statements.
- Once you have filled in all required fields and uploaded documents, submit your application by performing the final operation "Confirmation of completeness of application documents submitted, application finally submitted".
- From here on, you will not be able to change your application and especially the data you have provided. Make sure that the information is correct.
- Errors can no longer be corrected. Incorrect information can lead to exclusion from the application process.
- In any case, you must complete this step before the application deadline. Only then will your application be considered submitted on time and considered.
- From now on, the subject coordinators will be able to view and process your application. An advantage of the new system is that you can be asked to upload incomplete documents again. So you will not be eliminated directly. For this reason, it is advisable to submit your final application before the application deadline.
- Iteratively, we will now check whether your submitted documents are complete. If necessary, you will be asked to upload improved documents again via the exchange e-mail. However, this only affects the submitted documents and not your personal data/information.
- If you are not contacted by ISIM, your application documents are complete, subsequent steps:
- You will be informed by e-mail about the offer of an exchange place.
- You must bindingly accept or reject the place in the system.
- You decline: Your application will be cancelled and no further place will be offered to you.
- You accept: The exchange place will be reserved for you and you will be nominated by IStO at the partner university. The partner university will again request application documents from you. All further procedural steps, especially the scholarship payment, will be regulated by IStO.
- If we unfortunately could not nominate you for this exchange cycle, please apply...
- for the remaining places.
- again next year.
The complete application documents for the next academic year 2025/26 must be submitted by January 15, 2025 at the latest. Please also apply by this date if you do not intend to go abroad until the summer semester 2026 to ensure that you will be allocated an Erasmus mobility grant.
Allocation of remaining Erasmus spots for SS 2025
Mobility Online is open for the second application round for summer semester 2025 from April 1st till July 28 2024. Please note that the Erasmus grant can not be guaranteed at this point. A list of the remaining spots can be found on Ilias.
What is a Learning Agreement?
The Learning Agreement is a study agreement listing the courses you would like to take at the host university and which you would like to substitute for courses at KIT. You can compile your Learning Agreement with the help of the module handbooks, online course catalogs or course descriptions, which you can find on the homepage of the host university. You should - just like at KIT - take about 30 ECTS credits in each semester, which may include language courses. Please note that you have to achieve at least 20 ECTS abroad in order to receive your scholarship. However, you are free to decide if and how much of the achieved achievements you want to have credited after your return. It is common that there are deviations from the original Learning Agreement on site. There is a change form for this purpose. Changes are usually possible without any problems within the first 4 - 6 weeks after the start of studies at the host university.
4. ERASMUS+ Partners
An overview of all ERASMUS cooperations of the KIT-Faculty of Mechanical Engineering can be found in the list below.
In addition to the exact name of the partner institution, its EU code, the code for the field of study (MACH = 0715) and the link to the respective homepage, the listing also contains information about the number of exchange places, the required study level (First Cycle = Bachelor; Second Cycle = Master) as well as the language skills expected by the partner university. Please also note that some partners have different "schools/institutions" where mechanical engineering is taught in different specifications. You should take this into account when selecting your host university.