Welcome to „ We Take You Places“, the podcasts for international students at the University of Marburg. In today’s episode we will help you getting started with your studies in Germany. There are a lot of different documents and study management systems you will need to familiarize yourself with during your first semester and this can be challenging. But, you are not alone with this and today Pia will help you getting started.
All episodes and summaries on Ilias: https://ilias.uni-marburg.de/goto.php?target=blog_3114501&client_id=UNIMR
hello everyone and welcome to we take you places the podcast for international students at the University of MarBorg in today’s episode we will help you getting started with your studies in Germany there are a lot of different documents and study Management Systems you will need to familiarize yourself with during your first semester and it can be challenging but you are not alone in this and today P will help you getting started so stay tuned [Music] hello and a very warm welcome to all first year students and those new to mbook my name is p and I got some great tips and information that I will share with you today you will soon realize that the university system works a bit different than School the most important difference is that you have more freedom but it also means more self- responsibility often you can decide for yourself which courses you want to attend in addition attendance is not as strictly regulated and then there is the lecture free period which is three months in summer and two months in winter but sorry for the spoiler it’s the time of working internships exams and writing papers too so let’s say it’s September you have have already registered to the University of maruk via the and Secretariat the regas office and in a few weeks your semester will start and you have a lot of questions right a first good contact is that s the central student advising office together with the career center it is a point of contact for information and advice on studying at the University of maruk as a central service facility they support prospective students accompany you during your studies and help with the transition into your career on the website you can easily find the consultation hours and contact details especially the study phone is great to get a quick answer if you dial the Muk phone code and then 28 five times the two you will for example reach Inga [Music] yeah sure how can I help you Inger is studying at the University of maruk and works as a student assistant for the stud Inga how can you help new students um study is the University call center so the call center of the University Administration and basically with we can help help um students with any questions they have um all around studying in Mauk and um we can either answer them or help them find somebody who can answer their question let’s see what a specialist like Inga says about what you should know in the beginning of your studies she started with explaining to me that it is important to understand what form your degree program has there are different forms of degree programs in my book um some of them are more structured and some of them are less structured in my book we offer bachelor’s degrees master’s degrees and state examination State examination is for example something like Pharmacy which is also one of the degrees that gives you a relatively structured timetable at the beginning of your studies and then there are also bachelor’s degrees which are generally more um free which give you more freedom in choosing the subjects that you are interested in state examinations are more structured because they are nationwide uniformly audited by the German State and lead to State supervised profession such as lawyer or doctor so let’s have an example I decided that I would like to study a Bachelor of Arts in German literature how do I know how this degree is structured basically all the information you need about your degree program is written down in your which sounds like a difficult word but it’s a very important word that you need to know because it contains all your examination regulations and all the information about the rules that are related to what you’re studying it’s interesting to know that document because it gives you all the different choices that you have all the different options related to um studying into also to your examinations so for example um which types of um exams you get at the end of the semester whether or not you need to write a test or maybe a term paper and so it’s just really good to know how your studies are structured and what you need to do um at which point of your studies okay so let’s add the term to our list of University vocabulary a set of study and examination regulations for your specific degree program check it does not only contain what you have to do but also your rights so this set of rules is binding for students and teachers but where can I find the document you can find your by just typing and then add the name of your degree program so for example pH um into any search engine of your choice and then you can find the most current version or the version that applies to you of that um examination regulation in also say to check your your student ID or Marvin there you will find a number that shows which version of the study and examination regulations is binding for your study cycle she also Tau me what you can find in the appendix of a document maybe even start by looking at the last pages first because they have very helpful visualizations and structured tables for example a model list an exemplary study plan and a list of possible electives I guess you also want to know what a model is right well no worries I also asked Ina about that um so a module is usually a set of courses and different examinations that together give you a certain amount of credit points there are different types of modules for example compulsory ones which must be completed by all students in a certain degree program they usually teach you the fundamentals of your program the fundamental methods and topics and um they are usually the ones that you do in the beginning of your studies to find them on Marvin or on your for you can always um look out for the term basic module or bases module um because they are mostly As I said the introductory modules which can be F found at the top of your after doing your introductory modules you can also um start planning ahead and um you can check which compulsory elective modules are offered within your degree and that’s actually where the fun begins because you can start forming your personal profile in your degree and you can really see which topics and methods are interesting to you and fit your personal goals in maor oh and something else you need to know is that um some of the modules require finishing other modules first so um it’s usually written in the as well uh which ones you need to do first mostly the introductory modules need to be done first and then um you can um go on to the advanced modules when you are reading through your it’s also good to keep an eye on um when courses are being offered when modules are being offered and um how long they take to complete some modules can extend over one or more semesters which is something you need to keep track of and some of them are offered only annually so some um classes might for example be offered only in Winter or only in summer and it’s best to plan that ahead as well okay to repeat what in said for our vocabulary list models are similar to building blocks and are composed out of a set of courses combined with examinations that lead to a certain amount of credit points check but how does it work with those examinations and what are credit points for example example there can be modules that contain two seminars and maybe one lecture and in each course you could um for example do a studi and Lys which is a small examination to pass the course like a short presentation for example and then there is a module examination which could be a term paper or a bigger exam that combines all three courses when you pass the module examination you will get um the credit points that are awarded for the whole package Inga also explained to me what credit points are they represent the average amount of time required to complete a model we call this workload it includes attendance times material preparation and followup examination times and internships One Credit Point corresponds to an average workload of 30 hours the German word for credit point is L so let’s add this to the list of vocabulary too if you want to follow the standard period of study you need to do an average of 30 credit points per semester the German term for standard period of study is Regal study Insight it helps how many semesters a degree program should normally take to complete Bachelor are mostly composed out of six semesters so that’s three years but your actual period of study can be shorter or longer just don’t exceed it too much if you’re relying on financial support such as scholarships or if you are here with a student residence permit but please don’t be too eager in their first semester take it slow to not be overwhelmed so we can also check reg students side right okay so we have already learned a lot of new words and that’s not all it differs from degree to degree so always be sure to check what applies for your specific degree program and yes to do so is your task as Inga emphasized and something that I would say is very um particular about German University is is actually self responsibility because um as a student in Germany you are responsible for um all the deadlines for meeting all the deadlines and for um organizing yourself really well so that’s also something that I would um like to advise anyone who starts studying in Germany if after listening to this podcast you still have any questions related to your studies or um to study methods or something else I just mentioned in the podcast um you can always just call Studio phone or write an email to Tas and um we will always help you with um any questions you might have and also I wish everyone who’s listening to this a really good start to their studies [Music] great thank you so much Ina if you have any questions about the models offered in your specific degree program you can get in touch with the academic advisers the so-called stud and they are normally professors or academic staff that next to teaching are usted with advising they have year-long experience in advising students and can give you some handson tips I asked at the department of English and American studies and talk to the advisor there hello my name is EA homesin I’m a lecturer in the department of English and American studies I’m also the student adviser for the ba American British and Canadian studies as student adviser my duties include helping you to understand the curriculum requirements procedures and policies I can help you with inquiries related to your studies and refer you to other relevant services within the university if you a question your first Port of Call should be the website for your course of studies and the ba ABC student ilas advising Group which is always current and an excellent source of accurate information there’s a folder especially dedicated to information for First Years go check it out of course you can email me if you can’t find the answer to your question on the website or in the student advising ilas group remember to keep emails short and include your name as well as any other relevant information if you if you have a more complex question use the calendar function on ilas to make an appointment for a face-to-face meeting during office hours I strongly recommend that all new students activate their student email accounts immediately so that they don’t miss any important emails I use the mailing list to send a welcome package to first years’s which includes a sample timetable important dates and deadlines as well as a helpful checklist and most importantly information about the orientation lecture do attend the orientation week it’s a wonderful opportunity for you to explore the city and the university it also gives you the chance to meet your student adviser and your fellow students in person whether you’ve got a study related question worry or problem or a personal issue that you need help with you can always check in with your student adviser I’m a friendly face and listening ear for students in the ba ABC you can get to know Mrs holes Ryan and the other academic advisers in orientation week it is a week before the start of lectures the Departments are organizing together with the fft the department of student organizations a week full of information and social events to have you all set up for the start of your studies in German we call it shortly or I have met the departmental students organization of the maruk School of Business and economics and they told me what they normally [Music] do hi uh we’re Michelle and Lawrence hi from the fft which is basically the student council of the mabuk business school um our job is to keep in contact with you the students and the university um and represent you they are not only representing the business students politically but organize a row of events during the semester and yes also some parties one of the uh events is the orientation program we organize where we want you to socialize there you can meet people and get to know the beautiful city maror also part of them is to build your timetable where we helping you to get in touch with the platforms elas and Marvin there you can get your informations for your cses uh we are ask uh we are answering your questions and we can help you on the beginning it’s a little bit confusing so let us help you and I hope we have a good time together creating your timetable is one of the important tasks you need to do in the beginning of your studies it is good to get some tips what courses you should choose for the first semester to compile your schedule you need to have your students account set up so that you can access our online tool Marvin or set up great then you can log into Marvin click on my studies and find a structured study planner next to that my personal tip would be to create a list of your own to have a good overview over your chosen courses and to which model they belong as you have already learned it’s in your own responsibility to keep track of that you completing all the necessary models don’t forget to check the exemplary study plan in the appendix of your studying examination regulations for some help um in the student council we also have students from higher semesters so we can actually answer many many of your questions yeah how you can prepare for your exams um how the professors um work and what they expect from you it’s really important to get to know the people that have this kind of information um so that you have an easier life at University so the ation program is always a lot of fun and I really can recommend you to um to look around and get people to know which is really important for your students life so if you’re interested or have any questions for us feel free to contact us via social media we are happy about new members and we are really happy when you give us new input and I hope we will see you in maror soon see you bye bye [Music] okay that was a lot of information on a wide range of topics how about we summarize what we have learned so far in a short info [Music] box info box we learned very nice new German words let’s rise them we have so that’s a basic document of every degree a set of rules and regulations a model building blocks of a degree a set of different courses and examinations that together give a certain amount of credit points we also learned about the Stan Fell’s plan and that’s the exemplary study and semester Plan Credit points are unmarked points you get according to the workload of a course or model that don’t show how well you did but just that you past and we learned about the orent a week of orientation information and socializing for all new students before the start of lectures and now you also know who you can ask for help for general questions that’s or for academic questions that rise of your department and for tips from P the fft well congratulations that will give you a good start to your studies always keep in your mind you are not alone reach out for advice or help and don’t forget studying is not only about working enjoy your student life the time here in maruk and have a great start to this new episode of your life I wish you all the best thanks for listening Che on this has been another episode of we take you places the podcast for international student at the University of MarBorg for more episodes videos and much more check out our University website at www. uni-marble [Music]