Courses for Exchange Students

Access Restrictions for

• Courses at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (including Psychology) and the Faculty of Medicine: Courses must be approved in advance in the application process for your studies; proof of eligibility for a course is, for example, your transcript.
• Courses/studies in Human Medicine: can only be taken if your university's Faculty of Medicine has an agreement with our Faculty of Medicine for human medicine
• Courses/studies in Biology (all levels): only available for students from overseas whose major at their home university is biology or a closely related study field. This does not apply for Erasmus or CIVIS students.
• Courses/studies in Pharmacy (all levels): only available for students whose major at their home university is pharmacy.
• Courses/studies in Economics & Business Administration (B.Sc.): Overseas students wishing to study exclusively in English in our Bachelor programs must have completed at least two courses in math / statistics / econometrics and two in business studies or economics (e.g., microeconomics). This does not apply for Erasmus & CIVIS students.

Language Restrictions for

• Law (all study levels), Ethnology (B.A.), Biochemistry / Chemistry (B.Sc.): Students from all partner universities must provide proof of German language proficiency of completed B1 or on a B2 level.
• Molecular Medicine / Pharmacy (B.Sc.): Students from overseas partner universities must provide proof of German language proficiency of completed B1 or on a B2 level. No language certificate is required by Erasmus or CIVIS students.
• Biology (1-3rd year B.Sc.): Students from overseas partner universities must provide proof of German language proficiency of completed B1 or at B2 level. Biology B.Sc. students in the 4th year or in the 1st/2nd year M.Sc. from overseas do not have to provide proof of language proficiency. No language certificate is required for Erasmus or CIVIS students (all levels).

There are different types of courses with different ECTS. These are their characteristics:

• Lecture (Vorlesung - VL): no limited number of participants. Prerequisites: Regular attendance. Oral or written examination. On average 3-4 ECTS.
• Seminar (Proseminar - PS / Hauptseminar - HS / Oberseminar - OS) - limited number of participants. Prerequisites: Regular attendance, active participation in class, regular assignments and/or presentation, examination and/or term paper. On average 6 ECTS for a proseminar and 6-8 ECTS for an (advanced!) Hauptseminar/Oberseminar.
• Exercise (Übung - Ü) - limited number of participants. Prerequisites: Regular attendance, regular assignments and/or practical exercises, exam. Average 3-4 ECTS.
• Block seminar/event - a seminar/event which takes place within a few days completely (en bloc) and not once per week during the regular lecture period.

ECTS, LP (Leistungspunkte) or CP (Creditpoints) are the same. These points refer to the workload: In general, 1 ECTS corresponds to a workload of 30 hours for participation and preparation.

If no information about the course content or the ECTS are provided in ALMA or on departemental websites, please contact the applicable academic advisor or lecturer per e-mail.

We recommend a (maximum) workload of 30 ECTS / semester for exchange students. This corresponds to what German students usually take per semester as well.
For example, two or three seminars (4-6 hours per week) or two to three excercises (4-6 hours) and two lectures (4 hours) should usually be sufficient. You should take things slowly and be realistic in your schedule. Don't forget that some time and energy is needed to adjust to the new environment in Tübingen.

Please note: 30 ECTS / semester are only a guideline - you need to check with your home university in time how many ECTS you definitely have to complete, see the next point.

1. Check in good time whether your home university requires a minimum number of completed ECTS and take this into account when planning your studies.
    
2. Not every course at Tübingen University is graded, some classes are ungraded and you can per se only pass or fail them:
   • Normally graded: Seminars / Advanced Seminars
   • Often ungraded: Excercises ("Übungen"), Field trips ("Exkursion")
   • Lectures are sometimes graded, sometimes not, depending on the exam form
   • Graded courses typically feature a higher ECTS amount compared to ungraded courses.
      
3. If your home university accepts only graded results but you are taking a normally ungraded class, please note:
   • You need to inform your lecturer in Tübingen soon after the class has started that you need a graded result.
   • In many cases you can receive a grade, if you submit additional course work; your lecturer and the department decide this.