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Incomings

A warm welcome to new students joining us!

Applications must go to the local Erasmus Coordinator at your home university, who will make the selection and nominate the students for participating in the exchange program.

At FU Berlin, the academic year is divided into two parts, called semesters:

  • Winter semester / winter term:

    The lecture period of the winter semester starts mid-October and extends to mid-February.

    Oficially the summer semester spreads from 01 October to 31 of March.

  • Summer semester / summer term:

    The lecture time of the winter semester starts mid-April and ends around mid-July.

    Oficially the summer semester spreads from 01 April to 30 of September.

  • Semester break:

    Sometimes exams are written in the first weeks that follow the lecture period, or a second exam for those who want to improve their achievements is offered during semester break.

    A number of courses are offered as blocks between each semester's lecture periods. This includes the intensive language courses.

An exchange student usually will stay for one semester.
For each semester check the academic calender of FU Berlin.

Important notice:
Our degree programs in Computer Science and Mathematics are German!

Only the Master Data Science is an English degree program. Here, however, the number of students admitted is very limited, currently it is 25 per application round.

Thus, usually, lectures are given in German. English as the course language is merely an exception, and this only in Master courses.

Follow this link for finding out about

  • courses offered at the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
  • courses offered especially for Erasmus+ students by FU Berlin (German language courses, English courses about German culture and history)
  • ECTS credit points
  • how to filter the list of courses for English courses
  • how to complete the Online Learning Agreement (OLA)

Course language:

Important notice:
Our degree programs in Computer Science and Mathematics are German!

Only the Master Data Science is an English degree program. Here, however, the number of students admitted is very limited, currently it is 25 per application round.

Thus, usually, lectures are given in German. English as the course language is merely an exception, and this only in Master courses.
As an Erasmus+ BSc student you may attend Master courses only after checking with the individual lecturer personally and in advance. Please accept this procedure. It enables the lecturer to mantain the level of competence aspired both with respect to the student's prior scientific knowledge and competence in English (C1 is not mandatory but much prefered).

The course language of each individual lecture is specified in the course catalog in the course descriptions under the term "Unterrichtssprache/Course language". For some courses it depends on the audience. In this case, if one student does not speak German and the remaining students agree, the course is held in English.

  • If the course language is said to be "English", the course will defenitely be held in English.
  • If the course language is said to be "German/English", it is a matter of discussion between the lecturer, the other participants of the course and you whether the lecture may be held in English or not.
If in doubt, contact the lecturer of a specific course and ask about the language he teaches in.


Which courses are offered in English or German/English?

To find courses offered in English or German/English, follow these instructions:
Go to https://mycampus.imp.fu-berlin.de/mvs2/course/overview/?locale=en

  • Choose Faculties: Mathematics and Computer Science
    Departments: Informatik/Computer Science
    Semester: WiSe 2024/25 or SoSe 2025
    Course Language: English (or German/English)
  • click "Show Ancillary Courses" (nothing else)
  • click "View"
  • In the following list, filter for the status "Published" (these are the courses that actually take place in the running semester).
You will not yet find courses for the summer term 2025 as nothing has been agreed upon and published. This will only really be the case in about March to April 2025. But mostly the courses do not differ a lot from those given a year before, so take 2024 as an orientation.

Level of competence in English:

At our department a level of English B2 is considered as being enough, though C1 is much preferred -- to your own benefit and the rest of the students' wanting to attend a successful lecture.

Language certificates

Please send your language certificates to incoming@fu-berlin.de

Useful links:

1. Registration in Campus Management (CM)

At the beginning of each semester students have to register all courses they wish to take (and as agreed upon in the Learning Agreement) in the Campus Management system (CM).

Only by doing so you may earn credit points and grades. CM is the official platform where all your grades will be uploaded at the end of the semester. You need to register in CM to „prove“ that you are enrolled in a class.

  • When a lecture and "practice seminar" belong together, register for both.
  • Our International Mentor may help you with the use of the system, as well as with MyCampus and the Whiteboard Learning Management System.
Depending on your enrollment at FU Berlin, you will see only a limited selection of courses. In case some of your courses are not shown, you need to use the module registration form to register for them. Drop it in the mailbox in front of the examination office or send it via email to maria.koekenhoff@fu-berlin.de. As the reason for using the form, write "Erasmus".

For late module registration, please use the same form and return it to the

Department of Mathematics/Computer Science and Physics
Examination Office
Arnimallee 14, 14195 Berlin
Email: maria.koekenhoff@fu-berlin.de
Web: http://www.imp.fu-berlin.de/fbv/pruefungsbuero/index.html

2. Registration in Whiteboard

At the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science there is another system you should register in separately from CM. It is called Whiteboard (Learning Management System).

Whiteboard is a platform that is used to share documents, exercise sheets, register for tutorial classes etc.

To obtain the transcript of records (ToR), complete

and send it together with all other documents required via email to international@mi.fu-berlin.de.

Adhere to the email etiquette, please. We are no machines, nor servants and wish to be treated according to our education.

PLEASE do fill in ALL information asked for and do read it thoroughly!

Inform us about all courses you have attended, including your language courses and lectures from other departments, and the ones entered in Campus Management.

Include

It is very important that you collect all the grade certificates (Leistungsnachweise/Scheine) for your courses even if they are registered in Campus Management, because only on grade certificates (Leistungsnachweise/Scheine) there is a field for the ECTS credits you get, which does not exist in Campus Management. Please ask the lecturers to fill in a participatory and active attendance grade certificate (Leistungsnachweise/Scheine) at the end of the semester.

You are responsible to deliver us the grades and ECTS you actually achieved (last colum in the ToR request form), not the official ECTS you might get for a course.

As usually the grades are entered into Campus Management only after the make-up exam (the second exam for those who failed the first exam) has been graded, it might take some time up to several months until the transcript of records can be issued. If you do not intend to take part in the make-up exam, you can ask your teachers to enter your grades in CM or confirm them on a grade certificate as soon as they are known, in order to speed up the process.

The ToR can only be issued once you have collected ALL your grade certificates. Should this not be the case before your departure, then please wait until you receive the certificates from your professors and pass on all the required documents as PDFs via email to international@mi.fu-berlin.de once you have received them.

There is no deadline for issuing the ToR.

Be advised that we cannot issue more than one ToR and no temporary transcripts will be issued.

Upon completion, the transcript of records will be sent to your home university by email. You may also get a scanned copy. The original paper document will follow per postal service to the address you specified in the ToR request form.

Should you need a confirmation of stay or attendance certificate, please turn to incoming@fu-berlin.de.

The Incoming-Team will have sent you a mail at the end of the semester containing questions you are suppposed to answer in your mail request for a confirmation of stay. Do not forget to attach the form for the confirmation of stay provided by your home university!

Answer the following questions:

1) Did you participate in the orientation days?

2) When did you arrive in Berlin?

3) On which day did your last written or oral exam take place (unfortunately, final essays do not count)?

4) On which day did you have your last class at the FU Berlin?

5) What is the mail address of the student mobility office of your home university?

6) Did you participate in the pre-semester German course?

The Incoming-Team will send the confirmation directly to your home university and cc you.

You may enjoy support provided by one of our student mentors.

Courses, ECTS credits and course language

Exchange students are invited to attend all lectures and seminars which fit into their curriculum.

Course language:

Important notice:
Our degree programs in Computer Science and Mathematics are German!

Only the Master Data Science is an English degree program. Here, however, the number of students admitted is very limited, currently it is 25 per application round.

Thus, usually, lectures are given in German. English as the course language is merely an exception, and this only in Master courses.
As an Erasmus+ BSc student you may attend Master courses only after checking with the individual lecturer personally and in advance. Please accept this procedure. It enables the lecturer to mantain the level of competence aspired both with respect to the student's prior scientific knowledge and competence in English (C1 is not mandatory but much prefered).

The course language of each individual lecture is specified in the course catalog in the course descriptions under the term "Unterrichtssprache/Course language". For some courses it depends on the audience. In this case, if one student does not speak German and the remaining students agree, the course is held in English.

  • If the course language is said to be "English", the course will defenitely be held in English.
  • If the course language is said to be "German/English", it is a matter of discussion between the lecturer, the other participants of the course and you whether the lecture may be held in English or not.
If in doubt, contact the lecturer of a specific course and ask about the language he teaches in.

Which courses are offered in English or German/English?

To find courses offered in English or German/English, follow these instructions:

Go to https://mycampus.imp.fu-berlin.de/mvs2/course/overview/?locale=en

  • Choose Faculties: Mathematics and Computer Science
    Departments: Informatik/Computer Science
    Semester: WiSe 2024/25 or SoSe 2025
    Course Language: English (or German/English)
  • click "Show Ancillary Courses" (nothing else)
  • click "View"
  • In the following list, filter for the status "Published" (these are the courses that will actually take place in the running semester).

You will not yet find courses for the summer term 2025 as nothing has been agreed upon and published. This will only really be the case in about March to April 2025. But mostly the courses do not differ a lot from those given a year before, so take the summer term 2024 as an orientation.

When it says German/English, it is a matter of discussion with the lecturer and the other participants of the course whether the lecture may be held in English or not. Please contact the lecturer directly via email (please google) if in doubt.

Here you find courses to improve your German skills: https://www.mi.fu-berlin.de/stud/international/incomings/courses-credits-language/index.html#faq_additional-courses

Which are the courses on offer and how many ECTS credits do I get for them?

You find the most comprehensive course descriptions including ECTS credit points in the Course Management / Curriculum System of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science (MVS = Modulverwaltungssystem)

Go to https://mycampus.imp.fu-berlin.de/mvs2/
→ Course Planning (Planung)
→ Longtermschedule (Langfristplanung)
→ Course-oriented Schedule or Module-oriented Schedule
→ Faculty: Mathematics and Computer Science
→ Department/Fachrichtung: Mathematics / Bioinformatics / Computer Science

By clicking on the courses that interest you, you may get information about their contents and their ECTS credits (LP = Leistungspunkte).

Module descriptions / Further details as to the courses' contents

In the following documents you find the module descriptions of our degrees so that you may check for yourself whether they meet your needs:

Changes to the OLA / LA

The final list of classes
  • for the winter term is usually available only in September, 
  • and for the summer termin in late March. 
Before that date you may only chose from last years' terms and hope that the courses you find there will be offered again. It might help to contact the lecturers and ask them kindly whether the course will be available.

Some courses are given annually, some every two years, but there are also courses which are given only occasionally or merely once.

Please notice that in the winter term 2025/2026 the following courses will not be offered:

  • Data Visualization and Mining
  • Explainable AI for Data Science
  • Machine Learning for Data Science
It is often necessary to change one's OLA in the first weeks of the semester due to short-term changes in the curriculum. For this you have the possibilty to enter changes to the OLA (or fill out the During Section in the LA).

Course catalogs

Different starting points to check for courses also are:

The information about the credit points is unfortunately not so straightforward to find.

In the longtermschedule, you can chose either the course-oriented or the module-oriented schedule:

1. In the module-oriented schedule select the appropriate study program (Bachelor/Master) as follows:
You then see the ECTS credit points for each module in the left column in light blue color marked as "LP".

Example: If at home you study in the computer engineering department at the undergraduate level, it is the regulation "0086e: 2023, BSc Informatik (mono), 150 LPs" you need to choose at FU Berlin to see BSc courses.

2. In the course-oriented schedule:

The leftmost column under the heading "Modules" shows one or several "module keys".

  • Select the module key with the prefix of your study program according to the above list and click it (e.g. 0086e).

  • A subwindow will open, in which you find the ECTS credits in the box with the heading "LP".

For bioinformatics, the course-based view is incomplete because many courses are given by other departments.

As a rule, classes with 4+2 hours (= 4 hours lectures and 2 hours exercises) typically have 9 ECTS/LP, sometimes less, classes with 2+2 hours or seminars with 2 hours have typically 6 ECTS/LP.

  • Usually, lectures are paired up with exercise/tutorial classes ("practice seminar"), and the lecture plus the excercises together form one module.

  • The ETCS credits are given for the module.

  • You have to pass both, the criteria for the exercises (usually based on regular participation, and submitting exercise sheets) and for the lecture (typically an exam) to get the credits for the module.

Besides these "practice seminars", there are also other seminars, that truly have the character of a seminar. Usually the participants prepare a presentation based on studying the literature.

First of all, please read this AND the information in the Distributed Campus portal.

As a student of Mathematics or Computer Science, you need to enter modules into the lines of the OLA:

  • If a module consists of several items, as is usually the case, enter the CODE number for both items on one line, e.g. 19303701+19303702 or 19303701/02.
  • For the SUBJECT, it is sufficient to name the subject of the lecture and add "and practice seminar". (This is despite the fact that the Distributed Campus portal recommends to enter "only individual courses (seminar, lecture, exercise, etc.)".
  • There is an exception for some modules that stretch over two semesters, or some 15-credit modules that combine lectures and seminars.
IMPORTANT: For "Responsible Person at the Receiving Institution" always enter the email address international@mi.fu-berlin.de

For BSc students: General professional skills courses (ABV)

These couses (marked as ABV in the course catalog) may provide you with interdisciplinary skills in different areas to improve your career prospects: information and media, gender and diversity, organization and management, communication, sustainable development or subject-related additional qualifications.

Courses for International Exchange Students: “Berlin and Germany in a European Perspective"

As an exchange student may sign up for special courses on “Berlin and Germany in a European Perspective". The different modules cover key aspects of German history, culture or society and help you acquire useful skills for a German academic environment. They give 5 ECTS each.

  • Orientation in Berlin and Germany (GER)
  • Central Aspects of German and European Society and Culture (GER)
  • Key Issues of German and European Culture (GER)
  • Film, Art and Literature in a Social and Cultural Context (GER)
  • Aspects of German and European Culture (ENG)
  • German and European Politics (ENG)
  • German Media – Media in Germany (ENG)
  • German History in a European Context (ENG)
  • Economy and Economics in Germany and Europe (ENG)

German Language Courses

The FU Language Centre offers German language courses prior to and during the semester:

  • the six-week intensive pre-semester courses may be booked for a reduced participation fee by exchange students
  • courses during the semester range from 4–8 hours per week and are free of charge

Courses offered by other Berlin universities

Students are very welcome to attend courses at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU), Technische Universität Berlin (TU) or even at the University of Potsdam. However, you must make sure that you still complete courses at the FU, because if you wish an FU transcript at the end of your stay, this is only issued if you have also completed FU courses. If only HU courses are completed, no ToR can be issued.