Hello dear students, welcome to the lecture about a stay abroad during your studies.

My name is Christine Mohr and I'm working in the study service centre of the Faculty

of Engineering.

I'm sure you have many questions which I would like to answer during the presentation.

Why does a stay abroad make sense?

What are the different possibilities?

Where, when and how can you best go abroad?

Costs and financing will be addressed today and acknowledgement for studying and other

important questions are addressed.

At the end I will go briefly into the concrete part of the universities of the Faculty of

Engineering.

I hope that in the winter term 2021-22, no, 2022 and 2023 and summer semester 2023 to

which this information applies, stays abroad will be possible again as normal.

Examples for a stay abroad are for example personal development, new impressions and

experiences will strengthen your self-confidence.

You learn to express yourself in other languages and to understand people from another culture.

This becomes more and more important with the globalisation of work process or for example

in teams with international colleagues.

But as you are all international students I assume you know all the advantages studying

abroad will bring to you.

Academically you may experience a new different educational system, different areas of research

and making new contacts.

You have various options for stays abroad.

In addition to one or two semesters at another university there are also summer or winter

schools that usually offer a one to four week programme for a fee, for example cultural

topics, language courses or special technical topics.

In addition you can also do final thesis, bachelor's or master's project work or even

research work at another university.

In this case however it's important to make an exact arrangement with your FAU professors.

You can simply use your stay abroad for language courses or you can do an internship abroad.

Various factors can help you to choose the country.

Does the respective educational system fit the own language skills?

Do you fulfil the visa requirements and can you finance the project?

On the Faculty of Engineering website about studying abroad you will find a list of direct

partners of the Faculty of Engineering with experience reports from students who have

already been there.

For internships the working conditions of the country and a work permit in the respective

country are important.

It is the best to plan a stay abroad in your penultimate semester prior to writing your

thesis.

The duration is usually one to two semesters.

In the case of thesis it is also possible to plan a stay in the last semester.

For internships in the Erasmus area which mainly covers Europe you may receive Erasmus

funding but only for internships of 60 days or more.

You can take an official leave of absence from your studies at FAU so that your number

of semesters does not increase.

It is also important to note that the semester periods abroad usually do not coincide with

ours and you must plan your examinations accordingly.

A few more words about the leave of absence.

It should not exceed one to two semesters.