Incomings
Welcome to the University of Bonn and the Department of English, American and Celtic Studies!
Checklist for incoming students
Download here.
Welcome meeting
Our welcome meeting was held on
Wednesday, 2 October 2024, 11.30 am
Meeting point: Hörsaalzentrum Poppelsdorf, Friedrich-Hirzebruch-Allee 5, 53115 Bonn,
main entrance.
You can find the presentation here.
Mid-term meeting
We are looking forward to seeing you and your student advisors at our mid-term meeting!
Date, time, and location tbd
You can find the presentation from last semester here.
Nomination at the University of Bonn
Before you take any further steps, please make sure that you are nominated at the University of Bonn. The application for the Erasmus+ programme always takes place via your home university. Once they have accepted your application, they will nominate you at the University of Bonn.
Once you have been nominated, please register officially at the University of Bonn via our online portal Mobility Online. Please make sure to complete your registration. Incomplete applications might lead to a rejection of your application!
After you have officially registered at the University of Bonn, you will receive all further information from the International Office and the English Department seperately.
The nomination deadline for incoming students for the summer term 2025 was on 1 November
2024. Incoming students for the full academic year and winter term 2025/26 can be nominated
until 1 May 2025.
Course choice, learning agreement, and course registration
Course choice
You can find all courses offered by the Department of English, American and Celtic Studies here or in our course catalogue on BASIS. When looking for courses on BASIS, please remember to choose the semester that applies to your stay at the University of Bonn on the top left side of the webpage. Selecting courses from other departments is possible, but please take at least one course offered by the English Department. In the case that you would like to participate in other departments' courses, please contact the respective Erasmus coordinator. You can find a list of all Erasmus coordinators here.
Language courses
German language coursesIf you wish to improve your German during your stay with us, you will have the opportunity to either take the bi-annual pre-semester German intensive course or choose between various in-semester German language classes. Please note that Erasmus students are only allowed to take one everyday German language course and two special topic courses per semester. |
Other language coursesThe University of Bonn's Sprachlernzentrum offers a variety of language classes, including, for example, English, Italian, Japanese, Dutch, and Polish. If you wish to take one of these courses, you can find further information on available courses and course registration here. Please note that Erasmus students are only allowed to take two of the SLZ's language courses per semester. These and the German language classes are not mutually exclusive! |
Learning Agreement
Most of our partner universities use the Erasmus Dashboard for learning agreement submission by now. However, some universities still use pdf-files. In case you are not sure how your learning agreement should be submitted, please ask your home Erasmus coordinator for guidance.
Detailed instructions on how to create your learning agreement can be found here. Please read the instructions carefully. If you are left with any questions afterwards, please do not hesitate to ask your Erasmus coordinator for help.
Course registration
As soon as your learning agreement has been signed by all three parties, please register for your courses.
Since Erasmus students do not have access to BASIS, you will need to register for your courses personally. In order to do so, please write an email to the respective course teachers and ask them for admission. If they agree to your participation, you are enrolled. The email addresses of all teachers from there English Department can be found here.
Please also remind your teachers of your participation on the first day of classes.
Since Erasmus students do not have access to BASIS, you are unfortunately not able to register for your exams and term papers online. Therefore, you will need to register for your exams personally.
In order to register for an exam, please inform your teacher that you would like to take the exam/ write the term paper for the course at the end of the semester. Additionally, please fill in the course certificate and give it to your teacher, either in person or via email. It is important that you hand in a course certificate for every one of your courses that you would like to receive an assessment for.
After assessing your exam/ term paper, your teacher will enter your mark and the number of credit points you received for the course in the course certificate.
The filled-in course certificate needs to be submitted to your Erasmus coordinator via email, while the paper original needs to be either given to us via the departmental secretariat at Rabinstraße 8, 53111 Bonn, Room 02-021 or to be stored by your teacher.
Once your Erasmus coordinator received your course certificate filled in by your teacher, she will inform you about your course results via email.
If your teacher sends your course certificate to you instead, please forward it to your Erasmus coordinator as soon as possible!
There are a couple of documents that are vital to your Erasmus+ stay. You can find a list of these documents below.
Certificate of Arrival/ Departure
Your home university might ask you to hand in a document that certifies your date of arrival (certificate of arrival), your departure date (certificate of departure), or both (certificate of stay/ attendance). If you are in doubt whether this is the case for you, please get in touch with your home university.
Should your home university require such a document, please send it to your Erasmus coordinator via email. She will stamp and sign it for you. In case you need a paper copy, please make an appointment via email beforehand.
Course Overview (to be submitted by 20 Oct!)
At the beginning of every semester, you will need to send an overview of your courses to your Erasmus coordinator. The course overview is not equal to your learning agreement but an additional document that needs to be filled in by you. This is necessary because there might be changes to your course choice that are not yet registered in your learning agreement.
In order to fill in the course overview correctly, please list all of your courses (not just the module titles!), including:
- the course number to be found on BASIS
- the full course title
- the type of exam that will conclude the course (oral or written exam, portfolio, term paper, ...)
- the name of your teacher
- the department offering the course
Please be thorough when filling in your course overview, since this document will be the basis on which your transcript of records will eventually be created.
Course Certificates
In order to register for your exams, you need to hand in filled-in course certificates. Please find further information on the course certificate and the exam registration process here.
Transcript of Records
Once your Erasmus coordinator received your course overview and all of your course certificates filled in by your teachers, she will create your transcript of records. The transcript will then be sent to you and, if you wish, your home university via email.
Please note that the assessment of your exams/ term papers might take some time, as will the creation of your transcript of records. Therefore, in case your home university provides you with a deadline for submitting your transcript of records, please communicate the deadline to both your Erasmus coordinator and your teachers as early as possible. Otherwise your transcript might not be ready by the required deadline.
Confirmation letters
In case you need any kind of confirmation letter (e.g., about your status as Erasmus+ student at the University of Bonn), please inform your Erasmus coordinator.
FAQ incoming students
Where do I find the course catalogue?
You can find all courses on BASIS.
Please take full modules, not individual courses. At the English Department, you will only receive credits for a module if you completed all module components successfully and passed the final exam/ term paper.
Please note that other departments might allow you to take individual courses. In case you are not sure whether this applies to the department you are choosing your courses from, please contact the respective Erasmus coordinator.
Can I participate in all courses?
As a BA student, you are only allowed to take BA courses. As an MA student, you may enrol in both BA and MA courses.
In any case, please make sure to take at least one course offered by the Department of English, American and Celtic Studies.
There are usually spaces reserved for Erasmus students in every class. You apply to a course by writing an email to the respective teacher and asking them for course admission. If they agree, you are enrolled. However, please also remind them of your participation personally during the first session.
Please note that the enrolment process at the English Department might differ from that of other departments. If you have questions, please contact the respective Erasmus coordinator. You can find a list of all institutional Erasmus coordinators here.
BA courses
At the English Department, you will either receive 6 or 9 credits for a module. All first-year and advanced modules equal 6 ECTS, while all intensive modules equal 9 ECTS. You can find an overview over all BA modules and their ECTS value here.
MA courses
All MA modules offered by the English Department equal 10 ECTS.
Please note that credits might be distributed differently at other departments. If you are in doubt about the amount of ECTS you will receive for a specific module, please contact the respective Erasmus coordinator.
Please send an email to your teacher in which you explain why you missed the first session of their course and attend the next session instead.
Your Erasmus coordinator is Laura Kästner.
Your Erasmus coordinator is the first person you should contact if you have any questions or experience any trouble relating to your stay abroad.
Most of your documents can be signed digitally (e.g., your transcript of records, certificate of stay, confirmation of study). Please send them to your Erasmus coordinator via email.
In case you need an original signature, please make an in-person appointment with your Erasmus coordinator.
If your teacher hands you the original paper copy of your course certificate, please hand it to the Erasmus office via the IAAK secretary at Rabinstraße 8., 53111 Bonn, Room 02-021.
We are always happy to have students extend their Erasmus+ stay with us!
If you would like to do so, here is a checklist covering all the necessary steps you need to take.
If you would like to continue your studies at the University of Bonn, you will have to enrol as a regular degree student. For international students, there are some important aspects to consider regarding your application and future studies. Please find further information here.
The University of Bonn offers several counseling services for all students who need additional support during their studies. You can find more information on disability services, mental health support, and various other support and counselling services here.
Erasmus students will unfortunately not be automatically provided with accomodation. However, the Studierendenwerk Bonn offers student accomodation that you can apply for. Please note, though, that your application does not guarantee you accomodation in one of their dormitories.
You can find further information on living in Bonn and how to find accommodation here. In case you have any specific questions on these matters, please contact the International Office's housing coordinator Marvin Dopieralski (housing@uni-bonn.de).
