Offers at the beginning of your studies Starting your Studies A to Z

Advice centre of the individual subjects, which can help with specific questions about the degree programme. The academic advisory services is also the first point of contact for the transfer of credits, the creation of curricula (cf. parallel studies) and the extension of examination deadlines (cf. loss of entitlement to take the final exams).

The admission regulations, also known as “admission rules” or “selection regulations”, are a legally binding document that describes the procedures and criteria for admission to a degree programme. The admission regulations for each degree programme can be viewed online. Criteria, which are explained in more detail in the by-laws, can be, for example, average A-levels, subject grades, work placements or aptitude tests specific to the degree programme.

Contact point for students with a disability or chronic illness. Interested parties can find out about accessible services at Heidelberg University or obtain advice on various topics such as compensation for disadvantages in examinations, etc.

First academic degree and first degree qualifying graduates to enter a profession within a multi-level study model and the prerequisite for Master’s degree programmes. Bachelor’s degree programmes convey basic technical and methodological skills in the chosen specialisation. Subjects with different percentage structures can be combined at Heidelberg University. Whether this will be a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) or Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) is decided by the first major subject if two majors are pursued.

Support programme for international students. Heidelberg students who are at least in their 3^rd academic semester will support international students in finding their way around the campus, their course of studies, and Heidelberg. Some subjects offer their own buddy or tandem programmes.

The various mentoring and buddy programmes at Heidelberg University offer a (student) contact to help you with questions and offer advice.

The grounds on which the university is located. Heidelberg has the Altstadt campus for the humanities and linguistics subjects as well as for psychology, education studies, and law, the Bergheim campus for the economics and social sciences subjects as well as for the Centre for Asian and Transcultural Studies (CATS), and the campus Im Neuenheimer Feld for the natural sciences subjects.

University canteen operated by the student services organisation (Studierendenwerk). There are three canteens to choose from, depending on study location: The central canteen Neuenheimer Feld, the Marstall canteen in the old town or the Triplex canteen, also in the old town. The student services organisation (Studierendenwerk) also runs various cafés.

Advice centre that prepares students, graduates, and doctoral candidates for a successful career start through personal appointments, courses, workshops, company events, job and career fairs.

Platform of the Career Service, with a continually updated list of vacancies and work placements. It can be searched and used by students, doctoral candidates and alumni of Heidelberg University.

The Central Student Advisory Office offers prospective and current students consultation and information on all aspects of their course of studies. Students may either come to the open office hours of the student and teacher training advice or to make an appointment for individual counselling to discuss more detailed concerns. In addition to pure consultation, the CSAO also offers many courses and lectures that can help with difficulties during a course of studies. Please contact the relevant academic advisory services if you have any questions about the content of your studies (e.g., structure, timetabling, calendar of examinations/events). International students can contact the student advisory office for international students.

A change of degree programme is necessary if students are already registered at Heidelberg University but wish to change their fields of study. The change of degree programme must also be performed using the application for a change of degree programme when switching from a Bachelor’s to a Master’s degree at Heidelberg University. The application for the new department must be submitted in time in order to change the degree programme. Following admission, the change of degree programme is performed immediately in heiCO.

A list of tips and tricks to help you overcome the obstacles in a course of studies.

COMMUNITY is the campus’s own online tool on Moodle: Participation and support, networking, information, meetings – you! Students can use COMMUNITY to network across subjects and semesters, e.g., to find study or leisure groups. You can log in directly via your student Moodle account.

The constituted student body represents the students of a university. This includes various bodies: The student council (Studierendenrat; StuRa) is the most important and legislative body, which also includes the departmental student committees.

Independent subdivision of a faculty, representing one or several subjects. In the humanities, the term of “Seminar” is often used in German, e.g., the Germanistisches Seminar (Department of German Language and Literature). The departments are responsible for the complete organisation of the degree programmes, from drawing up the examination rules and regulations to assessing the final thesis.

An association of students within a subject or a group of subjects that campaigns for the interests of the students of this subject. The tasks range from political activities (cf. Departmental student committee council) to helping to organise a course of studies (orientation weeks) and organising student celebrations. All students can join their departmental student committee.

Doubts about whether one’s field of study was the right choice are common, as are changes of subject. Even if the feelings associated with doubt are unpleasant, it is worth taking a closer look: What exactly am I dissatisfied with? What do I currently need and what does that mean for my fellow students? What outlook can students in higher semesters of my subject give me? Professional support is also available from the Central Student Advisory Office (CSAO), which offers individual counselling, workshops, and a self-reflection tool (SRT) to help students get to the bottom of their doubts and find a good solution.

Heidelberg University’s online platform that provides public access to application forms, information sheets, admission regulations, and examination rules and regulations.

Every student at Heidelberg University receives a student email account upon registration. This should primarily be used for internal email correspondence with lecturers. Students can identify themselves as official members of the university using their email address. Support for the email account is provided by the UCC; the UCC ID/Uni ID is required to log in.

Exchange programme of European universities that enables students to spend semesters abroad more easily. Erasmus+ also allows students to spend time abroad in non-European countries.

Legal basis for the design and organisation of degree programmes. Each degree programme has a dedicated set of examination rules and regulations that regulate important key points such as the standard period of study, orientation examination, language certificates, or final theses as well as the modules to be completed. Please contact the academic advisory services or the examinations office if you have any questions about the examination rules and regulations. The current examination rules and regulations can be viewed via the download centre.

Exclusion from the university, opposite of registration. Students are exmatriculated either upon their own request, after completing their course of studies, if they lose their entitlement to take the final exams or if they fail to re-register. This is usually only possible at the end of the semester, with justification also by any other date. The “Application for exmatriculation” can be submitted to the Student Administration.

“Fit to Study” is the name of the workshop series offered by the Central Student Advisory Office. Workshops are offered for students that deal with topics related to their courses of studies every semester. This includes dealing with exam stress, acquiring learning strategies and successfully writing scientific papers.

The abbreviation BAföG is short for “Bundesausbildungsförderungsgesetz”. This is the law regulates state support for the education of students in Germany. Half of the BAföG payment is a grant that does not have to be paid back for students. The other half is paid as an interest-free loan. Whether a student is entitled to BAföG or not mostly depends on their own income or the income of their parents/spouse as well as their own assets. The student services organisation (Studierendenwerk) can provide advice and support with applications under the German Federal Training Assistance Act (BAföG).

The Graduate Academy is the central coordination office for all generic advisory, continuing education, and support services for doctoral candidates at Heidelberg University.

hei_INNOVATION stands for the knowledge and technology transfer from university research results to society as Heidelberg University’s transfer agency. It is the central point of contact for supporting and implementing transfer activities at Heidelberg University. The Transfer agency’s services in the area of knowledge and technology transfer can be utilised by all members of the university. This makes it a platform for the further development of forward-looking ideas.

Online repository for files, with a private area for all students of Heidelberg University.

heiCO is short for Heidelberg Campus Online. Central campus management system of the university. It combines all processes of a course of studies, from application and admission to studies, to lecture composition and administration of examinations to graduation.

Heidelberg University’s conference software for organising online events. Works in the same way as heiCONF but designed for a larger number of participants.

Heidelberg University’s conference software for organising online events. The software is browser-based and platform-independent.

Enables local and global networking with alumni and students and offers support for career entry. Among other things, this includes are specialist and regional groups, a mentoring programme, an online job board and a worldwide online alumni network.

Founded jointly by Heidelberg University and Heidelberg University of Education in June 2015. It is the centre for cooperative teacher training in Heidelberg. At Heidelberg University, it is responsible for coordinating the polyvalent Bachelor and Master of Education programmes. This is home to the HSE Examination Office and offers the accompanying courses for the practice-oriented phases 1 and 2 as part of the teaching degree option in the Bachelor’s degree programme. The HSE also offers a wide range of programmes on the subject of “Becoming a teacher”.

School of education studies with a university profile. Its members primarily teach and conduct research in the education studies, specialised didactics, and special needs education. They also specialise in transferring their expertise to companies, (non-profit) organisations and the public, for example. In the scope of the HSE, the University College of Teacher Education is responsible for organising the primary and secondary school teaching degree.

The Podcast für’s Studium (podcast for a course of studies), supervised by the Central Student Advisory Office. Students talk about their subjects and their university life and advisors from the Central Student Advisory Office and the Career Service at the heiSKILLS Competence and Language Centre reveal tips and tricks for their course of studies and starting a career in heiPOD.

The heiSKILLS Competence and Language Centre enables students to acquire individual and interdisciplinary skills and qualifications beyond the scope of their studies. heiSKILLS includes the Career Service, the Language Centre, the Department of Teaching and Learning, and the Department of Advanced Scientific Training.

The part of the university administration whose employees take care of the needs and concerns of international students. This facility also houses the student advisory office for international students. There is also an open point of contact for international students in the service portal. Heidelberg students who would like to study abroad can also contact the International Relations Division. Visiting scholars may also contact the International Relations Division with their concerns.

Central point of contact for all examination modalities of both faculties, in particular registration of examination prerequisites, Bachelor’s and Master’s theses. Address: Joint examination office of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities and the Faculty of Modern Languages, Voßstr. 2, Building 37, D-69115 Heidelberg.

Interdisciplinary department that offers language courses in various foreign languages as well as courses and seminars in the area of speech training and speech science, such as rhetoric. It also offers all university students free access to learning materials for foreign languages. The language courses are subject to a fee and there is also the opportunity to obtain internationally recognised language certificates.

Learning and working at university take place under different conditions than at school, which often requires students to change their learning behaviour. The “Fit to Study” programme of the Central Student Advisory Office at Heidelberg University offers support for this.

Pausing of a course of studies for one semester with special justification. The student status is retained without the number of academic semesters increasing in the case of a leave of absence. No degree prerequisites (examinations, assignments, presentations, field trips, etc.) can be completed during this time, however – except in the case of leaves of absence due to maternity leave or periods spent bringing up children and caring for a close relative. Reasons for a leave of absence may be: work placements, stays abroad, illness, maternity leave, etc. The “Application for a leave of absence” can be submitted to the Student Administration.

Comprises the period within a semester in which the regular courses take place (lectures, seminars, etc.). The lecture period makes up about half of a semester.

Period during which no regular courses are held and which follows the lecture period. In humanities or social science degree programmes, this time is often spent writing term papers at the end of the semester. Science degree programmes sometimes accommodate lab practicals during this time. Often referred to as “semester holidays”.

The student services organisation (Studierendenwerk) and the constituted student body (StuRa) offer free legal counselling for students.

The student services organisation (Studierendenwerk) and the constituted student body (StuRa) offer free legal counselling for students.

Abbreviation for “Lehre, Studium, Forschung” (teaching, studies, research). Central online platform of Heidelberg University, where the courses of the individual faculties are bundled together. LSF is gradually being replaced by heiCO. Therefore, LSF now only contains the courses provided by central facilities and the person search directory.

Specific Master’s degree programme which, as a second academic degree, is a prerequisite for teacher training and subsequent employment as a secondary school teacher. In order to be able to study the M.Ed. programme, a polyvalent Bachelor’s degree in two subjects relevant to the teaching profession must have been completed beforehand (or a corresponding degree at other universities).

Higher academic degree qualifying graduates to enter a profession, in each case with the additions “of Arts”, “of Education” or “of Science”. There are consecutive Master’s degree programmes that can be studied after the Bachelor’s degree, and continuing education Master’s degree programmes, which generally require professional experience and are subject to a fee.

The university’s central online platform for providing learning resources such as assignments, texts, videos, and the like. Many courses include a Moodle course for which a registration key is published at the beginning of the course.

Short for “Mathematical exercise groups and mock list interface”. This is an online administration tool of the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science at Heidelberg University. Different subjects and departments sometimes use different online administration tools in addition to heiCO. Students may obtain further information from their departmental student committees or academic advisory services.

Studying two full degree programmes at the university at the same time, for example two 100% Bachelor’s degrees. The strain of a parallel degree programme is very high. Therefore, a parallel degree programme is only recommended from the 3^rd academic semester onwards. In the case of a combination of two admission-restricted degree programmes, an application must be submitted to the Student Administration.

Confidential and free point of contact of the student services organisation (Studierendenwerk) for personal conflict situations of any kind. These may include depressive moods, contact difficulties, or self-esteem issues, but also problems at work, exam nerves, or partnership problems.

The International Relations Division offers office hours for students with a refugee background.

Also called “enrolment”. Administrative process that gives people the status of students. This is accompanied by the receipt of a student identity card, a university ID, and a registration number. Admission to the subject(s) is required for registration.

All students must re-register for a new semester. They thus declare to the university that they would like to remain registered. Students re-register by transferring a fixed amount (semester fee) to the university by a fixed deadline. The university sends a reminder to the student email account every semester for this purpose.

Scholarships are a way of financing your course of studies. There are numerous scholarship funding donors, from political foundations to churches and private companies. The award criteria can vary greatly depending on the scholarship funding donor. Not all scholarships require excellent grades in your field of study. Other criteria, such as social commitment, origin, family home, etc., may also be relevant.

Students are always in a second degree programme if they have already completed an undergraduate degree (Bachelor’s or state examination) in Germany and then register again in an undergraduate degree programme. This applies accordingly at the level of postgraduate degree programmes, i.e., if someone has a Master’s degree and re-registers in another Master’s programme, this is considered a second degree. A second degree programme can also result if one of the two degree programmes is completed before the other in a parallel degree programme. Second degree programmes in Baden-Württemberg currently incur second degree fees of 650 euros per semester in addition to the semester fee. In admission-restricted degree programmes, only 2% of university places are allocated to second degree applicants.
Example: One person has a Bachelor’s degree in History and would now like to complete a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. This would be a second degree programme. However, if the same person wants to do a Master’s in History, this would not be a second degree programme.

Instrument for self-reflection that helps students to take a structured look at their study situation within an anonymised online tool. They will also receive individual feedback and, if necessary, recommendations on support and counselling services at Heidelberg University.

A semester spent on a (voluntary) exchange programme at a foreign university at which the student’s own course of studies is continued. The university offers several exchange universities in Europe (Erasmus programme) and outside of Europe. Semesters abroad can also be organised by institutions outside of the university. Students who are interested in a semester abroad may contact the International Relations Division.

A period of time at the university that includes the lecture period and the lecture-free period and spans a period of six months. At Heidelberg University, the academic year breaks down into a winter semester and a summer semester. The winter semester usually begins in October, the summer semester usually in April.

The service portal is the first point of contact for all students who have administrative or counselling issues. Contacts from the Central Student Advisory Office and the International Relations Division are available during opening hours to answer any questions you may have about your course of studies. Lost student identity cards can also be handed in or collected here. Students can also speak to student administration staff without an appointment and receive a consultation on applications (change of degree programme, exmatriculation, leave of absence, etc.).

In addition to the Central Student Advisory Office, international students can also contact the staff of the International Relations Division. There are also contact persons there specifically for questions relating to residence law or for refugees.

The StuRa is the most important body of the constituted student body (student representation) at Heidelberg University. It is made up of representatives from the departmental student committees and representatives from lists that are newly elected every summer semester. The StuRa is the legislative body of the constituted student body and has various functions. (election of officers, positioning of content, financial proposals, etc.).

Students may use their student identity card to prove that they are enrolled at Heidelberg University. It is used, for example, for identity checks during written examination. It may also be used to pay in the canteens and cafés of the student services organisation (Studierendenwerk) and to use the printers and lockers in the libraries. You can also borrow items from the university library using your student identity card. Students often receive discounted admission to museums and cinemas if they can show their identity card. It is important to note that the student identity card must be validated each semester after successful re-registration. Validation machines are available in the waiting area of the service portal and in the central canteen, for example. The UCC ID/Uni ID can also be found on the student identity card.

The student services organisation (Studierendenwerk) is responsible for supervision after the dormitories, the canteens and funding of studies, e.g., in the form of BAföG payments. The student services organisation (Studierendenwerk) also offers social support in the form of a psychosocial counselling centre or legal advice.

Third subject that can be studied as part of a teaching degree programme. Not every subject can be studied as a supplementary subject. There are also variants with 90 CP and variants with 120 CP. The supplementary subject can be started in the polyvalent Bachelor’s programme already but it can only be completed with the Master of Education degree.

The Teaching and Learning department of heiSKILLS offers courses for students to improve their study skills, e.g., on the topics of presentation, time management or conflict resolution. Tutors can also receive a didactics certificate here. In addition, the department also offers programmes for lecturers to improve their teaching skills.

Part of the teaching-related polyvalent Bachelor’s degree programme. Students attend courses in education studies and specialised didactics and complete two practice-oriented practical phases in the area of cross-disciplinary skills. Together, these form the teaching degree option. This is an essential admission requirement for the Master of Education in addition to the subject study programme.

Unify is the central facility at Heidelberg University for the topics of compatibility, diversity, and equal opportunities. Unify also includes a central point of contact for advisory services on the topics of (sexual) harassment, bullying, stalking and discrimination.

Unisport, also known as “university sports”, is a sports programme offered by Heidelberg University and the department of sports science that is available to all students. Numerous sports courses are offered each semester, most of which are free of charge and do not require registration.

The University Computer Centre (UCC) is responsible for all IT services at the university. In addition to infrastructure such as heiCO and the email address for students, the UCC also offers a printing service (including 3D) and courses on IT topics. University students are registered in the system using their UCC ID.

Student initiatives that have formed around Heidelberg University. The Student Council has compiled a list of all active university groups in the “Jungle Book”.

The University Library (UB) is freely accessible to all students of Heidelberg University. As the central lending library, it is responsible for the comprehensive supply of literature and information for the entire university. In addition to the lending area, the main library in the old town has reading rooms with workspaces for silent work and group work. In addition to the main building in the old town, there are also branches in Neuenheimer Feld and Campus Bergheim.

Univital is responsible for university health management at Heidelberg University. Univital organises action weeks, exercise programmes and workshops for health promotion for students and staff at the university.