Establishing collaborative international degree programmes

International degree programme collaborations are offered on the basis of existing master's programmes. Students are enrolled in the same subject, i.e. their studies are subject to the same study and examination regulations as their peers in undergraduate programmes. The cooperation agreement should be concluded with a foreign partner institution that offers a master's programme whose aims of qualification are compatible with those of a master's programme at our University. This enables a student exchange for one or two semesters as determined, including a mutual recognition of the academic achievements. Graduates of this of study option are conferred a masters degree by both partner institutions.

What do our collaborations look like in practice? Here are some examples.

Do you want to initiate an international degree programme collaboration? Please contact us at an early stage as the process takes its time. We provide you expert advice on putting your idea into practice. To ensure a smooth process, please proceed according to the steps below.

In an initial meeting with the Office of the Vice-President and the International Office:

• please present us your concept and the central point of contact at your department for the collaboration anticipated.
• we clarify the essential aspects of the collaboration together (please refer to this list of questionspdf, 152 kb · de [PDF 84KB]).
• we discuss the timelinepdf, 29 kb · de [PDF 110KB] of the implementation of the study option anticipated.

Depending on a stage in the process, you will receive additional documents to facilitate the initiation of the collaboration:

• planning guide
• details on the procedure
• points of contact in the Universitys administration
• draft of the cooperation agreement.

Third party funding applications

Are you are planning an application for third party funding (e.g. DAAD, Erasmus) which includes the establishment of an international degree programme cooperation? Please note that your Faculty Council, the Office of the Vice President Teaching and the International Office must be consulted before submitting the application. The letter of endorsement from the faculty should be submitted to the International Office to accompany the application.

On a regular basis, there will be bilateral consultations with the Office of the Vice-President and the International Office. In addition, you will need to be in contact with other persons in the Universitys administration in order to implement the administrative aspects of the study option. Jointly, we will document these steps and results within the planning guide, in the degree programme data sheet, and in the cooperation agreement.

In the initial phase, it is your exclusive responsibility to maintain the contact with the partner institution. Having defined all details of the implementation, the cooperation agreement with the partner institution may be signed. From this point on, the study option may be advertised. It is furthermore inevitable to comply with the regulations on signing documents. As a general rule, every contract must be submitted to the International Office before the President signs it.

When initiating the programme collaboration, i.e. from the beginning of the first application period for the first semester and during the first round of the degree programme option, you may ask the points of contact for support in order to enable a good start of your collaboration.

We will be glad to help you after the implementation of the collaboration, too. A regular evaluation of the collaboration gives you the opportunity to improve it and to realize its full potential.

We look forward to your ideas. Please do not hesitate to make an appointment with us.