Exchange Students

The Faculty of Law uses the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS), where each course is assigned a credit rating reflecting the number of weekly contact hours. Students achieve 2 credits for one hour per week. (Eg. Introduction to German Civil Law for International Students: 2 hpw -> 4 credits).

Exchange students are usually required to complete a minimum of 30 credits.

Credits are achieved by examination in each course. The date and place of the exam will be announced by the tutor.

The type of exam for exchange students often differs from the exam for regular (German) students. The examination can either be written or oral. Which type of exam is provided to exchange students , is at the tutor's discretion.

12 credits can be achieved by participation in a "Seminar". Every participant has to produce an assignment which has to be defended in an oral presentation in front of the seminar group.

2 extra credits are granted for taking the regular exam intended for German students.

• Lecture (Vorlesung): A lecture is characterized by a large number of students and a monologue presentation from the lecturer. During the lessons, it is usually only the lecturer doing the talking, but sometimes he asks something and/or students give some comments/ have questions. Usually students have the possibility to sit an exam (normally written/ for incoming students sometimes oral). A lecture is composed of one or two sessions a week, normally 1-2 hours each.
• Colloquium: A colloquium is pretty similar to a lecture. Important differences are the course size, which is limited to a certain number of students, and a higher level of participation expected from the students. Colloquiums are more similar to school lessons than lectures. You can learn how to deal with a judicial case, depending on the subject and the professor's programme.
• Practical Lessons/Tutorials (Übungen): These lessons are designed to prepare for written exams. Students collaborate with professors to solve judicial cases. At the end of the semester there is a written exam.
• Seminars (Seminare): Seminars are lessons in which students are expected to collaborate. Every participant is assigned a subject to present. He/she gets approx. 6 weeks to prepare a 20-minute presentation. At the end of the semester the student gets a certificate with a grade.