Organize your stay in Cologne
01. Semester calendar
lecture period winter semester | Oct. - Feb. |
lecture period summer semester | Apr. - Jul. |
02. Erasmus students
As an ERASMUS student the admission procedure follows the steps managed by the international office of your home country. If you have been accepted as ERASMUS Student at your home university, please contact Dr. Heike Henneken.
Deadline Incomings:
July 15 (winter term)
January 15 (summer term)
General Information for Erasmus Students
03. Apply for a whole study programme
As a first step please send a motivation letter (no longer than 2 pages), transcript of records and your certificate to the directorate, if your not coming with an ERASMUS grant.
The Chemistry Programme in Cologne is structered according to the Bologna system, into a three year Bachelor (180 ECTS points) tought in German and a two-year master degree course (120 ECTS points) taught in English. To check the courses go to Klips.
If you wish to apply for the Bachelor programme please have a look here.
If you wish to apply for the Master programme please have a look here.
If you wish to apply for a Phd you have the choice of a number of research groups.
04. Accomodation
Cologne is not the cheapest place to live but you can find something in any price range! The city offers enough to make it worth it! It is important to start the room-hunting at least two month before your arrival.
Student accomodation
The Cologne student Union “Kölner Studierenden Werk” ownes 86 residental homes with app. 4600 places that offer “all inclusive” rents in the range of 180-400 EUR centrally located next to the university.
You can choose between the classical version with a room on the corridor, with communal kitchen and sanitary facilities, a shared flat with 2 to 6 persons, or a single apartment. Half of all rooms a furnished. All residences have complete furnished kitchens, drier and washer.
Private housing
Most rooms which are rented in Cologne are rented without furniture (unmöbliert), but you might probably need a furnished flat (möblierte Wohnung) or a furnished room (möbliertes Zimmer). The monthly rent is usually broken down into two figures: the basic or cold rent (Kaltmiete) and the predictable utility bills (Nebenkosten), which include water usage, rubbish fees, city rates etc. These two figures together make up the warm rent (Warmmiete). If you stay for a short period look for rooms that are sublet (Zwischenmieten). A lot of students sublet their rooms when they are aboard and this can be one of your best options of finding a furnished room for a short-term lease. A lot of furnished short-term accommodation can be found in shared flats (Wohngemeinschaften or WGs).
Best sites to start a search:
Kölner Studierenden Werk
studenten-wg
wg-gesucht
You will find general information on accommodation in Germany here.
A glossary for the search you can find here.
Living for help
"Living for help" is a project that connects students searching for a room with elderly persons, single parents, families or handicapped persons.
For each m² offered the student gives one our help in month. The predictibale utility bills has to be paid on the students own.
This project offers a unique possibility to combine social commitment with finding a cheap place to live and if interested a family like connection.
05. Language courses
Information on course types, course contents, specification, application, fees, exams and dates you'll find here.
06. Mentoring Program for International Female Scholar
For the one-to-one Mentoring, Trainings and Networking the participants will be matched with female professors of the University of Cologne as mentors .
More information: www.ifs-mentoring.uni-koeln.de.