A Blog about Education Abroad

Category: Semester Exchange Postings

Blog Postings by Returning Stellenbosch University Students

  • Jacqueline at TU Munich, Germany

    Jacqueline at TU Munich, Germany

    Pre-departure:

    I have been interested in going on exchange since my first year at university, but did not have the opportunity to go until I started my postgraduate studies, so I had plenty of time to familiarize myself with the various options. The international office at my home university and their website were very helpful in this regard.

    I eventually decided to choose a university which offered courses in machine learning, which I was very interested in, but which was not part of my curriculum in the past.

    I had visited the Technical University of Munich (TUM) once before with my school and was intrigued by the campus and by Munich as a city. The TUM  also ranks as the top university in Germany, and especially well for informatics. Fortunately, I also have a European passport, so the fact that I would not need a visa also made the continent more attractive.

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  • Dumisile at the University of Tübingen, Germany

    Dumisile at the University of Tübingen, Germany

    Pre-departure:

    When I received the news that I have been accepted for the exchange programme, I was overjoyed. I directly began to gather all the documents I required for the study visa application. Since I have been through a visa process before, I knew more or less what was needed and what the time it would take to get all my document. A document of particular importance is your proof of health insurance. As such, I applied for the German insurance, the Techniker Kransenkasse (TK), but unfortunately, this insurance only covers students once the semester commences. I had no choice but to apply for a second insurance since the summer semester starts in April and my research was going to start in March. I applied for Mawista Science, which turned out to be very good for researchers and it is affordable. I would advise this insurance for students/researchers if you are looking to save money and still have an insurance that is accepted by the German authorities.

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  • Engineering Gap Year in Germany

    Engineering Gap Year in Germany

    Carike and Peter are enrolled for an undergraduate mechanical engineering degree at Stellenbosch University. (Currently the Gap Year programme is only limited to students from the Mechanical Engineering Department. We also only send students to countries that are part of the Washington Accord: https://www.washingtonaccord.org/washington-accord/signatories/ )

    In 2017, Carike and Peter decided to undertake an Engineering Gap Year in 2018, which includes the following two components: A semester exchange at a partner university followed by an internship at a German company. The semester exchange entails taking courses at a partner university in their field of study. This is a great opportunity for students to be exposed to a new academic environment and to see how engineering courses in their field of study is presented at partner universities. The internship placements are mostly organized by the students themselves, but with some support from the partner universities. The internships can be paid or non-paid and is a great way to acquire work experience and strengthen a student’s employability. (We also currently have three other students taking part in a semester exchange at North Carolina State University. Their exchange is starting in August and will only be for one semester.)

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