Baden-Wuerttemberg – Connecticut Partnership

Student Eligibility

The Baden-Wuerttemberg - Connecticut Exchange is for undergraduate and graduate students. Undergraduates are eligible to participate any time after completing their freshman year.

• Students with a cumulative GPA of 2.7 (B-) or above who have demonstrated that they are mature,  independent and self-directed learners will benefit the most from experiencing university life in Germany.
• Students planning to take subject-related university courses taught in German will find that they can do so with less frustration if they have completed a minimum of four semesters or more of college-level German.
• Students who have achieved less than intermediate level proficiency in German can strengthen their language skills the first semester by taking an intensive language course (20 hours per week) in the Deutsch als Fremdsprache program (DaF) at their German university.
• Students who choose to take the intensive German language course during the semester, can supplement this option with one or two university courses taught in English.

Academic Calendar

The academic calendar at German universities is different from the academic calendar at American institutions of higher education, with the exception of the University of Mannheim.

The academic year in Germany is divided into two semesters: the fall (Wintersemester), and the spring (Sommersemester). Between the two semesters is a lecture-free period.

The German academic calendar is as follows (actual dates vary from institution to institution):

Pre-semester, intensive language course	September
Wintersemester	Mid-October   –   Mid-February
Sommersemester	Mid-April        –   Mid-July