International students

1. our study program that diligent students will enjoy

2. lots of other good reasons:

• The Lonely Planet claims: "In Goethe’s Faust, a character named Frosch calls Leipzig ‘a little Paris’. He was wrong – Leipzig is more fun...".
• In 2010, Leipzig is in the Top 10 of the World's Places to Go according to the New York Times (read the article to understand why).
• The German Newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung praises Leipzig here.

Some practical information:

• It is cheap to live in Leipzig (compared to other German cities).
• You are in the center of Germany, and very well connected (e.g. about 1 h to Berlin, Dresden or Weimar by ICE trains).
• It is easy to find a flat.
• Leipzig is green with its quantity of parcs such as the huge Clara-Zetkin-Park.
• It is easy to get around: public transport works fine and a bike gets you everywhere easily (no hills :-).
• There are nearly 40.000 students living in Leipzig. (Some of them are waiting for you)

Deadlines

• Deadline for your application at the University of Leipzig is June for the comming winter term and January for the comming summer term (receipt!).
• After being selected by your University, apply here.
• Early registration for the Language and Orientation Course (not for beginners): Please note that the number of participants is restricted. Especially in the winter term, the capacity is not sufficient for all applicants of this course. You can earn 3 credits in this course.
  • untill July for the winter term (Wintersemester),
  • untill January for the summer term (Sommersemester)

 Requirments

• You will find a lot of useful information at the website of the Leipzig University. There you will also find information about required German language skills.

• Language requirements for German or English: B1. This level is the absolute minimum and we strongly recomment a higher one. If you plan to take English classes, please, keep our very limited range of courses in mind. PhD students have to send an email to the coordinator Prof. Wiese with the title of the thesis and two paragraphs describing the project. Mr. Wiese will then try to match the student to a colleague. If that should prove impossible, we will not be able to accept the PhD student. Please note the professor on your learning agreement.

• For your learning agreement, please, consult Study program --> How to choose courses.

Financing

• You may wish to prepare your financial calculations.
  • In order to finance your stay in Leipzig, you need about 780 € a month. This amount holds of course only as guideline and real spending depends on your consumption.
  • If you need a visa, a proof of secured financing of livelihood might be required already when applying for the visa in your home country.
  • In detail, the monthly cost in Leipzig sum up as follows:
    • Rent for an apartment / room: about € 250.00 - € 350.00
    • Health insurance: about € 80.00
    • Study material: about 50.00 €
    • Food, clothing and other needs: about 300.00 €
    • Please note, that at the beginning of the semester you must pay the term fee including a ticket for public transportation.
    • Moreover, in addition to the monthly costs at the beginning of you stay you might cover deposits for housing, UniCard, etc. Expect to pay another 600 € for getting started in Leipzig.

Planning the depature

• Be careful when planning your departure from Leipzig. Written examinations take place after the lecture period (allow for two or three weeks). 

Registration and enrolment

• Please contact the International Centre immediately after arrival at Leipzig.
• Please indicate your email address in Leipzig/at home to Frau Noack.

Academic

• Academic calendar - please note that the examination period which lasts for 3 weeks starts right after the end of classes (end of July/beginning of February)
• Location of the Faculty of Economics and Management Science
• The history of the Faculty
• Computer center and library

• Learning agreements: We are not in a hurry to receive your learning agreement. Wait as long as your home university permits. If you are sure about your courses, take a learning agreement formular (preferably from your home university), and send it via e-mail to Mr. Pradel.

Helpful

• Information concerning German courses during the term can be found at the website of the International Centre and the Studienkolleg Sachsen.
• Information concerning language courses and tandem partners offered by Sprachenzentrum der Universität Leipzig can be found here.
• The students' welcome iniatitive for foreign students WILMA 'cares for' exchange students and offers a variety of events (together with German students) as volley ball matches, weekend trips, X-mas parties, clubbing and pubbing.
• Housing in Leipzig - affordable and easy to find
• Student's representatives at the Faculty of Economics and Management Science (German only) take care of you if you have questions about your studies.
• The foreign students' unit (Referat Ausländischer Studierender) of the students' representation (StudentInnenrat) of the University of Leipzig attends to the interests of foreign students. It organizes cultural and sports events and it offers advise and help (e.g. concerning residence permit and housing, legal advice).
• Deadlines, registration, health insurance etc.

Nice

• Leipzig's official website
• For information on cultural events we refer to:
  • city journals, especially the Kreuzer,
  • local newspapers, especially the Leipziger Volkszeitung,
  • www.meinestadt.de/leipzig/events.
• City Map

Extension of your stay

• Some guest students may wish to stay a second semester in Leipzig. In principle, we are pleased that you enjoy being at our faculty and in Leipzig. In order to let you continue, we need your home university's consent. Please, have this permit sent to the international centre where you will be informed about further steps to be taken.

• International Centre
  Goethestr. 6, 4th floor - 403,
  phone: +49 341-97-32023

  Website

  E-Mail

Important

• Before departure, please send us an email indicating
  • the exams you (will) have tried,
  • the Erasmus papers you have handed in, and
  • your home address.
• We will sent the transcript of records to your university and your home address as soon as the grades are available. If you have any questions in this regard, please turn also send an email. 
• Note: At this stage, we are not interested in the courses on your learning agreement, only in those courses where we need to collect results! Otherwise, we might be waiting for results that cannot come in because you did not sit the exam or did not hand in the Erasmus paper.

• Please print the removal from register (Antrag auf Exmatrikulation). Please submit it to the International Centre together with your student ID card. You will receive your certificate of “Exmatrikulation” via your AlmaWeb account.

Big favour

• And now we ask you for some big favor: Could you please sent us a report on your time in Leipzig, by email 
  • What did you like?
  • What not that much?
  • What can the International Centre/the University/the Faculty do in order to improve conditions for future students?

At other faculties

• We (at the Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences) do not mind if you take courses at other faculties. However, if you can do that and which courses you may be allowed to take is between you and the professors of that other faculty. That is, if you plan to attend courses at other faculties, you have to make inquiries yourself.

At the Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences

• At our faculty, if you plan to attend a seminar, you should approach the assistants or professors giving the seminar.
• In general, we allow Bachelor students to attend Master courses, also. However, the academic level of Master courses tends to be higher than for Bachelor courses.
• You can find the current courses in the course catalogue Almaweb (usually approx. 4 weeks before the start of lectures of the corresponding semester).
  • The commented catalog of German language courses „Deutsch für das Studium” is available from Frau Noack.
• Normally, we present the courses for the upcoming semester on the AlmaWeb too late for your learning agreements. You have four options: 
  • Consult the courses that were on offer the previous year but stick to the summer or winter term as appropriate.
  • Try the individual chairs' homepages.
  • Wait with the choice of courses until you come to Leipzig. Very often, foreign students tend to change courses anyway.
  • You are very welcome to contact Mr. Pradel at our faculty in Leipzig. After consulting our webpages, you suggest your courses. Please, tell him whether you are a bachelor or a master student and also the winter and/or summer term you will come to Leipzig. (This does not mean that you must stick to those courses once you are in Leipzig.)

English Courses at our Faculty

• A list of courses offered in English can be found in a separate item below.
• Please note that practically all courses in business administration (BWL) are given in German.

Course registration

• You can choose moduls summing up to 30 credits.

• Please note the following when registering for the modules:
  • Please write an e-mail to Mr. Pradel which modules you would like to take in the coming semester
  • For modules in which a term paper, project work, presentation or oral examination is to be completed as an examination, you must obtain the consent of the lecturer in advance. If you have any questions about this, please contact Mr. Pradel.
  • Module registration with Mr. Pradel takes place within the first three weeks of the winter or summer semester.
• If you wish to withdraw from a course, please send an e-mail to Mr. Pradel at least 4 weeks before the examination period.
• To have the Learning Agreement signed, please also contact Mr. Pradel by e-mail.

General

• You will meet welcoming professors and assistants in Leipzig.
• However, we expect you to take your studies seriously. Do attend classes, do the exercises, read the textbooks, ask questions.
• Erasmus students sit the same exams as German students.

Credits

• Credits for bachelor or master courses are typically earned by written examinations that take place after the lecture period (allow for two or three weeks). 
• Credits can also be earned by writing an Erasmus-Paper if a professor can be found who is willing to propose a topic for such a paper (see below).
• Credits can be earned for grades of 4,0 (satisfactory) or better. Erasmus students are not immune to failing.
• Since repeats are mostly organized in a later semester, resitting examinations is practically impossible for Erasmus students.

Attendance certificates

• As a general rule, attendence certificates will not be issued. However, if the lecturer is prepared to take note of your attendence and informs us about it, we can include this course in the transcript of records. However, we do not award credits for attendence, only.

Transcript of Records

• Transcript of records: see "Doing exchange step by step" --> "Before departure"

Procedure

• Erasmus Students are welcome to write one or several 'Erasmus papers' in German or English. Normally, successful Erasmus papers are awarded 5 credits.
• Some chairs offer Erasmus papers, others do not.
• Typically, Erasmus papers are 10 to 15 pages long.
• Interested students are asked to
  • contact a professor or assistants (be prepared to cope with the occasional "no, sorry"),
  • write a paper according to the respective regulations, and
  • present, discuss or defend it.

Requirments

• The minimal requirements include: More precisely, the reader of your paper should be provided with a basic knowledge about your topic. This involves not only the presentation of statistics or historical events, but also the discussion of important effects, explanation of significant interralations or (if applicable) the theoretical background. 
  We strongly recommend to discuss your structure and contents with one of the assistants before handing in your paper (appointment arrangements via E-Mail).
• no plagiarism (cheaters are expelled)
• no copy and paste
• structured paper (introduction etc.)
• literature from scientific journals and books
• standard way to cite the literature
• no help from third parties
• The grade and credits are awarded for the paper and the oral presentation.

WINTER TERM 2024/25

Name (& Link zur Homepage)	Teacher	Type	Credits
Advanced Microeconomics	Dr. Alexander Singer	Master	10
Economics of Natural Resource Use and Conservation	Prof. Quaas	Master	10
Socio-Economic Issues of Urban Development	Prof. Krause	Master	10
Growth & Development: Theory	Prof. Steger	Master	10
International Trade (if spaces are available)	Prof. Schnabl	Master	5
International Finance (if spaces are available)	Prof. Schnabl	Master	5
Development of Financial Markets and Institutions	Dr. Kristoffer Mousten Hansen	Master	10
Applied Econometrics	Prof. Süßmuth	Bachelor	5
Competitive Strategies	Dr. Alexander Singer	Bachelor	5
Introduction to Banking	Prof. Weiß	Bachelor	5
Quantitative Risk Management	Prof. Weiß	Master	5
Life Cycle Analyses and Sustainability Assessment of Bioeconomy	Prof. Thrän	Master	5
Price management (course language: German. Material and exam in English on demand) - not yet confirmed	Prof. Radic	Master	10
Sustainable Assessment of the “Energiewende” (if spaces are available)	Prof. Bruckner	Master	5
Spatial Econometrics	Assistant Prof. Adamson	Master	10
Nature's Values	Jun.-Prof. Hänsel	Bachelor	10
Sustainability Economics	Prof. Quaas	Bachelor	10

 

SUMMER TERM 2024

Name (& Link zur Homepage)	Teacher	Type	Credits
Advanced Macroeconomics	Prof. Steger	Master	10
Seminar on Economic Theory: Macroeconomics - not yet confirmed	Prof. Steger	Master	5
International Economics - not yet confirmed	Dr. Kristoffer Mousten Hansen	Bachelor	5
History of Economic Thought - not yet confirmed	Dr. Kristoffer Mousten Hansen	Master	5
Environmental and Biodiversity Economics	Prof. Quaas	Master	10
Land Management - not yet confirmed	Dr. B. Meyer, Dr. Schenk	Master	10
Water Resources Management - not yet confirmed	Prof. Klauer and Dr. Geyler	Master	10
Energy Engineering and Management	Prof. Thrän	Master	10
Sustainable Energy Economics	Prof. Bruckner	Master	10
Microeconometrics	Assistant Prof. Adamson	Master	10
Seminar Applied Econometrics	Prof. Süßmuth	Master	5
Microeconomic Analyses of Old Indian Texts	Prof. Wiese	Bachelor	5
Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning in Finance	Prof. Weiß	Master	5
Sustainable Finance	Prof. Weiß	Master	5
Seminar: International Economic Trade: Theory and Policy (exchange students only)	Johanna Freistühler	Bachelor	5
Financial Risk Management	Prof. Weiß	Bachelor	5
Introduction to Business Cycle Analysis	Jun.-Prof. Schweinitz	Bachelor	10
Empirical Research in Business Education and Training	Prof. Happ, Sebastian Heidel	Master	5
Big Data and Smart Cities (only 3 seats for exchange students)	Prof. Krause	Master	10

 

Language Issues

Do I have to speak German?

For most of the courses offered in Leipzig, you need to understand and speak German. Also, speaking German is certainly helpful for your life outside university and sometimes also inside. We encourage you to take up language courses before coming to Leipzig and also while in Leipzig.

We offer only a few courses in English. If you think they may be suitable for you, you may apply by providing evidence of English, only. You need to be warned, however, that your range of subjects is very limited in that case.

How can I collect credits without taking courses held in German?

You may have a look at the courses given in English (a list can be found above). Moreover, we allow exchange students to hand in essays (more information about Erasmus papers above). Not particularly an answer to the question, but the more helpful: you may consider taking courses to learn the German language.

I want to improve my German/learn German!

• Information concerning German courses during the term („Studienbegleitende Deutschkurse”).

 

Living

How do I find a flat?

There are many possibilities and there is generally no shortage of flats in Leipzig. Read the information provided by the International Centre to find a place. In particular, the Studentenwerk offers many flats. Registration is online.
Many flats are also offered on platforms like: http://www.wg-gesucht.de/ or https://www.studenten-wg.de/

How much does living in Leipzig cost?

• In order to finance your stay in Leipzig, you need about 700 € a month, depending on your personal life style. 
• If you need a visa, a proof of secured financing of livelihood might be required already when applying for the visa in your home country.
• In detail, the monthly cost in Leipzig sum up as follows:
  • Rent for an apartment / room: about € 220.00 - € 320.00
  • Health insurance: about € 90.00
  • Study material: about 50.00 €
  • Food, clothing and other needs: about 250.00 €
• Please note, that at the beginning of the semester you must pay the term fee including a ticket for public transportation.
• Moreover, in addition to the monthly costs at the beginning of you stay you might cover deposits for housing, UniCard, etc. Expect to pay another 750 € for getting started in Leipzig.

Why do I have to pay the semester fee?

Exchange students at Leipzig University are NOT required to pay any tuition fees. However, like all Leipzig students, they must pay the so-called 'semester fee' every semester. The semester fee is not a fee for tuition, because Leipzig University does not receive the money. Part of this fee goes to the Leipzig Student Union, whose services benefit all students. This includes e.g. affordable meals in the dining halls, student dormitories, job placement services, and much more. In addition, the semester fee includes the semester ticket of the Leipzig Transport Services. This means that all those who have paid the semester fee can use their UniCard to travel for free on the bus and tram in Leipzig for the entire semester at any time. The third part of the semester fee goes to the Student Council. These elected student 'delegates' represent the interests of all the Leipzig University students to the rectorate, and they champion causes such as equality at the university for all, including international students. It's important that exchange students pay the semester fee at the beginning of their studies in Leipzig and again at the beginning of their second semester here, because if it's not paid the student will be exmatriculated. Further information about the deadlines and the amount of the fee can be found on the webpage of the semester fee.