Study abroad

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Erasmus is a funding program of the European Commission, supporting students’ mobility within Europe. Scholarships vary around 100-150 € per month, depending on the current program conditions and the number of applicants. For some students, language courses, offered by many hosting universities for low costs, are quite attractive as well, if offered and offered at the right time (mostly end of summer). Based on bilateral agreements with the partner universities, students are exempted from tuition fees. Please look up lots of information at the webpage of the WWU International Office, see http://www.uni-muenster.de/InternationalOffice/en/smobilitaet/index.html.

The Institute for Geoinformatics has bilateral agreements with the following universities:

  • New University of Lisbon, Portugal
  • Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain
  • Harokopio University, Greece
  • University of L’Aquila, Italy

Typically, GI-Master students use the Erasmus mobility for their “external semester”. The content of the envisaged external semester has to be agreed by the coordinator of the GI Master. In many cases it is not only possible to attend courses abroad, but partly or fully work in ongoing research projects of the hosting university. This also avoids language problems, because such research work can mostly be conducted in English.

For GI Bachelor students, an Erasmus mobility is feasible as well. However, it requires substantially more preparation and timing:

  • It is more difficult to find courses abroad, which can be recognized for the Bachelor study program at home.
  • The study program at home has to be planned more carefully. Most of the courses in Münster are offered yearly. If a student goes abroad e.g., in winter, a student can only attend those courses in Münster in the winter semester before or after the Erasmus mobility.

Applications:

Before any formal application at the International Offices in Münster and the hosting university, the Institute for Geoinformatics clarifies internally and with the respective partner, if the suggested Erasmus mobility is appropriate and if yes, it’s content.
Application deadlines (informal application to ifgi, broxc@uni-muenster.de)

  •  May 15 for winter semesters of the same year
  • August 15 for summer semesters of the following year
  • Please keep in mind that in most countries the semesters start ~ one month earlier than in Germany.

We request the following documents in English language:

  • Motivation statement
  • CV, including courses within the study program (transcript of records for courses attended so far, self-made list of courses, which are ongoing and/or planned until the planned mobility measure)
  • Language certificate (mostly level B1, in some cases such as the New University of Lisbon B2) in the respective language of the envisaged study program. (GI-Master students are enrolled in a program with English as a medium of instruction, so they need no further language certificate in case the medium of instruction of the envisaged study program is English as well.)
  • Suggested study program abroad including a plan for recognition for the study program at home. For this purpose, please provide some further information about the courses abroad (e.g., weblink to syllabus, course descriptions), so the study program coordinators have sufficient information in order to evaluate equivalency. Two (completely invented) examples:
Courses at hosting university CP To be recognized at ifgi for CP
Data mining 7,5 External semester, MSc. 7,5
Spatial statistics 7,5 External semester, MSc. 7,5
Work in ongoing research project, 14 x 30h = 420h 420 h* External semester, MSc. 14
Total 29
(Wrap-up seminar at ifgi for completing the module) 1

* Usually, a hosting university cannot provide CP for project work, but certifying the amount of hours spent on project work.

Courses at hosting university CP To be recognized at ifgi for CP
Portuguese language course 8 Präsentation, Rhetorik, Fremdsprachen, wissenschaftliches Schreiben, multikulturelle Kompetenzen 8
Advanced course in user studies for mobile services 7,5 Projekt 5
Applied GI programming 6 Geosoftware I 5
Remote sensing for deforrestation monitoring 6 Ausgewählte Probleme der Geoinformatik 5
Computer graphics 7,5** Einführung in die Computergrafik 6
Total 30***

** It is not necessarily the case that credit points always match.

*** We strongly recommend also Bachelor students to apply for a study program of 30 CP in total

Before applying at ifgi for the Erasmus scholarship, please clarify with the study program coordinator, if your suggestions are appropriate.

  • Bachelor Geoinformatics: Thomas Bartoschek, bartoschek@uni-muenster.de
  • Master Geoinformatics: Prof. Dr. Edzer Pebesma, edzer.pebesma@uni-muenster.de.

Students will be notified about the informal positive feedback of the partner university, if successful. Afterwards, the students themselves are requested to apply

  • To the WWU International Office for the Erasmus scholarship and status (deadlines: June 15 for winter semesters, September 15 for summer semesters);
  • To the International Office of the hosting university for becoming an Erasmus student, please look up the respective deadlines.

Studying outside EU

Studying outside the EU is quite difficult to organize. There are limited funding opportunities (see below) and apart from usual travel and living costs, universities charge (sometimes very high) tuition fees.


Occasionally, the Institute for Geoinformatics makes agreements with partner universities about ifgi students spending a semester abroad (e.g., Melbourne, San Diego, Toronto, Ouro Preto) without paying tuition fees. These opportunities will be publicly announced, so students can apply for it.


Further opportunities

Internships abroad

There are several opportunities for internships abroad, e.g., within the Erasmus program or voluntary work placements. At WWU, this type of mobility measures is handled by the Career Service, see https://www.uni-muenster.de/CareerService/en/.