International Office

Academics

• Choosing your courses

  It is very important that the students' home institutions pre-approve the courses students plan to attend in Konstanz. Once students know which courses are accepted by their home institution, they should notify the International Office of the HTWG Konstanz of their planned course of studies. Most courses at the HTWG Konstanz are taught in German, with the exception of several business and mechanical engineering courses, which are taught in English. Supervised project work can also be completed in English.

• Forms of instruction

  Class organization in Germany may take the form of lectures, exercises, seminars or practical laboratories. Successful participation in a certain number of these is obligatory and must be proven to receive course credits. Excursions, tutorials, guided development of case-studies and group study may also be offered within the course.

• Assessment

  There is usually no homework assigned during the semester; however, students must be self disciplined and study throughout the semester to prepare for final exams. The final grade or score received is based primarily on one final exam or project. The professor will rarely collect homework, except in language courses, where a student is required to complete exercises at home to prepare for the next class. In addition to courses offered at HTWG Konstanz, students may also choose to receive credit by working independently on a project assigned by the HTWG Konstanz University of Applied Sciences.

• Grading

  The performance of an exchange student at HTWG Konstanz is documented by a German national grade. It is good practice to add an ECTS grade, particular in case of credit transfer.

  The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) is a standard student-centered system across the European Union based on the student workload to achieve the objectives of a program, objectives preferably specified in terms of learning outcomes and competences to be aquired.

  Student workload in ECTS consists of the time required to complete all planned learning activities such as attending lectures, seminares, independent study, preparation of projects, examinations etc.. One-ECTS-credit stands for the student's workload of 30 working hours.

  The ECTS grading scale ranks the students on a statistical basis. Grades are reported on a carefully calibrated and uniform A-F scale combined with keywords and short qualitative definitions to allow the home institution to convert the ECTS grades to their own system if needed.

  Explanation of the German grading system

  1,0-1,3 very good

  1,7-2,3 good

  2,7-3,3 satisfactory

  3,7-4,0 sufficient

  5,0 fail

  Explanation of the ECTS Grading Scale:

  A Excellent-outstanding performance with only minor errors

  B very good-above the average standards but with some errors

  C good-generally sound work with a number of notable errors

  D satisfactory mediocre but with clear faults

  E sufficient-performance meets the minimum criteria

  F fail-considerable further work is required

  P Ungraded pass – in order to receive credit for this course students must pass a final exam at the end of the semester.  A number grade is not assigned to the exam results; it is strictly pass or fail.

• Exams, course results and transfer credit

  Exchange students must register for all exams and should inform the International Office at HTWG Konstanz concerning all changes in course selection. After the semester ends, the International Office will send an official academic transcript to the International Office of the students' home university.