German as a foreign language – semester programme

You are studying or working at TU Braunschweig and do not yet feel completely confident in the German language? Then the German semester programme is just right for you.

The Language Centre offers a wide range of German language courses. There are general language courses as well as more specific courses with which you can train special German language skills. Topics include speaking and writing training, listening comprehension, technical German or the technical language for a specific field of study.

From the summer semester 2025, the Language Centre will switch to Stud.IP as platform for booking language courses. The previous booking platform AURA will be switched off on 31 March 2025.
Registration for the German as a foreign language semester programme in the summer semester 2025 begins on 31 March. Registration will be open until 27 April, or until all available places have been filled. The registration period for TU Braunschweig employees ends on 21 April.
For employees of TU Braunschweig, the course offerings are subject to fees. Further information on payment can be found on this page under “Costs”. Note: For employees who book their language course through the central staff development programme, the courses are free of charge.
External persons will not be able to book language courses in the summer semester 2025 due to the switch to Stud.IP. This regulation only applies to the summer semester 2025.

There will be no placement tests held at the Language Center in the summer semester 2025. This applies to all languages. Please bear in mind that your learning progress depends largely on choosing the right language level for you. We therefore recommend that you use the online placement tests from publishers, e.g. the placement test from Klett-Verlag.

If you are unsure about your language level, you can attend a free language counselling session. Registration is not necessary.

Counselling appointments:

The Language Centre of TU Braunschweig offers German courses at the levels A1-C1. Click here for the complete course overview and for course registration.

Additional offers

From 24 February to 21 March 2025, there will be daily German courses from level B1.1 to B2.2 and from 26 February to 25 March 2025 a TestDaF preparatory course, which are primarily open to CSE and SEPP students, but in which students from other disciplines and employees can also participate.

Course	Time frame	Time	Room/Course format
B1.1	24.02. – 21.03.2025	15:00 - 17:30 (in presence until 18:15)	Week 1 + 2 : online; Week 3 + 4: BW 74.003
B1.2	24.02. – 21.03.2025	16:00 - 19:15	BW 74.130
B2.1	24.02. – 21.03.2025	10:30 - 13:45	BW 74.130
B2.2	24.02. – 21.03.2025	09:00 - 11:30 (in presence until 12:15)	Week 1 + 2: online; Week 3 + 4: BW 74.102
TestDaF preparatory course	26.02. – 25.03.2025	09:00 - 12:15	BW 74.128

All courses end with a final exam. Once you have obtained your certificate, you can go straight to the next level at the Language Centre in the summer semester.

The compact courses are free of charge for TU Braunschweig and HBK students!

Employees pay 86 - 100 euros (incl. exam).

The placement test for the compact courses will take place on 14 February from 14:00 to 16:00 in the Language Centre in room 129. The test lasts approx. 40 minutes. You do not need to register for the placement test, just turn up.

Registration for the compact courses will take place on 14 February 2025 from 14:00 until 23 February 2025 at 23:59 in AURA.

For questions about the compact course, please contact daf(at)tu-braunschweig.de.

Language Tandems

Are you learning a foreign language and would like to improve your language skills?

Then sign up for our tandem programme and find a suitable tandem partner through our portal!

The principle is simple: You and your tandem partner speak your native language half of the time, your partner’s native language the rest of the time. This way you are not only learning to use the language practically in everyday life, but you also learn a lot about the other culture. Both languages are spoken equally, so you are alternately a learner and a teacher.

Registration for the Language Tandem

Studying without Language Barriers (S.O.S.)

In order to sustainably improve the learning success and integration of international students at TU Braunschweig, they receive support through the S.o.S. programme ("Studying without Language Barriers") in the form of student language coaches.

The DIN courses focus on the vocabulary, the idioms, and the typical grammatical structures of the scientific and technical language of engineers and natural scientists. On the basis of technical texts, you will train all the skills you need to present your field of study, to formulate hypotheses, to describe processes, experiments, or experimental setups, and to formulate test results in writing. Additionally, you will train vocabulary and grammatical structures in study-related subject areas in practice.

The DIN courses serve as basic courses. This means that after successfully completing a DIN course, it is possible to progress directly to the next level.

Registration for the DIN courses

In the S.o.S. programme, international students study together with German speaking students in small learning groups and can practise their subject-specific and their general German language skills. The German speaking students support their international fellow students in understanding the course content and help them with language questions.

More information about the S.o.S. programme

German courses for Engineering and Natural Sciences (DIN)

In the DIN courses at levels B1.2, B2.1, B2.2, and C1, you will learn not only subject-specific vocabulary from the fields of physics, mathematics, mechanics, and electrical engineering, but you will also practise relevant grammar structures that are important for your studies and your future career in a technical field.

Exams and Certificates

We certify your participation in a language course with one of the following course certificates:

Graded course certificate with ECTS credits: You will receive this certificate if you have fulfilled the minimum attendance requirements and all performance requirements. Your grade will appear on the certificate.
Ungraded course certificate with ECTS credits: You will receive this certificate if you have met the minimum attendance requirements and all performance requirements. Your grade will not appear on the certificate.
Attendance certificate without grade and ECTS credits: You will receive this certificate if you have met the minimum attendance requirements but not all performance requirements.

To meet the minimum attendance requirements, you must not exceed three days of absence (6 SWS) for a 2 SWS per week course, or six days of absence (12 SWS) for a 4 SWS per week course.

You can print out your course certificates yourself from our online portal AURA:

Print course certificates

Note:
Not all courses qualify for the acquisition of a language certificate authorising advancement to the following language level. Courses that meet all the necessary requirements are marked as such in the course descriptions.

We have summarised all the important information on the levels of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) and the classification and comparability of the different language certificates on the following page.

Furthermore, the language skills, which international and German students must have in order to take up a Bachelor's or Master's degree programme at TU Braunschweig are listed. In addition, the English- or German-language qualification that should be achieved upon completion of the respective degree programme is described.

Comparison of Language Certificates and Classification in the CEFR

Our course conditions

The language courses are free of charge for students. For all others, the fees are listed in the fee schedule.

The course fees must be paid within one week of registration. Payment of the course fee is only possible by bank transfer, cash payment and partial payments are not possible.

Offer costs

You can find out about the costs in the fee schedule.

Fee schedule of the Language Center (PDF, 409 KB)

If you are absent without excuse during the first week of the course, your registration for the course will become invalid and you will be excluded from further participation in the course. You can email the teacher if you cannot attend the first session so that you are not removed from the list of participants.
A successful course attendance can only be certified if you attend the course regularly. "Regularly" means a maximum of 25 % of absence. It does not matter whether the days absent are due to illness or other reasons.
In order to meet the minimum attendance requirements, you must not exceed three days of absence (6 SWS for a course with 2 SWS per week) or six days of absence (12 SWS for a course with 4 SWS per week).
These rules also apply to the online courses.

Before taking a course at the Language Centre, please clarify for yourself whether the credits earned at the Language Centre will be accepted in your subject area.
The credits awarded for individual courses are calculated according to the amount of work involved and not according to the participant's course level or grade. For a two-hour language course (2SWS), after the hours of attendance and the successful completion of the exam, you will receive 2 credits; for a four-hour course (4SWS) you will receive 4 credits.
Due to the integrated tandem programme, one receives one ECTS more in the Arabic courses than in the usual 4 SWS courses.
The examination board for the respective subject is responsible for the recognition of academic achievements acquired at other universities. This is where the credit transfer examination takes place. Please contact the managing director of your faculty. The Language Centre can, on request, provide advice on the examination of equivalences and issue a recommendation.

Every semester, some of our courses are taught online. This is accompanied by some special regulations regarding the running of the courses, which apply to all courses at the Language Centre in addition to the existing regulations (Fee Regulations, Examination Regulations):

Just as in face-to-face teaching, attendance is compulsory. Please attend at least 75% of the teaching organized in video conferences.
Please arrange for a room where you can work online without being disturbed.
The use of a microphone and camera is indispensable for the communication-oriented language teaching practiced at the Language Centre. Please ensure that you have the necessary technical equipment and test it in good time before the start of the course.
In case of transmission problems, it may be useful to switch off an open VPN connection and close programs with connections to other servers.
For languages with other alphabets, please make sure that you set your keyboard accordingly or use keyboard stickers.
You are not allowed to make audio or video recordings of the synchronous courses. Furthermore, no camera may be used for review during written course final exams.
Experience has shown that digital language teaching requires an additional time commitment compared to presence-based language teaching. Please plan for this before taking a course at the Language Centre.
In online teaching, higher demands are placed on your autonomous learning skills. Please participate actively and in a concentrated manner in the classroom

News & Events

FAQs

Contact

If you have any questions about the semester programme for German as a foreign language, please contact daf(at)tu-braunschweig.de.

Head of German as a Foreign Language - Semester programme

Ahmed Abdelhamid

☎ +49 531 391 7280
ahmed.abdelhamid(at)tu-braunschweig.de

Bültenweg 74, Room 112, 1st Floor
38106 Braunschweig

Current Changes

02.05.2025

Office hours cancellation: 02 May

The office hours of Friederike Weidauer (Friday, 13:00 - 14:00) are cancelled on 02 May.

Technical support

If you have technical problems with course registration or Moodle access, please send an e-mail to our technical team:

ih-technik(at)tu-braunschweig.de

German as a foreign language – semester programme

Additional offers

Language Tandems

Studying without Language Barriers (S.O.S.)

German courses for Engineering and Natural Sciences (DIN)

Exams and Certificates

Our course conditions

News & Events

FAQs

Contact

Head of German as a Foreign Language - Semester programme

Current Changes

Office hours cancellation: 02 May

Technical support

Lecturers

Adjuncts

For All Visitors

For Students

Internal Tools

Contact