Studying abroad
Outgoer

Have a good trip!

Experience abroad is becoming increasingly important in times of globalisation. Engineers today should be able to work together with people from around the world. Why not gain the necessary experience during your studies? The MechCenter and the TU Darmstadt assist you in organising a study year abroad.

Information about studying abroad

Exchange opportunities

News & information events

Double Degrees

Scholarships for stays abroad

Recognition of credits & achievements

Studying abroad in Darmstadt: Incomer

Questions & Answers

Unite!

Unite! is a European University Alliance of nine partners that strives for excellence in education, research and innovation for students, researchers and staff.

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What exchange opportunities are available to me?

Exchange … means that the exchange placements are exempt from tuition fees. These are regular selection placements.
Study abroad … means that tuition fees are charged! This applies especially to our partner universities in Australia and New Zealand as well as the University of California, Berkeley, USA. If you are interested in visiting these universities, please contact the MechCenter.
Double Degree … means that you spend part of your studies at the foreign partner university. At the end of your studies you will receive the degrees from both universities.
Hessen – Queensland, Wisconsin, Massachusetts The placements at these universities are allocated centrally via the Department for International Relations and Mobility. Approximately five placements can be awarded to students of the TU Darmstadt.
Internships abroad …are also an opportunity to gain experience abroad. Further information can be found in the FAQ about internships (only available in German, see section "Auslandspraktikum”).

News, announcements & information events about stays abroad

Out into the world

You can find a lot more information and overviews about studying abroad on the university's central information page about international affairs.

Learn more

Please inform yourself about the events organised by the Department of International Relations and Mobility under this link.

Information on mobility programmes at TU Darmstadt can be found here.

You can find an overview of the summer schools at the partner universities here.

Double Degrees

The Department of Mechanical Engineering offers Double Degrees in cooperation with various universities worldwide. These programmes involve a stay at the foreign university, with the student receiving degrees from both universities at the end of the programme.

Financial support for stays abroad

There are a number of scholarship providers that focus specifically on temporary study and research stays abroad. The two most important institutions for this are:

Grant awards

Furthermore, there is sometimes the opportunity to apply for grant awards in which costly stays abroad are financially supported. The Department VIII has compiled an overview of such opportunities.

Learn more

In order to best integrate your stay abroad into your current studies, it is possible to have modules from abroad that you are planning to take recognised in advance. You will find a form for this in the download area. Please note the following points when carrying out your pre-recognition:

Before your stay abroad

Create a study plan by selectin

  • Create a study plan by selecting the courses/events you would like to take during your study visit. Check whether one or more of the selected modules is already on the equivalence list of the Department of Mechanical Engineering (please also note the validity period). If yes, you do not need to submit a pre-approval. If not or the validity period has expired, the module must still be recognised/re-recognised.
  • Search for detailed module descriptions on the homepage of your host university for the modules that you would like to have recognised in advance. Pre-recognition is not possible without a meaningful module description!
  • You must complete a separate form for each module that you would like to have recognised in advance. Please complete the forms carefully!
  • Enter the credit points (CP) that you receive for the module at the host university at the top of the form. The MechCenter will convert the foreign CP into TU Darmstadt CP (according to ECTS)
  • Enter the module number and the module title of the course.
  • Also enter the level of the course (Bachelor or Master). (This must be supported by documentation. Ideally, this can be found in the corresponding module description).
  • Please check our module handbooks to see whether a module with similar content is offered at TUDa in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
    • If so, it will be recognised as an equivalent module (select from the drop-down list). Note: If equivalent modules are recognised, the TUDa credit points will be transferred and rounded up or down accordingly.
    • If not: Submission with original title without equivalent (as placeholder/Platzhalter)
  • Assign the module from the host university to an elective area of your degree programme. For recognition in the Master's programme, the selected foreign course should also be at Master's level.
  • Send the signed form together with the module description by to the MechCenter and wait for feedback. If you are translating/summarising documents, the original module description must also be submitted.
  • Then submit the form signed by the MechCenter together with the module description (e.g. via Hessenbox) to an appropriate professor and ask for your preliminary recognition to be checked. Please advise the examiners to include us in their response in CC.

After your stay abroad

At the end of your stay abroad, bring the original signed pre-approval form for the recognition of your achievements abroad together with an original of your transcript of records to the office hours.

Compulsory courses Equivalent subject to the TUDa programme
Electives Areas * Equivalent subject to the TUDa programme or other suitable lectures from mechanical engineering
Engineers in society Non-technical and non-scientific lectures
General Studies / Studium Generale Non-technical and non-scientific lectures
*) In the case of the Bachelor's degree in Bio-Materials Engineering, there are further requirements for the subject-specific orientation of modules that are to be recognised in the compulsory elective areas.
Electives Area Ia – Fundamentals an equivalent subject to one of the three TUDa electives (Machine Dynamics, Sustainable Systems Design, Transport Phenomena)
Electives Area Ib – Digitalisation an equivalent subject to one of the three TUDa electives (Digitalisation in Production, Machine Learning Applications, Smart Products, Engineering & Services)
Electives Area II – Core Electives from Mechanical Engineering * an equivalent subject from this field or, if applicable, a suitable, fundamental-oriented lecture from mechanical engineering / Aerospace Engineering
Electives Area III – Electives from the Natural Sciences and Engineering * an equivalent subject from this field or other, possibly application-related subjects from mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering or related engineering and natural sciences
ADP Project seminars, teamwork
Tutorial Experiments, modelling and simulations – carried out independently
General Studies / Studium Generale Non-technical and non-scientific lectures
*) In the case of a specialisation in the Master of Mechanical Engineering and for the Master of Aerospace Engineering, there are further requirements for the subject-specific orientation of modules that are to be recognised in the subject-specific compulsory elective areas of WPB II and WPB III.

Important notes

  • You do not necessarily have to have your courses recognised in advance. They can also be recognised after your stay abroad. This is often the case if it is difficult to obtain information about the courses in advance.
  • Pre-recognition is particularly recommended for courses that are fundamentally important for the further course of study: Compulsory courses, elective area I(a and be), ADP and tutorials.
  • Learning Agreement: As the Learning Agreement often has to be submitted at an early stage, sometimes when applying to the host university, it is only checked for plausibility. There is no preliminary check on the recognition/enrolment of courses. Please only use the pre-recognition forms for this purpose.
  • Further information on the recognition of your achievements abroad can be found in the detailed information on the recognition of work done abroad.

In the list of equivalent courses, you will find information about courses in which TU Darmstadt students have achieved credits during their stay at host universities and which of those have been recognised by professors of the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Within the indicated validity time frame, these courses can be recognised by the MechCenter without a new examination by a professor.

The current list of equivalent courses of all exchange programmes (recognised achievements at partner universities) can be found here (opens in new tab).

You can find the current distribution of examination results in the Bachelor's and Master's degree programmes in the download area under “Studying abroad”.

Study Abroad – Bon Voyage!

Of course, we are also open to foreign students for a study visit at TU Darmstadt. The International Relations Office provides comprehensive information about exchange studies at TU Darmstadt. You can also find further information on admission, application procedures, deadlines and so on on our information page for incoming students.