International Relations Office

Admission procedures and entry requirements outlined underneath concern exchange students associated with one of Aalen University's partner institutions only. Degree-seeking students, please consult the section for degree-seeking students. Free movers wishing to spend one or two semesters at Aalen University should address the International Relations Office of Aalen University directly. 

Most exchanges within Europe take place under the umbrella of the Erasmus+ program which applies the European Credit Transfer System called ECTS. But also exchange students coming from Non-European partner universities will be admitted under the European Credit Transfer System allowing them to transfer credits obtained at Aalen University. Coursework will be defined in a learning agreement and credits achieved and exams passed will be validated by the home university according to ECTS on the basis of the transcript of records that students will receive at the end of their stay in Aalen.

If you want to do an exchange semester in Aalen, you need to be nominated by your home universities International Office via a form. Please contact your International Office about the respective application docuemnts you need to hand in.

The international relations offices of our partner universities can nominate their students for one or more exchange semester at Aalen University by entering their students' data into our nomination form. The link to which is sent out to all partner university a few months before the deadline. If you have not received the link, please send an e-mail to aaa@hs-aalen.de. Please do not pass the link onto your students.

Students please submit the application documents via our online application portal for incoming students. The link for registration will be sent out after nomination by home university. 

A complete application will contain:

• The application form (to be signed by your institution before sending)
• The so-called "Antrag auf eingeschränkte Zulassung" (necessary for formal enrolment)
• The application form for an Email account
• The learning agreement 
• Proofs of language proficiency in German and/or English
• A final project request form (in case you wish to carry out your final project / degree thesis at Aalen University only)
• Recent photo (passport format)
• A transcript of records including all your study results so far
• A CV

All relevant application documents will be acquired from the application portal. 

The deadlines for submitting a full application are April 30 for the winter semester and November 30 for the summer semester. All exchange students have to be selected and nominated by the partner university for their study abroad period at Aalen University to be re-confirmed via signature from the international relations office of the partner institution in the application form.

Exchange students from Non-European countries will need a visa for Germany and should consider that getting the visa may take quite some time. Therefore, we advise you to apply for Aalen University as soon as possible. After we have received your application, we will send you a letter of admission ("eingeschränkte Zulassung"), along with an invitation confirming your status. Only then can you apply for your visa at the German embassy or a German Consulate.

When enrolling at Aalen University you need the following additional items (normally after arrival): adequate health insurance (can also be taken in Aalen), the payment of a semester contribution to the German Student Association, and a residence permit (Aufenthaltsgenehmigung). 

There are many academic and organizational decisions to be made when you want to study in a foreign country. Your home university has coordinators as well as an international relations office to assist you in obtaining information about the program you are interested in and to help you handle the technicalities involved in studying at Aalen University.

We look forward to welcoming you here in Aalen!

Come to Aalen as an exchange student. Increase your social & intercultural competencies by studying in Aalen for one or more semesters. We are happy to host you for a semester exchange to gain Credit Points abroad by attending English taught lectures. You have the opportunity to make the most of your stay and gain practical insight into German Industries by interning at any of the regional technology hotspots to increase your job opportunities. In addition, we encourage you to extend your stay to write your thesis with us in our state-of-the-art labs.

Find our course catalogue of English taught lectures here.

Set up your learning Agreement based on our course catalogue in our Mobility Online portal. If you would like to attend German taught lectures as well, please let us know.