10 Orientation
For AYF students, the academic year begins in early September with a six-week orientation program, including a 3½-week intensive language course.
During the first days after your arrival, AYF program staff will provide information and guide you through an array of bureaucratic formalities, such as opening a bank account, signing a dorm lease, applying for a residence permit, enrolling at the University of Freiburg, applying for mandatory medical insurance, and so on.
During the following weeks, you will attend an intensive German language course. The aim of this course is to improve your language skills and convey information about German culture and life in Freiburg.
The orientation program will also feature colloquia on life in the dorms, various practical aspects of everyday life, and getting around in Freiburg, as well as academic issues (e.g., the German university system, registration procedures, course offerings, libraries, and research facilities). In addition, each student will have an individual academic advising appointment with the Academic Director to select courses for the Wintersemester. Excursions to places of interest in the vicinity of Freiburg are a highlight of these first weeks in Germany and help to expand your horizons beyond the city of Freiburg. Overall, the orientation program aims to ease your integration into university life and the city.
Intensive Language Course
The classes you will attend in Freiburg during orientation are tailored exclusively to international students. Your placement in these classes is based upon the results of a written exam, in consultation with the Academic Director. During orientation, you will have three class hours (in two 90-minute sessions) daily, Monday through Friday. Grading is based on exams, homework, and classroom performance.
You will earn 3 credits for the intensive language course. Depending upon your level, the course will appear on your AYF transcript as AYF 301 or 401.
Courses and Credits
AYF students are required to maintain full-time student status for both semesters. The minimum full-time load is 12 credits per semester. For the Wintersemester, this minimum is in addition to the 3 credits for your orientation language course. Therefore, you will earn a minimum of 15 credits by the end of the first semester and a minimum of 27 credits by the end of the second semester.
Generally, AYF students earn a total of 27-30 credits during their year abroad. Credits for each of the regular semesters may include AYF program courses, university courses, courses at the university’s Language Teaching Center (Sprachlehrinstitut, or SLI), courses at the Pädagogische Hochschule, and the AYF Internship.