What else do I have to know in order to study in Göttingen?
Semester, lecture period, lecture-free period
The Bachelor’s programmes of the Faculty comprise six semesters, i.e. studies usually last three years. Students complete the Master's programme in four semesters, meaning two years. A year in each case is divided into the winter semester (October 1 of each year to March 31 of the following year) and the summer semester (April 1 to September 30 of each year). These periods are always the same.
A distinction from the semester period, however, is the lecture period and the lecture-free period. The lecture period means that lectures and seminars take place during this period, the students are therefore located on the campus and attend their courses. In the lecture-free period, no events take place. The students write their exams or complete papers or do internships. Of course, there is also time for vacation. The respective time periods vary depending on the semester. In the winter semester, the lecture period lasts for example from the end of October to the beginning of February. During the Christmas holidays (including New Year's) there are no lectures. In the summer semester, the courses start again around the beginning of April and lasts until mid-July.
A distinction from the semester period, however, is the lecture period and the lecture-free period. The lecture period means that lectures and seminars take place during this period, the students are therefore located on the campus and attend their courses. In the lecture-free period, no events take place. The students write their exams or complete papers or do internships. Of course, there is also time for vacation. The respective time periods vary depending on the semester. In the winter semester, the lecture period lasts for example from the end of October to the beginning of February. During the Christmas holidays (including New Year's) there are no lectures. In the summer semester, the courses start again around the beginning of April and lasts until mid-July.
The first two semesters are almost identical for all students in a single-subject Bachelor’s programme of the Faculty. They usually comprise a total of nine compulsory modules in which you learn the basic problems and approaches in the economic sciences as well as a number of important disciplines. In addition to expertise in business and economics, you acquire particular skills in dealing with information and communication systems as well as in the relevant mathematical and statistical methods. Depending on the chosen course of study you also take a course on civil foundations (business and economics), on computer science (business information systems), or in the selected second subject (for Business Education).
Since the winter semester 2020/21, the modules "Unternehmen und Märkte" and "Informations- und Kommunikationssyssteme" in the Bachelor's Programme in Economics have been replaced by the new introductory course "Volkswirtschaftslehre in Aktion" and the module "Makroökonomik II".
The compulsory modules are:
Since the winter semester 2020/21, the modules "Unternehmen und Märkte" and "Informations- und Kommunikationssyssteme" in the Bachelor's Programme in Economics have been replaced by the new introductory course "Volkswirtschaftslehre in Aktion" and the module "Makroökonomik II".
The compulsory modules are:
- Mathematik, 8 Credits
- Informations- und Kommunikationssysteme, 6 Credits
- Einführung in die Finanzwirtschaft, 6 Credits
- Jahresabschluss, 6 Credits
- Statistik, 8 Credits
- Mikroökonomik I, 6 Credits
- Makroökonomik I, 6 Credits
- Unternehmen und Märkte, 6 Credits
- Recht, 8 Credits /Informatik, 10 Credits/ Zweitfach, 7-10 Credits
An exception is the two-subject Bachelor’s degree, Economics. This programme does not have an orientation phase. Detailed information can be found on the corresponding course page: http://www.uni-goettingen.de/de/36638.html
In the second phase of studies (3rd-6th semester) you will deepen your basic knowledge from the orientation phase. In addition, you can focus your studies according to your individual interests in your discipline and your career aspirations. In the sixth semester, you usually write the Bachelor's thesis. The fourth or fifth semester is also a good time to study abroad. The Faculty collaborates in Europe alone, for example, with over 70 partner universities (Erasmus), as well as with universities for example in the United States, China, Latin America, Russia, India, Japan, South Africa, and South Korea. Through university-wide programmes, semesters abroad in further countries are also possible.
The University of Göttingen is an internationally recognized research university with a focus on research-based teaching. Recent research results are incorporated into teaching. In your studies, you will learn scientific methods and modern theoretical concepts that enable you to independently work out tasks and problems as well as learn about new fields of knowledge. You will receive an overview of your respective area of expertise, learning to recognize connections and transfer their knowledge to new areas and to apply or to quickly become familiar with new topics.
In addition, you are introduced to scientific work, learn to work out a particular problem within a specified period, to look for relevant literature on the subject, to process it according to the question and to critically deal with the statements of the respective authors. In empirical research, you independently design, for example, questionnaires and with them check your previously made assertions (hypotheses). Especially in the Bachelor's and Master's thesis you should show that you can scientifically work out a topic in a given time.
The professors of the Faculty (especially in business administration) also maintain close contacts with industry and business. Company representatives, for example, hold lectures, in courses and public lecture series. Together with companies and consulting firms, our professors offer workshops or award theses. Once a year, the Career Service of the University holds a career fair ("Practice Exchange") for all students at the University where you can speak directly with businesses about internships and job offers.
The professors of the Faculty (especially in business administration) also maintain close contacts with industry and business. Company representatives, for example, hold lectures, in courses and public lecture series. Together with companies and consulting firms, our professors offer workshops or award theses. Once a year, the Career Service of the University holds a career fair ("Practice Exchange") for all students at the University where you can speak directly with businesses about internships and job offers.
The semester ticket includes a train ticket, a bus ticket, as well as a culture ticket. With the train ticket, students of the University of Göttingen can use many local passenger trains free of charge in Lower Saxony and Bremen, and are also able to travel to the Hamburg central railway station, Kassel Wilhelmshöhe, Paderborn, and Nordhausen (via Walkenried). The bus ticket allows students to travel for free with the city buses in Göttingen, and to Bovenden and Rosdorf.
With the culture ticket, students receive drastically reduced or even free entrance to cultural events, such as theatres or museums, as well as music events in clubs or the culture centre.
The costs of the "Semesterticket" are included in the semester fee and have to be paid by all students, regardless of whether they actually use the ticket or not. Please make sure that you always carry your student identity card with you when travelling on one of the trains mentioned above.