In this blog, we are going to share our regular knowledge exchange session about “Ways To Find Affordable Universities in Germany” by Hnin Oo Wutt Yee (Snow). This blog will include all the necessary things you need to know before going to study in Germany, how to find affordable and good universities, and also tips and tricks in taking English Proficiency tests before going to study in foreign countries. Since these tips will be useful for many youths who want to study in foreign countries and in Germany, we have summarized the knowledge-sharing event on the above topic as a blog.
We regularly hold knowledge exchange sessions for our openfor.co/fellowship community members and for youths outside of the community. We did the following knowledge exchange session On January 28th, 2022, 6:30-7:30 PM JST time.
This blog covers the following topics :
Please check out more details in the following video or in the following blog.
1. Speaker, Hnin Oo Wutt Yee (Snow) Profile
🔰Final Year Student of Yangon Technical University studying Mining Engineering
🔰Former Intern and IT Team Member at Openfor.co
2. Why should we choose Germany?
Well-Ranked Universities
There are so many Colleagues and Universities all over the world but if you are going to study at one of the Universities/ Schools in overseas countries, you need to take a look at their worldwide ranking. This is really vital as it’s not worth trying if you get a low ranking University and you will not get the appropriate education system and lack of essential facilities might affect your journey of study. On the other hand, high-ranking Universities are super duper expensive and most people can’t afford to study at those Universities. In Germany, most of the Universities are well-ranked Universities.
Scholarship Opportunities
In ASEAN Countries especially in Myanmar, DAAD Scholarship is very popular among Myanmar students because it fully covers all of the expenses which mean tuition fees, semester fees, living expenses, and everything. You would get totally free when you got the Germany Universities scholarship.
Low tuition fees
If you think you can’t get the scholarship, there is no problem because most of the public schools have very low tuition fees and also semester fees and other curriculum activities charges are very low as well which are almost free.
Snowfall
Last but not least, as her nickname is snow and she likes snowy countries, most of the areas are full of snow in Germany during the winter season.
3. How to find affordable schools in Germany?
Snow would like to recommend these three websites which are Bachelors Portal, DAAD, and My German University. Bachelors Portal and My German University are the essential websites for finding schools in Germany. The second one DAAD is very famous among international students and it is the official website that many people can recognize and find schools. When you visit the above-mentioned websites, you will see different filters such as semesters, tuition fees, countries, majors, languages taught in courses, and so on. If you can’t speak in German, you don’t need to worry because German classes also offer the English Language so you can choose classes that are taught in English Language.
4. What Will You Need to Get in?
Know your subject
Firstly, you have to know your subject like which kind of subject you are interested in and going to apply to, such as Engineering, Business, Finance and so on.
Language proficiency
The second point is you have to deeply know your Language proficiency like English or German.
Living costs
The third point is you have to discover in advance how much it will cost you to live in Germany. There are various living costs in Germany and the average cost is around 800 Euro to 1000 Euro for one month but it depends on the city you’re going to live in.
Application platform
The fourth point is you have to understand the system of application platforms and basically, there are two kinds of application platforms.
Semester circle
The fifth point is you have to decide in which semester circle you would like to enroll, like the winter semester or summer semester.
Application deadlines
The final point is you have to be aware of the application deadlines regarding the policy of your selected school/University in Germany.
5. Language Proficiency
In Germany, the local language is obviously German and most of the people who live in Germany only speak German even though they can speak English. Hence, you need to learn German as a compulsory language when you decide to live and attend University in Germany. Nevertheless, in the Universities and Colleges in Germany, you can choose a language like English taught courses or German taught courses. If you choose a German taught program to enroll in, you have to understand German in 4 skills as well as they will teach you with only German Language in class. That's why you have to attain German Language proficiency as B2 which is equivalent to the upper intermediate level of 4 skills in German.
For those who can’t speak German properly, there are also English Language taught classes. When you choose the English Language taught classes, they will ask you to provide one of the results from English Language proficiency tests such as IELTS or TOEFL. For the IELTS, you have to gain a minimum score of 6.5 and for the TOEFL, you have to acquire a minimum score of 80 but they are different according to the ranking of Universities and Colleges you chose. The higher ranking of the University, the more the minimum score of Language proficiency you will require.
According to Snow's suggestion, you should take the IELTS test rather than TOEFL test because they will request you to provide higher TOEFL marks than IELTS marks. She found out that some Universities accept IELTS 6 but they accept TOEFL 80 and above which is equivalent to IELTS 6.5 so they request higher TOEFL marks compared to IELTS. So, they should accept TOEFL 65 but they ask for 80 instead. That’s why IELTS is a better option if you’re going to apply to Universities in Germany.
6. Application platforms and Requirements
Some universities have their own online portals, where you can check the deadline about the application and easily apply for classes. Mostly, the applications have to be submitted through Uni-Assist because it is the official platform for applying to universities. When you submit your documents, you need to show the evidence of how long you took in University studies. The minimum requirement is 3 years. The applied major must be related to your previous studies. For example, if you are an engineering student, you cannot apply to business and finance majors.
7. Semesters
For German University, there are only two semesters, the summer semester and the winter semester. For the summer semester, most of the applications open around October and for the winter semester, the application opens around June. The school for the summer semester opens in March or April while the winter semester opens in September or October.
8. English Test Choices
Among the English Test Choices, Snow recommends taking the TOEFL iBT test because it is very reliable and if you have stable wifi, you can take the test anywhere you like. But she doesn’t recommend taking the Duolingo test because it is not reliable. Nowadays, Duolingo is very famous as it is quite cheap compared to IELTS and TOEFL tests. But she did take the Duolingo tests three times but they assumed she was cheating because she was wearing glasses. It was annoying and disappointed, so she doesn’t recommend it. If you would like to take the test, IELTS and TOEFL are the best options.
The following is the table for the cost, duration of each test :
9. Difficulties and Challenges
For taking the English Proficiency tests, in her point of view, the Reading section for TOEFL iBT has very complex sentence structures compared to others. For the listening section, they only play one time, the same as IELTS. For the speaking section, the TOEFL iBT test has a very low limited time, which is between 45-60 seconds, and it is really challenging while taking the TOEFL iBT Test.
10. Questions from attendees
Q: Is it possible to take the English TOEFL iBT test in a physical test center?
A: It is possible, but the test is almost the same as taking online, there will not be any teachers while taking the test.
Q: How much average tuition fees to study in German Universities?
A: Some public universities in Germany ask for 0 Tuition fees, but you might need to pay for other fees like semester fees, extracurricular fees, etc which are not very expensive.
Feel Free to Comment if you have any questions!
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