German Language Courses for International Visiting Scholars and Doctoral Students

Overview

What courses are being offered?
Who can join the courses?
When do the courses take place?
What ist the course fee?
Can I get a certificate?
How do I register?
What do course participants say?

1. What courses are being offered?

general language courses for all levels ranging from A1 (absolute beginners) up to C2 (advanced learners), comprising 60 45-minute classes in the course of a lecture period

2. Who can join the courses?

scholars at Heidelberg University (postdocs) and/or their partners
doctoral students at Heidelberg University and/or their partners
in limited numbers: members of Max Planck Institutes
in limited numbers: Lehrbeauftragte of Heidelberg University
in limited numbers: Non-scientific staff at Heidelberg University

3. When do the courses take place?

Classes take place as online video conferences during the →lecture periods on Tuesdays + Thursdays, 6:00 to 7:30 pm.

☀

Dates for the summer semester 2023
online placement test*	Wed,	Apr 12 2023	06:00 pm
*obligatory only if you did not attend last semester's courses with us		access via our →homepage (top orange box)
e-mail notification with your course assignment and access data	Sun,	Apr 16 2023	08:00 pm**
**Or sooner. Please also check your spam/junk folder. If you have not received an e-mail by that time, please contact: gastwissenschaftler@isz.uni-heidelberg.de
first classes	Tue,	Apr 18 2023	06:00 pm
final day of classes	Thu,	Jul 27 2023

❄

Dates for the winter semester 2022-23
online placement test*	Tue,	Oct 11 2022	06:00 pm
*obligatory only if you did not attend last semester's courses with us		access via our →homepage (top orange box)
e-mail notification with your course assignment and access data	Sat,	Oct 15 2022	08:00 pm**
**Or sooner. Please also check your spam folder. If you have not received an e-mail by that time, please contact: gastwissenschaftler@isz.uni-heidelberg.de
first classes	Tue,	Oct 18 2022	06:00 pm
no classes	Dec 22 2022 to Jan 06 2023
final day of classes	Thu,	Feb 16 2023

4. What is the course fee?

The course fee is €185.00 per person. You will receive detailed payment information after your registration.

5. Can I get a certificate?

This is a not-for-credit course without tests or exams. If you do not miss more than 6 classes, you will however receive a non-graded certificate of regular attendance at the end of the course.

6. How do I register?

Please register again for this semester's courses even if you attended a course in the previous semester.

Start of the registration period:

☀ summer semesters

March 01

❄ winter semesters

September 01

Scholars at Heidelberg University (Postdocs) and their Partners

To register for the German language courses, you first need to register online with the →Welcome Centre.

If you are already registered with the Welcome Centre, you can sign up yourself (and your partner) for the German courses via the Portal for International Scholars: Log in → select “German language courses” in the column on the left → click “register for this event” at the end of the page.

For questions, please send an e-mail to welcomecentre@zuv.uni-heidelberg.de.

Doctoral Students at Heidelberg University

Please register online via the website of the →Graduate Academy.

For questions, please send an e-mail to ga-isz-deutschkurs@uni-heidelberg.de.

Partners of Doctoral Students at Heidelberg University

Please register via e-mail directly with the International Study Centre, providing us with the following information:
(1) your full name
(2) your partner's name, university institution, and university e-mail address
(3) information on your current knowledge of German (courses completed, certificates obtained, etc.)

Registration and contact: gastwissenschaftler@isz.uni-heidelberg.de

Members of Max Planck Institutes

Places for members of Max Planck Institutes are limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

Please send an e-mail to the Welcome Centre: welcomecentre@zuv.uni-heidelberg.de

If you are both a Max Planck Institute employee and (going to be) a doctoral student at Heidelberg University, please register as a →doctoral student via the →Graduate Academy.

Lehrbeauftragte / Non-scientific staff at Heidelberg University

Please register via e-mail directly with the International Study Centre, providing us with the following information:
(1) your full name
(2) your university institution and university e-mail address
(3) information on your current knowledge of German (courses completed, certificates obtained, etc.)

Registration and contact: gastwissenschaftler@isz.uni-heidelberg.de

7. What do course participants say?

Original e-mail feedback (courtesy of the course participant):

Zurück zu vor fast 4 Jahren, als ich den ersten Deutschkurs an der Uni besucht hat, wollte ich gleich nach dem ersten Unterricht aufhören. Damals habe ich es zu schwer gefunden, dass nach langen Arbeitszeiten noch am Unterricht teilzunehmen. Aber du war super nett, eine schöne Email zu schreiben, um mich zu ermutigen, den Kurs weiterhin zu besuchen. Für mich war es eine der besten Entscheidungen während meiner Doktorarbeit, mich für den Besuch von Deutschkursen zu verpflichten. Nicht nur mein Deutsch verbessert sich deutlich, sondern auch für einen Ausländer wie mich haben die Kurse mir die Chance geboten, außerhalb der Arbeit nette Menschen kennenzulernen und auf jeden Fall neue Freunde zu finden. Ich werde auch *** danken, die eine großartige Lehrerin ist. Sie hat uns sehr geholfen, uns miteinander zu verbinden, und eine schöne Atmosphäre zum Deutschlernen geschaffen. Ich muss zugeben, dass ich ziemlich viel Unterricht verpasst habe und nicht genug Zeit damit verbracht habe, hart Deutsch zu lernen. Auch wenn ich sehr gut weiß, dass ich noch viele Dinge verbessern muss und viele Fehler in der Verwendung von Deutsch mache, insbesondere beim Sprechen und Schreiben, freue ich mich, dass ich bereits auf einem bestimmten Niveau auf Deutsch unterhalten kann.

Four years ago, when I had my first German course at the university, I was going to quit right after the first class. Back then, I found it too hard to join classes after a long workday. But you were so kind as to write a nice e-mail to encourage me to continue attending the course. For me, it was one of the best decisions while writing my thesis to enrol in the German courses. Not only is my German improving significantly, but the courses also offered me, as a foreigner, the chance to meet nice people outside the workplace and to make new friends for sure. I’m also going to thank ***, who is a great teacher. She helped us a lot to connect with each other and created a pleasant environment for learning German. I have to admit that I missed quite a lot of classes and did not spend enough time studying hard. Although I know very well that there are many things I still have to improve upon and that I’m still making many mistakes using German, especially in speaking and writing, I’m glad that I can already have conversations at a certain level.