Tips and advice

German

1. German Language Courses
2. Student Visa for Malaysia Student - Applying Procedures & Documents (contributed by Nydia Wong)
3. Language school in Hamburg (Recommended by: Loon Lee)

German Language Courses

If you have decided to stay in Germany and make this place your home for good or for the time being, you might be interested to learn the language. Attending classes help you not only to learn the language but also giving you a chance to get to know new friends. German would be the only language for students to communicate and to find out about one another backgrounds. You would be surprised how fast you could learn the language due to these reasons! Here are some tips where you could find language courses.

1) AStA (ALLGEMEINER STUDIERENDENAUSSCHUSS) from the universities
Course levers are from beginner till intermediate level
Course Fee : about 200 Euro
Duration : 11 weeks (200 hours)
AStA takes in limited numbers of students, if there are more students registered than available places, then a lottery system would be implemented. Grundstufe 1 (Elementary 1), no basic language knowledge is required Grundstufe 2 and Mittelstufe 1 courses, students are required to sit for an entry test before the course starts.
Information :

a) Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Intake: 4 times per year (Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer Course)
Office : Autonomes AusländerInnen-Referat AStA der Ruhr-Universität (SH 083) Universitätsstr. 150, 44780 Bochum
Tel: 0234/3226901 (Asta-Sekretariat: 0234/3222416)
Courses are available for all students.

b) Sprachkurse c/o AStA Uni Dortmund
Emil-Figge-Str.50, 44221 Dortmund
Sprechstunden : Wednesday 1000 - 1500 HRS
E-Mail: sprachkurse@asta.uni-dortmund.de
Website : www.asta.uni-dortmund.de

2) Volkshochschule
A community school, which can be found in every town.
Website(s): www.vhs.de
(Information available in only German)

3) Inlingua Sprachschule
This language school has branches in most of the cities and towns in Germany. I took a six months course at Inlingua Sprachschule Essen (1999-2000) and was satisfied with the teaching materials and experienced teachers there.
Lesson hour : 0800 - 1445HRS (inclusive of 1 hour lunch break and two coffee breaks, each took 15 Min)
Course Fee :about 260 Euro per month
Registration Fee : 22 Euro
Books: 22 Euro
(Please note the above information is not updated)
Website: www.inlingua.de (Information available in English), where you could find the address and location of the school near to where you stay.

4) Goethe-Institut www.goethe.de (Information available in English)
Located in bigger towns.

5) In Gelsenkirchen - You may want to consider this if you are in Gelsenkirchen or somewhere nearby and getting a certificate is not a must for you at the end of the course.
Städtische Abendrealschule Grenzstraße 3, 45881 Gelsenkirchen (Ecke Granzstraße/Overwegstraße, im House der Lessing-Realschule)
Tel: 0209 / 1692615
Lesson is in the evening and free of charge. If you have completed your German course and would like to recommend your language school to our new comers. Do email me and send me the school details.

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Student Visa for Malaysia Student (contributed by Nydia Wong)

Applying Procedures & Documents

All Malaysians must apply for a visa for study purposes via the German diplomatic representation in their home country (German Embassy in Kuala Lumpur). You must not under any circumstances travel to Germany on a tourist visa. A "tourist visa" cannot be converted into a "student visa" and as a tourist; you are not eligible to study in Germany.

Documents required: (might not be up-to-date)

• Valid international passport
• Passport Photos
• Graduation examination certificate and evidence of academic performance - results (SPM, STPM, A level, Bachelor and etc.). Which give you entitlement to university admission. Please check with University for admission qualifications and requirements.
• Proof of financial support - bank statements, fix deposits and etc.
• If possible, notification of admission from the university or language school.

Advisable: please call the German Embassy to confirm documents required again.

 

Upon arriving in Germany:

Once you received your student visa, do check for period of validation. Upon arrival in Germany you must register yourself in the local Resident Registration Bureau ("Einwohnermeldeamt"). This must be done within one week upon arrival (only if you are staying for more than 3 months and more). To do that you need a proof of where you are staying - rental agreement would be much prefers.

The next thing is a visit to The Foreigners' Affairs (Ausländer Amt) before your student visa expired. With your student visa, you need to apply for a resident permit ("Aufenthaltstitel").

Documents required: (might not be up-to-date)

• Valid international passport (must be valid for more than 6 months)
• Valid student visa
• Proof of health insurance ("Bescheinigung")
• Proof of financial support (your bank current account statements in Germany).
• Proof of admission from the university or language school.
• Completed application form (available at The Foreigners Affairs office.
• Copy of rental agreement or letter from landlord (to proofs your permanent address in Germany).
• Three (3) passport-size photos
• Application Fee
  

Please check with The local Foreigners' Affairs office again: they normally have a list of up-to-date documents needed for resident permit application.

It is advisable to bring along someone, who can speaks the German language.

For further and up-to-date information please check the following websites:

• http://www.daad.de/deutschland/en/2.3.3.html
• http://www.campus-germany.de/english
• http://www. (Your town name for example) bochum.de
  
  
  Language school in Hamburg
  
  Colon Language Centre
  
  http://www.colon.de/
  
  In Colon, students pay in general for intensive courses 370-400€ for one month (100 hours total) on top of that they organise city excursions, visits in museums, Rathaus etc, summer trip, trips to neighbouring cities, a weekly Stammtisch with teachers being there to interact with students, monthly movie evening... a very good learning atmosphere too as most of the airbus engineers for evening German courses, or exchange students from China and Korea... and since everyone pays for the lessons, they are really motivated to learn. Recommended by: Loon Lee Information regarding this language school is also available in English, Turkish, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, French and some other languages.
  
  
  

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