IncomingInternational Visiting Professors

At Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences, there are several opportunities for teaching staff to undertake short term teaching projects. Here’s an overview:

Blockweek in the Faculty of Business Management and Social Sciences

During the "Blockweek", all regular classes stop, and both students and teaching staff concentrate on special projects. Blockweeks can have different shapes, e.g. an intensive seminar, a case study, a workshop, a short project, or even an excursion or field-trip.

For more information, please have a look at this document.

Project Week in the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science

The Project Week is part of a module "Project Management". Groups of Student work on a given problem and have to come up with a solution within one week. On the Friday of that week, they will exhibit their project to the interested public. Visiting professors are welcome to participate in the week. For further details, please contact .

Blockweek in the Institute for Communication Management

A part of the "Studium Generale", the Blockweek in the Insitute for Communication Management is an opportunity for visiting professors in the fields of journalism / public relations / media to teach on our Lingen Campus. For more information, please contact

International Summer Lab

The International Summer Lab in the field of Food Production / Food Technology welcomes professors from abroad to participate in the program. If you're interested in making a contribution, please contact the Academic Director of the program.

International Summer University

The International Summer University with its broad offer welcomes contributions from international visiting professors. For more information, please contact the Academic Director of the program.

At Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences, we feel that involving visiting professors from our international partner universities into our teaching, is an enrichment to students, domestic professors, and international visiting professors altogether. Also, we encourage our own professors to teach a semester or year abroad.

There are several possible models to pursue such an endeavour.

Direct Exchange

One possible way is to simply exchange one's workplace for a semester or year while both universities continue to pay their own professor's salary. Of course, this works better in some subject fields than in others. Currently, the best way to find an exchange partner at Osnabrück UAS is in the fields of business management and economics. Many courses in these fields are taught in English, and thus, exchange partners from abroad do not need to speak German fluently. If one does speak German fluently, though, many other fields may offer opportunities for a direct exchange.

Professors from abroad who would like to teach a semester at OS UAS should enquire with their colleagues from Osnabrück to find out whether a direct exchange might be an option.

Funding by the DAAD

Another option would be to try and receive a DAAD grant as an international visiting professor. Under the so-called "Gastdozentenprogramm" ("visiting professors' program"), visiting professors can receive sponsorship for a period of time between three months and two years. In this program the German institution applies for the funding.

This document gives you a short overview of the program.

The academic year at Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences is divided up into two semesters. The winter semester is the first term of the academic year and lasts from September 1st to February 28th. The summer semester is the second term and lasts from March 1st until August 31st. The picture below shows you when international activities are possible.

Every module description contains information on

• the frequency with which the class is taught
• the content of the class
• the intended learning outcomes (please note: the description of learning outcomes is level-based, levels 1 to 3 will be found in modules that belong to bachelor programs, levels 4 and 5 will be found in modules that belong to master programs)
• the literature to be used in class
• the method(s) of assessment

Currently, module descriptions are available in English for those modules that are also taught in English. Descriptions of modules that are taught in German, are currently not available in English. If you are a member of a partner university and need a module description in order to affect a learning agreement, please turn to your contact person at Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences.

Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences (UAS) offers bachelor and master programs in many academic fields. Their structure is the same for the entire university.

Bachelor Level

At Osnabrück UAS, almost all bachelor programs consist of 6 semesters, a few consist of 7 semesters. Every semester has a workload of 30 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System, for a more detailed explanation, please go to the section Workload/ECTS) and students receive the bachelor’s degree when they have completed 180 ECTS (or 210 ECTS in the 7-semester-programs).

Each semester consists of 6 modules of 5 ECTS each. The module structure differs from subject field to subject field. For example, the basics for the engineering programs are taught in modules that combine lab work with class work and usually a written exam. The basic modules in the field of business administration consist of lectures, homework, and a written exam.

The last semester of each bachelor program consists of a practical / project phase and a bachelor thesis. At the very end of each study program, the last hurdle is the defense of the bachelor thesis.

Master Level

All consecutive full-time master programs comprise 4 semesters of 30 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System, for a more detailed explanation, please go to the section Workload/ECTS) each. Students receive the master’s degree when they have completed 300 ECTS altogether (bachelor program + master program).

Each semester consists of 6 modules of 5 ECTS each. The module structure differs from subject field to subject field, and so does the mode of examination. Students will have a mixture of presentations, group work, a final paper, a written exam, or an oral exam.

The last semester of each master program is devoted to the master thesis. The thesis can be written on a practical project or on a theoretical subject, and is worth 30 ECTS. Students have 5 months’ time to write, and one more month to defend the thesis.

Grades in Germany range from 1.0 to 5.0, with 1.0 being the best grade possible.

The grading scheme of the Hochschule Osnabrück usually comprises five levels:
(with numercial equivalents; intermediate grades may be given)

The minimum passing grade is “Ausreichend” (4.00) = Pass.
Verbal designations of grades may vary in some cases:
„bestanden“ meaning “pass”; „mit Auszeichnung bestanden“ only for excellent results “with distinction”.

Professors of Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences use more than 40 different methods and (even more combinations thereof) to assess the performance of students in class. They largely depend on the subject field but also on the study level. The different assessment methods can be grouped in three overall groups:

• written
• oral
• practical

Which methods are used in a specific module, will be announced in the module description. The ones that are used very frequently, are: written exams at the end of the semester, term paper, oral presentation, oral exam, and project report.

At Osnabrück UAS, all credit points are ECTS credit points. ECTS is the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System in which one credit point equals 30 hours of work. This work-time could be spent in class or in a lab (contact hours), in the library/at home (homework), in a student working group (group work) or during an exam. The module description which is available for each module gives you an overview of the estimated distribution of time you will need to successfully complete the module.

Of course, in some subject fields, students have to participate in a certain amount of field trips, there are practical project phases, and further forms of learning.

By participating in the ECTS system, it is easier for us to transfer and acknowledge credits to and from all universities that participate in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and therefore use the same credit point system.

When our students spend a semester abroad at a partner university outside the EHEA, we compare workloads as well in order to be able to give them fair recognition for what they did abroad.

The quality of our teaching and learning is one of our priorities, and we take several measures to ensure it.

Accreditation

All our study programs are accredited. The accreditation certifies a qualitative standard to each study program. This standard has been determined under the framework of the Bologna Process on the European Union level.

Every 5 to 7 years, each study program goes through a process of accreditation / re-accreditation. Hochschule Osnabrück will not start a study program unless is has received its certification through accreditation.

Evaluation

All modules and all organizational entities that provide services are subject to evaluation at Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences.

Modules are evaluated every year in the middle of the semester. The teachers receive the evaluation results and are bound to have a feedback round with the students who evaluated the module. Whether the results are published is at the jurisdiction of the faculty in which the module is taught.

Services providers (e.g. the Central International Office, the Career Center, the library) are evaluated every three to five years by all stakeholder groups. For example, the Career Center is not only evaluated by students, but also by companies they may work with. All service providers are bound to publish the results on their websites.

You have agreed to teach in one of our short term projects? First of all, that is a great decision!

Block-/Project Weeks

If you're coming to teach in one of our block or project weeks, we will try to place you in a hotel nearby or in the university guesthouse that is located on the Caprivi Campus.

The university guest-house has 18 rooms with 24 beds, and community-kitchens that allow you to fix a continental breakfast. The kitchens are equipped with microwave ovens but do not allow for cooking extensive meals. We therefore advise you to eat lunch in the student restaurant ("Mensa" when staying there.

Please contact the International Faculty Office for your subject field about accommodation opportunities.

Summer and Winter Programs

If you are coming for a summer or winter program and will be staying for three or four weeks, we will try to find you accommodation in short-term rental apartments nearby. The Westerberg area has several options to offer that are all ideally located between the Caprivi / Westerberg Campus and the city center. Please contact the coordinator of your respective summer or winter program to enquire about accommodation options.

If you have agreed to teach at Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences for a semester or an academic year, we will support you with finding accommodation.

Please inform us of your stay as early as possible so that we can start looking for you. There are some options in Osnabrück that are suited to the needs of international visiting professors, however, they are very limited, and the longer in advance we can make a reservation for you, the better.

For enquiries about accommodation options, please contact your respective International Faculty Office.

In Germany, almost 100% of children three years and older attend "Kindergarten". In comparison only 47.2% of two-year-olds, and 25.9% of one-year-olds attend child care institutions. Whereas it was common 30 years ago, to take care of one's children at home until they reached the age of three, this is changing nowadays.

If you have agreed to come to Osnabrück as a visiting professor for a semester or two, and would like to bring your children, finding child care might be an important issue for you. At Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences, we do not have our own child care center. But of course, we will support you in your efforts to find adequate child care. We have a Family Service Center where Ms. Jessica Thye and Ms. Christina Vorreiter are your contact persons.

In order to help us help you, please inform us of your stay in Osnabrück as early as possible. The longer time you give us search for a placement for your children, the better the chances for success.

The Family Service Center can best be contacted by e-mail to j.thye@hs-osnabrueck.de as well as to c.vorreiter@hs-osnabrueck.de

At Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences, we receive between 30 and 40 international visiting professors per academic year. Most stays are very short and do not last longer than one week, several visiting professors support our summer programs and stay for three weeks, and a few even stay for a semester or academic year.

There are different sponsorship programs that can help finance these stays.

Erasmus +