German Courses for International Students and Visiting Academics

The department Deutsch als Fremdsprache (USZ I ) (German as a Foreign Language USZ I) of the Universitätssprachenzentrum (USZ) (University Language Centre) offers free language courses for international students and academics of the Heinrich Heine University (HHU). The courses are intended for participants whose knowledge of the language range from elementary to advanced level. There is an obligatory placement test at the beginning of every semester to give you an idea of the level of your German.

You will find information about the following items here:

• Courses offered and conditions of participation
• Placement test
• Registration for the courses
• Admission to the courses
• Obtaining a certificate (with additional rules for Erasmus students and students following other programmes)

Courses offered and conditions of participation

In order to attend the courses, you have to be a student at the HHU (to be verified by means of your student card) or an academic (visiting academic) at the HHU (to be verified by means of a letter from your institute).

To enable us to determine your current language level, you also have to take the obligatory placement test. After that, it is possible for you to register for courses at your level in the following fields:

General language courses:

• Elementary Level (A1 and A2), Intermediate Level (B1 and B2) and Advanced Level (C1)

Higher level courses:

• German Culture (B1/B2 and C1)
• Phonetics (B1/B2 and C1)
• Academic Speaking Skills (C1)
• Academic Writing Skills (C1)
• Academic Listening Skills (C1)
• Business German (B2/C1)
• Preparatory course for TestDaF (C1)

The courses are in-sessional, i.e. they take place during the general lecture period of the university, and classes, either two or four hours, are held weekly. Courses currently being offered can be found in  HISLSF.

A German-English overview is available as PDF download:
 German Courses in summer term 12

Placement test

In the 2012 summer semester, the obligatory placement test will be held between 9.00 h and 12.00 h on Friday, 5th April 2012 in Building 25.31, lecture room 5K. The test takes approx. one hour. Admission is on a continuous basis, i.e. you can come and take the test at any time between 9 and 12 am. There is no need to register for this test, please just come along to the room. You will get the result of your test on the same morning and also information about the level of the courses at USZ I you can take.

Exceptions:

You can go to the courses without taking the placement test:

• If you wish to take an Elementary Level Course 1 (Grundstufe 1) (A1)
• If you have already taken a course and passed the final test. You can then take a course at the next level up. Please take the certificate with the grade from your previous course to the first class and show it to your teacher.
• You can take the advanced level courses if you have proof of at least DSH 2 or Test DAF TDN4, or have successfully completed an Intermediate Level II Course (Mittelstufe II) at USZ I. Please take the appropriate certificate with you to the first class and show it to the teacher.

Registration

Registration via  HISLSF is required for all students. Registration takes place between 06.04.and 30.04.2012, after the placement test.

Academics of the HHU without a matriculation number should report to the teacher at the first class.

To enable as many people as possible to take part in the programme, you should only register if you are seriously interested in attending the course on a regular basis and participating actively in it. To ensure this, personally attending the first class of the selected course is imperative. Otherwise, it is possible that you will be excluded from your course. Please note that registering for a course is not the same as admission to the course. Please only register for courses corresponding to the result of your placement test.

Admission to the courses

After checking that you have registered for a course corresponding to your level, the course teacher will admit you in the first few weeks of the semester. When you register, it is possible that the course you have chosen is full because the maximum number of participants has already been reached. In this case, you can attend a parallel course instead - if such a course is offered for that particular level.

Acquiring a certificate

In principle, one Credit Point per semester hour (Semesterwochenstunde – SWS) is awarded for attending a language course at USZ I.

The conditions for granting Credit Points are as follows: regular attendance, active participation in the lessons, completion of homework and also successful participation in the final examination of the respective course. Further details about this can be found in the detailed course description in HISLSF or from the teacher in the first lesson. Apart from Credit Points, a mark is given but this has no influence on the number of Credit Points. Taking the examination at the end of the course is part of the proper attendance of a USZ language course. If you do not take the final examination or do not pass it, an informal confirmation of participation in the course can be issued on request. In this case, there will be a remark on it that you did not take the examination or did not pass it.

The following additional rule applies to ERASMUS students or international students from other programmes:

If more than the above number of Credit Points is required by the foreign university, these additional points can be awarded for additional course achievements (e.g. written homework, topical presentations or the like). These additional points, which are intended for the foreign university only, are specified separately on the certificate of achievement and added to the basic points. A total of not more than two additional points per course can be acquired in this way, in the case of 2 SWS (semester hours) that means a maximum total of four. A mark is also given for the additional achievement and this is incorporated in the total mark.

Further information

Studiengebiet Deutsch als Fremdsprache
Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf
Universitätsstraße 1, Geb. 23.31/R. U1.69
D-40225 Düsseldorf

 Map/How to reach us

 daf@phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de

  +49 (0) 211 / 81-12946 
  +49 (0) 211 / 81-11340

Current opening times of the DaF office can be found  here.