Master´s Theses Abroad

Usually, a language certificate is only necessary, if you are nominated by us and you subsequently have to apply to the partner university. For your application for the nomination for the AVT no formal language certificate is required, as long as your application does not give rise to serious doubt in this regard. As we are not directly concerned with the language certificate for the partner universities, we cannot name specific language certificates. Generally, there is a variety of possibilites to proof your English skills – an „Englisch-Leistungskurs“ is only one of them. If needed, an appropriate test (e.g. TOEFL or IELTS) can also be delivered later.

For the application for a thesis abroad with the AVT, we ask for your CV (in English), GPA of academic performances (all), high school graduation diploma and a letter of motivation (in English). If you are applying for multiple exchange programs at different universities abroad, please consider to write a separate letter of motivation for each of them. All necessary documents for your application to one university should be aggregated to a single .pdf-file and send directly to our email address.

All MoveOn applications are subject to the general conditions of the MoveOn portal. These include a text stating the subject motivation (max.2000 characters), one on the non-subject motivation (max.1500 characters), one describing own extracurricular qualifications (max.750 characters), as well as one explaining why one considers oneself a suitable representative of RWTH (max.750 characters). All these texts are to be submitted in English for the AVT exchange programs.

Deviating from this, if an application is made via e-mail, a separate letter of motivation of 1-2 pages should be submitted. This must also be written in English (exception: the cover letter for the CMU - this must be written in German and has a maximum length of one page).

The selection criteria of the AVT strongly comply with the criteria of the faculty (consult Kriterien der Fakultät).
The individual criteria are:

• Grade of preliminary studies resp. GPA of academic performances so far (Bachelor) resp. GPA of Bachelor Diploma (Master) as well as duration until graduation
• Your application (above all motivation, preparation, preoccupation with the university’s offers, optical impression, …)
• Extracurricular commitment

Consider, that you will be representing the AVT abroad; therefore a very good to good academic performance is implied.

The number of applicants varies reasonably. A reliable statement can therefore not be made concretely. Generally, we can always encourage you to apply.

You can receive progress reports, once you have been nominated for an AVT exchange program. We expect every participant in one of our programs to share her/his experiences in a progress report (2-3 pages, gladly more) after returning, so future students can benefit from your experiences. Since the faculty expects a progress report as well, the same report can be submitted for the AVT exchange programms.

The application proceeds in two steps. First, you will apply to us for a nomination. For this purpose, you need to send in the documents specified on the AVT website. In the next step, if you are chosen, your nomination is reported to the partner university. After that, you will have to apply directly to the university abroad as well. Depending on the university, there are different specifications and deadlines for this application; therefore, you will have to consult the website of the according university. This step will only be relevant after a potential nomination.

Negotiations between the EU and the UK regarding Brexit have not yet been finalized at the present time (January 2022). Nevertheless, student exchange with universities in the UK is possible in the academic year 2022/23. No tuition fees will be charged and financial support is also possible during this period. For a short stay of up to six months, no visa is required; for six months or more, you will need a visa.

The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) has set up a website showing the latest developments.