All Highlights of the Department of International Affairs 2006

ALumni iNTernational was started up in the winter semester 2006/2007. This network of the University of Hamburg is open to all its alumni, doctoral candidates and other international students. So you are invited to join your network. ALiNT enables international alumni to stay in touch with their alma mater, the University of Hamburg. Students and alumni can keep in touch and communicate. ALiNT also offers information and events, for example seminars like the one on job – relevant topics. These topics are specifically designed for the interests of international students. So now you know what ALiNT stands for - please join in. Homepage

The Foreign Office awarded the "Program for the Integration of Foreign Beginning Students" (PIASTA) at the University of Hamburg the "prize for excellent counselling and assistance to foreign students at German universities". More...

Each semester PIASTA offers extensive advising services for new international students at the International House, Rothenbaumchaussee 36. More... Check out the PIASTA-Café events taking place regularly during the semester! More...

Hamburg students can use the online accommodation platform bed&football to offer students from around the world a free place to stay during the World Cup and prove their cosmopolitanism and hospitality at the same time. Beds are still in demand. More info at: www.bedandfootball.org

Dr. Hellmann Pays Visit to the USA
The Head of the Department of International Affairs, Dr. Jochen Hellmann, had the opportunity to visit a number of colleges and universities in the USA as a part of a Fulbright Commission program organized by the Council for International Exchange (CIES). A burning question in many discussions was whether the three-year 'Bologna-Bachelor' degrees in Europe will fulfill the minimum entry requirements for US postgraduate programs. This question is extremely important for German higher education institutions for if considerable difficulties should arise in the equivalency arena, this could burden our BA-programs with an additional dilemma. Questions can be directed to: Dr. Jochen Hellmann.

Directly following the Fulbright program Dr. Jochen Hellmann traveled to Montreal to represent the University of Hamburg at the NAFSA conference.
NAFSA (Association of International Educators) is the most important association of its kind worldwide. The importance to which the topic of higher education internationalization is attached in North America was evident: approx. 7000 participants - most from North America - came to Montreal for the conference. Mehr...

The centralized and standardized Test für Deutsch als Fremdsprache ("Test for German as a Foreign Language", abbreviated TestDaF,has established itself nationwide as the language certificate forstudying in Germany. More and more prospective students in Hamburg arealso completing this exam at one of the city's five licensed TestDaFcenters. Whereas only 22 participants in Hamburg registered for theexam in 2002 (shortly after the German TOEFL's introduction), thisnumber increased to 431 in 2005. This summer "Interkulturelle BildungHamburg e.V." is introducing a compact and reasonably-priced TestDaFSummer School (July 24 - August 8, 2006) to immediately follow theUniversity of Hamburg's Preparatory Course. More...

Asa part of the PROFIS project the University of Hamburg is hosting aworkshop on May 19, 2006, on ''The Use of the 'anabin' Database for theEvaluation of Foreign School and University Certificates''. Staffmembers from the 'Zentralstelle für ausländische Bildungswesen' in Bonnwill present the legal basis for their evaluation suggestions as wellas practical tips for using 'anabin'. Faculty representatives from theUniversity of Hamburg who advise students on evaluation and recognitionmatters and/or are interested in learning more about differences ininternational education systems are invited to participate. Contactperson is Dr. Sophia Vietor