Important newcomer tips on the smartphone
Special app helps future students from abroad find their way around at TU Chemnitz and orient themselves faster in the city - available for download under: www.study-in-chemnitz.com/app
-
A link to the download section of the new app on www.study-in-chemnitz.com catches the eyes of everybody immediately. Photo: TU Chemnitz
Before students are enrolled at Technische Universität Chemnitz and visit their first lecture, there is a lot of paperwork to do. Especially international students are faced with particular challenges: they come into a new environment, are often not familiar with German university system, and mostly speak a little German. Nonetheless, they must register at the Resident`s Registration Office, open a bank account and a health insurance coverage. All this should better be done in the correct order. Only afterwards can the enrollment at TU Chemnitz be finished.
In order to facilitate this process for students from abroad, the International Office (IUZ) of TU Chemnitz has developed an app that provides everything you need. The core of this app is a section called `Getting Started´, with which the user is guided to enrollment. There is information on required documents, the opening times of the most important institutions and a map.
In the design of the App were involved international students of TU Chemnitz. They could express their wishes concerning what content and features should be necessarily included. Following on from these suggestions, was created a `Sprachhelfer´, a tutor, that offers audio files with the most important questions and phrases in German, and is to be found in the section called `Erste Schritte´. The app also includes a campus finder and a map of Chemnitz, some tips for places to see around in the region, as well as appointment calendar that lists events specifically attractive for international students.
"With this app, we want to provide our international students with even better service to integrate into student life at our university,” says Dr. Wolfgang Lambrecht, the Head of IUZ, and adds: "Since 2011 with the help of www.study-in-chemnitz.com we offer our target group comprehensive information on studying and living in Chemnitz. We can now complement our information perfectly with this app.”
The app is web-based and therefore available for all operating systems. Its basic functionality is also available in offline mode, if there is no hotspot nearby. Downloading the app is free of charge via http://www.study-in-chemnitz.com/app.
In design, IUZ was supported by two students in the areas of media communications and computer science. The technical conversion of the application was carried out by the agency my:uniquate GmbH in Chemnitz. "With this Study-in-Chemnitz App TU Chemnitz belongs to the forerunners among German universities and colleges,” explains project coordinator Annett Müller and adds: "Similar offers for the international audience has only Hochschule Bremen. And Universität Bielefeld has developed a dormitory dictionary together with the students of Bielefeld and has implemented this as an app.”
Both the website http://www.study-in-chemnitz.com and the app were part of the "Program to Promote the Integration of Foreign Students (PROFIN)”, in which the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) provided funds of the Federal Ministry of Education for education and research.
For questions concerning http://www.study-in-chemnitz.com, please talk to the project coordinator Annett Müller, phone +371 531-37922, or write an email annett.mueller@iuz.tu-chemnitz.de.
(Author: Mario Steinebach, Translation: Nataliia Boiko)
Katharina Thehos
09.04.2014
