Student Buddy Program of the International Office of Chemnitz University of Technology No. 1 world-wide

International students awarded best grades to their university within the “International Student Barometer” 2018/2019

The Student Buddy Program of the International Office of Chemnitz University of Technology is the best student assistance program world-wide: This is the result of a ranking based on a survey between international students and PhD-students regarding their host universities within the “International Student Barometer” 2018/2019. About 200 universities participated globally, thereof 17 from Germany – among them Chemnitz University of Technology. The “International Student Barometer” (ISB) is a survey undertaken regularly by the agency “i-graduate” located at the United Kingdom. In total, twelve percent of the more than 3.000 international students and PhD-students of Chemnitz University of Technology took part. Thanks to their best grades, the student assistance program of the International Office was able to raise up to the top rank. The main objective of the Student Buddy Program consists on initiating tandems between international and TU-experienced students, preferably before the students from abroad start their studies at Chemnitz.

“I am extraordinarily delighted about this outstanding result. As open-minded and tolerant university, it is of great interest for Chemnitz University of Technology to support its international students the best possible. I am very pleased that we obviously were able to make it and that the international students are extremely satisfied with our offer for assistance” quoted Prof. Dr. Gerd Strohmeier, President of Chemnitz University of Technology. “I would like to make use of this opportunity to express my cordial gratitude to all the active and former student assistants and the voluntarily engaged students in the Student Buddy Program as well as to the responsible staff members of the International Office” said Strohmeier and continued: “By your engagement, you all have contributed to the fact that our international students do not only consider the Student Buddy Program as excellent but also voted for it as excellent.”

The Vice-President for Academic and International Affairs, Prof. Dr. Maximilian Eibl, considers this award also as an incentive: “The top-ranking of our Student Buddy Program proves that Chemnitz University of Technology disposes of an excellent offer for organizational assistance and support of social integration for its international students who meanwhile come from more than 100 countries. Now we would like to make use of this momentum to further develop our measures to assist the international students in their academic success which we have decided to implement within the participation in the Re-Audit (re-certification program) “Internationalization of universities” of the German Rectors’ Conference.”

Chemnitz University of Technology was also very successful in other categories of the “International Student Barometer”, like regarding the costs of living with rank 3, the room rents at the study location with rank 7 or the transport connection to the university with rank 12. In the last category, Chemnitz University of Technology was even able to make it to the top within the ranking of German universities, the same as regarding the access to the internet. Further leading positions were awarded to Chemnitz University of Technology in the German ISB-Ranking considering learning spaces (rank 2), IT-infrastructure (rank 3) as well as registration for studies and the constructional quality/ design of the campus (rank 4 respectively).

A propos: Student Buddy Program of the International Office

The start of studies often resembles to a hurdle race. For international students it is often even more challenging than for German students. In order to assist in managing this obstacle course, the International Office of Chemnitz University of Technology offers a special support program to international students in their first semester, f.e. new students are welcomed to Chemnitz University of Technology and accompanied in their first steps at the university and in the city. They can address to instructors and students of higher semesters who are at their disposal for answering questions regarding studies. They provide their fellow students i.a. with information considering the course of studies and give useful hints for a better orientation on the campus and in the City of Chemnitz. The Local Buddies also assist in the accomplishment of formalities and the consult of authorities, which are considerably facilitated by the accompaniment of a German student.

For further information regarding the Student Buddy Program of the International Office: mytuc.org/jrxc

(Author: Mario Steinebach / Translation: Wolfgang Lambrecht)

Matthias Fejes
17.05.2019

All "University News" articles