Selecting Courses and Recognition of Coursework and Examinations

Upon application

When researching possible host universities, you can find out about the courses offered before the current course catalog is available by checking the courses courses held in past semesters as well as by reading the reports of former exchange students. Be sure to check whether courses that match your degree program in Mannheim are or have been offered.

After your placement has been confirmed

As soon as you know which university you will be attending, selecting courses becomes more concrete. In the semester before your stay abroad, get in touch with your department and let them advise you on the courses offered by your host university and whether they can be recognized for your program in Mannheim. Make sure to conclude a Learning Agreement containing the courses you are planning to take and the confirmation of their recognition by the department. This document is your guarantee that the courses you are going to take abroad will be recognized when you return to Mannheim. So make sure not to loose it.

Learning Agreements

Almost every department has developed its own Learning Agreement forms. It is best to check with your competent departmental exchange coordinator.

If you are going to take part in an Erasmus program, you need to use the so-called Erasmus Learning Agreement form, which the International Office will provide you with via the Mobility-Online platform  following your successful application. Due to technical reasons, the Erasmus form has a slightly different structure than the Learning Agreement forms provided by the departments. You might have to fill in both forms. The departmental exchange coordinators can provide further information.

During your first weeks abroad

It is likely that you will need to make changes to your course selection after your arrival. For example, two courses may take place at the same time or the number of participants is limited and you have not been admitted to the respective course. In this case, you can change your course selection and have the new course(s) confirmed and documented in the Learning Agreement by your department.

After your return to Mannheim

As soon as you have received your Transcript of Records, the certificate containing the courses you attended and the grades you earned, from your host university, you can request the recognition and conversion of the credits you obtained abroad with the examination committee of your department.
You will need:

• Your Learning Agreement signed by the competent department in Mannheim
• An original Transcript of Records stamped and signed by the host university or a transcript verified by the International Office. To this end, the host university must send the document as a digital file to transcriptsmail-uni-mannheim.de. The verified transcript will then be made available to the examination committee in digital form and you will be notified. If the host university only provides transcripts via an online portal and you are NOT able to send your transcript directly to us via the portal, please send a message to transcriptsmail-uni-mannheim.de. We will let you know how you can have your transcript verified.
• Depending on the department you may also need a form for requesting the recognition of your coursework and examinations completed abroad: On this form, you can list the credits you want to have recognized.
• A confirmation that you have submitted your report. You can download the confirmation from the Mobility-Online portal.

Conversion of grades

The examination committees of all schools work with standardized tables. The conversion tables for the grades obtained for coursework and examinations completed abroad are provided in ILIAS.