Below is a brief description of the most relevant departments at our German and Austrian partner universities and their particular academic strengths. All programs offer credits that can apply to our major. Please contact the undergraduate advisor in Germanics, Professor Eric Ames , before you go abroad to discuss how your study abroad credits might apply to credits in the major. Double majors need to check with their other program adviser in advance to determine what courses might apply to the other major. For questions regarding the administration of the exchange, please contact IPE. Specific deadlines apply.
More information on these exchanges is available on the IPE web site. Follow the link to direct exchanges, choose “Germany” as the country you are interested in and scroll down to the specific university of your choice. You will find that these pages answer many of your questions.
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Freie Universität Berlin (FU Berlin)
German majors will find many interesting courses that apply directly to their program of study at the “Institut für Deutsche und Niederländische Philologie” emphasizing the philological and aesthetic aspects of the study of German literature, the “Institut für Allgemeine und Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft”, offering courses in comparative literature, the “Institut für Theaterwissenschaft” emphasizing the study of drama and performance and one of the highest ranked drama programs in the country, and many other academic departments located in the “Fachbereich Philosophie und Geisteswissenschaften”. The library for the language departments is one of the largest libraries devoted to the study of German literature and culture in Germany.
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Humboldt University Berlin (HU Berlin)
Interesting courses for our majors can be found at the “Institut für deutsche Literatur” and the “Institut für deutsche Sprache und Linguistik”, both part of the “Philosophische Fakultät II”. German majors should also check out the offerings at the “Institut für Kulturwissenschaft” that is part of the “Philosophische Fakultät III”, a department that has a fairly theoretical orientation in cultural studies and critical theory. All these departments are located in the center of Berlin near the main library, museums and exhibit halls, opera and theater, and other cultural attractions.
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Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin)
Even though the university as a whole is an institute of technology, it has a large and respectable “Institut für Literaturwissenschaft” where students can find many interesting courses on German literature in the “Fachgebiet Deutsche Philologie”. This might be the ideal location for a student who double majors in German and one of the science or engineering fields.
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University of Freiburg
The Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg is one of the oldest German universities and located in the sunny southwest region of Germany near Switzerland and France. German majors will naturally gravitate towards the “Deutsches Seminar” which is part of the “Philologische Fakultät” and where they offer courses on German linguistics, German literature from the medieval period to today. The Seminar also has its own library that is a great resource for students who need to do research for their papers. The staff at the office of exchange is very friendly and eager to help students select the right courses for their other majors. There is also a foundation that provides fellowships to undergraduate and graduate students on a competitive basis, the Landesstiftung Baden-Würtemberg. To find out more about this option, contact the staff at IPE.
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University of Heidelberg
The Ruprecht Karls Universität Heidelberg is, like Freiburg and Tübingen, one of the oldest universities in Germany, all of them located in the state of Baden-Würtemberg. Heidelberg is known worldwide as a tourist destination with its famous renaissance castle and picturesque downtown. Students in Germanics will find a diverse offering of language and literature courses through the Seminar für Deutsch als Fremdsprachenphilologie, especially in their Kurzzeitstudium which is targeted for exchange students. Students with advanced German have the option of enrolling in a year-long certificate program and obtain the “Zertifikat über Grundstudien in der deutschen Sprache und Kultur”.
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University of Münster
The Department of Germanics at UW has a long collaboration with the Universität Münster in terms of a graduate student and faculty exchange. Many of our graduate students have spent a year there teaching English at the Sprachenzentrum and we usually have two graduates from Münster teaching in our beginning language program. German majors will be interested in the courses offered at the “Germanistisches Institut” that is part of the “Fachbereich Philologie”. There is a separate library for the older German period and one for newer German literature that are great resources for students working on their papers. Münster is also very strong in training German high school teachers and offers a variety of course on teaching German language and literature through their “Abteilung Didaktik der deutschen Sprache und Literatur” .
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University of Tübingen
UW Germanics and the University of Tübingen have a long history of exchanging students, faculty, and other collaborations. Germanics majors will most likely drift towards the course offerings in the “Deutsches Seminar” that is part of the Neuphilologische Fakultät and has courses in linguistics, medieval, and modern German Literature. There is also a large library with primary and secondary sources in the same building as the seminars. Students who are not quite ready to take classes in German language and literature with German native-speakers have access to the offerings of the “Fortbildung Deutsch als Fremdsprache” , a program located in the international office and geared towards international exchange students.
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University of Vienna
German majors will find a large selection of courses at the “Institut für Germanistik” that is part of the Philologisch-Kulturwissenschaftliche Fakultät. The Department is located in the center of Vienna in the “Ringstrasse” close to cultural attractions and events. It has a large library where students can research their papers on German language and literature. Vienna has many cultural attractions and a very rich literary cultural infrastructure of which students can take advantage.
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