Student Exchange in Europe

Within Europe, a semester or year abroad is straightforward to arrange through the Erasmus+ program. All 27 EU member states are involved, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, and Turkey. Faculties and universities in these countries sign agreements with partner universities that let students and researchers study abroad in a related field without having to pay tuition fees. In addition to the partnerships mentioned here, other faculties and the RUB International Office also offer partnerships.

Topics on this page:

The Erasmus Collaborations of the Faculty of Computer Science

Partnerfaculty:
School of Engineering

Number of places per academic year:
2 places for a maximum of 10 months

Language skills:
English B1, French B1

Recommended study programs:
Suitable for bachelor’s and master’s students of Applied Computer Science, Computer Science, and IT Security.

Programs and courses offered at the partner university (examples):
Bachelor’ program in “Computer Science” und master’s program in “Computer Science”.

Partner faculty:
School of Informatics (FIB)

Number of places per academic year:
2 places for a maximum of 5 months

Language skills:
English B1/B2, Proof required (e.g., DAAD language certificate)

Recommended study programs:
Suitable exclusively for master’s students of Applied Computer Science, Computer Science, and IT Security.

Programs and courses offered at the partner university (examples):
English-language master’s program in Artificial Intelligence and other English-language courses in areas such as data science and cyber security.

Experience reports:
Experience report from WiSe 2023/24 (available in German only)

Partner faculty:
Polytechnic School of Engineering Gijón

Number of places per academic year:
2 places for a maximum of 10 months

Language skills:
English B2
Spanish B2 (for courses in Spanish only)

Recommended study programs:
Most suitable for bachelor’s students studying Applied Computer Science and Computer Science.

Programs and courses offered at the partner university (examples):
Bilingual bachelor’s program in „Computer Engineering in Information Technologies“

Partner faculty:
Informatique, Mathematiques et Mathematiques Appliquees (UFR IM²AG)

Number of places per academic year:
10 places for a maximum of 10 months

Language skills:
English B2, Proof required (e.g., DAAD language certificate, document by Faculty of Computer Science)
French B1

Recommended study programs:
Suitable for bachelor’s and master’s students of Applied Computer Science, Computer Science, and IT Security.

Programs and courses offered at the partner university (examples):
English-language courses in areas such as computer science, operations research, and cyber security.

Experience reports:
Experience report from WiSe 2023/24 (available in German only)

Partner faculty:
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture

Number of places per academic year:
2 places for a maximum of 6 months

Language skills:
English B2, no proof required

Recommended study programs:
Most suitable for bachelor’s and master’s students of Applied Computer Science and Computer Science.

Programs and courses offered at the partner university (examples):
English-language courses in the bachelor’s program in Computer Science and the master’s program in Computer Science.

Partner faculty:
Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering

Number of places per academic year:
1 place for a maximum of 12 months

Language skills:
English B2

Recommended study programs:
Suitable for bachelor’s and master’s students of Applied Computer Science, Computer Science, and IT Security.

Programs and courses offered at the partner university (examples):
English-language courses in the bachelor’s program “Software Engineering and Information Systems” and the master’s programs “Data Science in Computer Science and Engineering“, ”Security, Cryptography and Coding” and “Internet Technologies and Cyber Security“.

Partner faculty:
Faculty of Science – Institute for Computing and Information Sciences

Number of places per academic year:
2 places for a maximum of 10 months

Language skills:
English B2, proof required (e.g. certificate by FFI)

Recommended study programs:
Most suitable for bachelor’s and master’s students of Applied Computer Science, Computer Science and IT Security.

Programs and courses offered at the partner faculty (examples):
English-language bachelor’s programs in “Artificial Intelligence” and “Computing Science”, as well as english-language master’s programme in “Computing Science”.

Partner faculty:
tba

Anzahl der Plätze pro Studienjahr:
2 places for a maximum of 9 months

Language skills:
English B2

Recommended study programs:
Most suitable for master’s students of Applied Computer Science, Computer Science and IT Security.

Programs and courses offered at the partner university (examples):
English-language master’s programs “Informatics” and “Information Security“.

Partner faculty:
Faculty of Science and Technology

Number of places per academic year:
2 places for a maximum of 6 months

Language skills:
English B2, no proof required

Recommended study programs:
Most suitable for bachelor’s and master’s students of Applied Computer Science and Computer Science.

Programs and courses offered at the partner university (examples):
English-language master’s program in Data Science.

Experience reports:
Experience report from WiSe 2023/24 (available in German only)

Partner faculty:
IT, Computer Science and Information Systems

Number of places per academic year:
2 places for a maximum of 6 months

Language skills:
English B2, no proof required

Recommended study programs:
Most suitable for bachelor’s and master’s students of Applied Computer Science and Computer Science.

Programs and courses offered at the partner university (examples):
English-language bachelor’s programs „Business and Information Systems“ und “Information Technology” as well as english-language master’s programs „Information Technology” und „Digital Transformation“.

Partner faculty:
Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science

Number of places per academic year:
2 places for a maximum of 5 months

Language skills:
English B2, no proof required

Recommended study programs:
Most suitable for bachelor’s and master’s students of Applied Computer Science and Computer Science.

Programs and courses offered at the partner university (examples):
English-language courses in the field of computer science.

Partner faculty:
Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering

Number of places per academic year:
2 places for a maximum of 10 months

Language skills:
English B2

Recommended study programs:
Suitable for bachelor’s and master’s students of Applied Computer Science, Computer Science, and IT Security.

Programs and courses offered at the partner university (examples):
Englisch-language bachelor’s programs „Computer Science and Engineering“ and “Information Processing Science” as well as master’s programs “Computer Science and Engineering” and “Software Engineering and Information Systems”.

Partner faculty:
Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences

Number of places per academic year:
6 places for a maximum of 5 months

Language skills:
English B2, no proof required

Recommended study programs:
Suitable for bachelor’s and master’s students of Applied Computer Science, Computer Science, and IT Security.

Programs and courses offered at the partner faculty (examples):
English-language bachelor’s programs „Data Science and Analytics“ and “Computer Science and Engineering” as well as master’s programs “Computer Science and Engineering”, “Data Science” and “Cyber Security”.

Application requirements, documents, and deadlines

The information provided here apply to the above-mentioned Erasmus collaborations of the Faculty of Computer Science. Please contact the respective faculty for information on application requirements and deadlines, if you are interested in exchange programs offered by other faculties.

A semester or year abroad is particularly suitable if you have settled well into your studies with us. Therefore, you should have successfully completed at least 60 credit points with us or study a master’s programme at the time of your application. In addition, our partner universities have various language requirements or recommendations. Please refer to the tabs above for information on the respective universities.

To apply for our Erasmus places, please send the following documents in a single PDF file to cs-international@rub.de:

  • A letter of motivation (one to two pages) that explains why you want to study abroad (academic and non-academic reasons) and contains a short description of your current study situation and future study plans, the semester in which you would like to study abroad, and three possible universities of choice (in order of preference).
  • Tabular resume (CV)
  • Verifiable transcripts of your bachelor’s and master’s studies (the latter only if you are already studying a master’s program, of course).

Applications for winter semester 2026/27 and the summer semester 2027 can be submitted until January 15, 2026.

Funding and further information

Studying abroad is not always cheap and needs to be financed. The Erasmus+ program offers two forms of assistance for students in this regard. Firstly, any tuition fees at partner universities are waivered. Secondly, participating students can apply for a mobility grant and are usually awarded one. Top-ups are also possible in certain cases.

  • is a partial scholarship, i.e., it does not finance the entire stay abroad but is intended to cover the additional costs incurred compared to studying at home.
  • Can be received for a maximum of twelve months per study phase (Bachelor’s, Master’s, doctorate). The amount of the scholarship depends on the country you are traveling to, further information can be found on the website of the International Office.
  • can be complemented by a lump sum for mobility that depends on the distance to your country of destination.
  • may have to be repaid if you earn fewer than 15 credit points during your semester abroad. However, if there are good reasons for this (e.g., illness at the time of the exams), you will not usually have to repay the scholarship.
  • Green Travel: If you travel at least 50% of the way there and/or back using environmentally friendly means of transport, e.g. by train instead of by plane, you can receive additional funding. The amount of this additional funding depends on the number of travel days and the distance traveled.
  • Participants with fewer opportunities: Students who, for example, have a disability or chronic illness, are first-generation academics, or students with children can receive an additional subsidy of 250 euros per month (as of summer semester 2025). However, if several of these points apply to you, you will not receive a multiple of this amount each month.
  • You can find more information on the possible top-ups on the website of the International Office.

In addition to financing your stay abroad, there are of course other organizational matters to consider. We will discuss most of these with you once you have been accepted for an Erasmus place with us. However, it is important that you find out about the semester dates at your desired university in advance. The semester dates at our partner universities sometimes differ greatly from ours, so good planning is required. You can find the semester dates of the partner universities by searching for the respective university and the keyword “Academic Calendar.”

Please also note that you must discuss with us which courses you will take while studying abroad and how they can be recognized by us before you go abroad. Therefore, it may be useful to look at the courses offered at your desired universities when selecting them. We will discuss everything else with you once your exchange university has been determined.