Studying in Dortmund as a refugee

The International Office of the FH Dortmund offers regular consultation hours for refugees who are interested in studying or who are already enrolled and studying at the FH Dortmund. For prospective students we explain the possibilities of studying at FH Dortmund. Refugees who are enrolled and studying at FH Dortmund can ask for support and advice on subjects like financing and studying in Dortmund.

In order to guarantee good and detailed advice, prospective students are asked to email the following documents with a telephone number to  fhdohilftfh-dortmundde 

• high school diploma,
• university diploma, if you have started or completed your studies somewhere
• certificates of German courses and integration courses,
• work certificates.

At the moment, counseling takes place via e-mail (fhdohilftfh-dortmundde), telephone (0231-91128187) and video consultation.

Open video consultation hour for prospective students with refugee background (Jennifer Bühsing): -Information will follow soon-.

Open video consultation hour for enrolled students with refugee background (Elisabeth Auinger):

Wednesdays from 11-12: 
https://fh-dortmund.webex.com/fh-dortmund-de/j.php?MTID=m4f5ed1ef696bba6c65d0165ddd942198(Opens in a new tab) 
Passwort: FHDOhilft

Missing language skills can be acquired within preparatory German courses at FH Dortmund. This enables a direct insight into everyday life at the university right from the start, as well as close support and supervision for prospective students with refugee background.

Since November 2015, FH Dortmund has been offering intensive German courses with 25 hours of lessons per week, which take place from 4 to 8 p.m. in the rooms of the departments of Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. The offer is aimed at refugees who would like to study in Germany and who are allowed to do so based on their previous educational biography.

Good knowledge of the German language is key to successful studies in Germany. For this reason, we offer certified German courses for prospective students with refugee background. The German course leads to the TELC C1 Hochschule exam, which prepare prospective students for their studies at a German university, and also integrate aspects of everyday student life. This special offer is part of the "NRWege ins Studium" program and is funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and awarded by the DAAD.

Since March 2016, FH Dortmund has received funding through the DAAD program "Welcome - Students support refugees".

As part of the project "Welcome - Students support refugees", student assistants within the university get involved with refugees. They conduct regularly scheduled meetings in the form of online meetings and accompany refugees who are in the process of preparing for entering university from a student perspective.

As part of the Legal Clinic, students at FH Dortmund advise refugees and our German course participants interested in studying at FH Dortmund on topics such as asylum law/residence law, asylum applications/procedures, Dublin procedures and much more.

More information about studying in Germany is provided on the DAAD website. 

Since March 2016, students of the Department of Applied Social Sciences have been advising new immigrants and refugees on a voluntary basis in connection with the courses of the "Legal Clinic" with regard to aspects of residence and social law. The counseling is offered in cooperation with the association "Hilfe für Menschen in Abschiebehaft Büren e.V.", where it also covers custodial law.

In cooperation with the Legal Clinic the International Office of FH Dortmund has integrated an additional and permanent offer for refugees interested in studying through funding from the DAAD program "Welcome - Students get involved with refugees". This offer is particularly focused on asylum law issues.

Please direct inquiries - with a telephone number where you can be reached - to: milcfh-dortmundde . You can also reach the Legal Clinic via Facebook(Opens in a new tab) .

"Fit für's Studium" and "Fit for life" are weekly online meetings for participants of the FH German courses, which are organized and conducted by a student assistant. In this way, the participants are supported during their time in the German course and introduced to studying at the FH Dortmund. The goal is to facilitate the path to studying at FH Dortmund.

Since the winter semester 2020/21, the International Office of FH Dortmund offers a Peer to Peer network. Peer to Peer is a network for refugees who are prospective or already enrolled students at FH Dortmund. The network is designed to facilitate new friendships and contacts. Through the exchange with the already enrolled students, the prospective students get the opportunity to learn from their very personal and similar experiences on the way to their studies. At the same time, the students act as role models and can pass on their tips and advice.

The Peer to Peer project facilitates a dialogue and is intended to form a fixed and sustainable structure in the transition between study preparation and study at FH Dortmund. At the moment, the network only takes place digitally.