Registration
Registration
As a rule, registration is required for all courses at the Language Centre. The Language Centre has its own administrative system for managing courses and grades, ensuring that all practical language achievements are recorded and certificates issued accordingly (Oktis). Unless stated otherwise, please register for language courses via this system.
Course registration is organised by language and location, and you can usually register for courses, up until the first week of the semester, provided spaces are available. All dates which have already been set can be viewed in Oktis once you have registered successfully.
Places are generally allocated on a first come, first served basis. Most courses have a maximum number of participants (a waiting list is possible).
Registration for students with prior knowledge of a language
Generally speaking, anyone who has prior knowledge of a language must take an automated placement test. General information can be found on this page.
Special arrangements apply for the following groups:
- Prospective students of English for Students of English and American Studies must complete the qualification assessment process.
- Preparatory courses in German are available for international applicants who want to study at FAU. You can only register for these courses once you have received your confirmation of admission from FAU.
Information on choosing and registering for courses according to language
German as a foreign language
You must register in person for German courses offered by the Language Centre, no matter whether in Erlangen or Nuremberg.
Students who have already received confirmation of admission to a preparatory German course (DSH course) from FAU have to sit a placement test before registering. Prospective students can register by 15 March for the test in spring and by 15 September for the test in autumn, using the registration form sent out by the Admissions Office. Please refer to the German as a Foreign Language website for more detailed information.
Students who are already enrolled at FAU (including exchange students) can register to take German courses alongside their degree. To register for such courses, students book an individual appointment online which they must attend in person. Please refer to the Department of German as a Foreign Language website for further information.
English
Students learning a language for academic or special purposes who want to or are required to attend an English course must take a placement test first.
In the Bachelor’s degree programmes in Political Science (as first subject) and Biology, all students must take a placement test.
As the test result is used to decide which level of course the student should attend, the test is not graded as ‘passed’ or ‘failed’. No grades or points are allocated for the placement test. After it has been corrected, students are given a ‘level’: E1, 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4.
The placement test may be repeated once, but only before the first course has been taken. As soon as one course has been taken, all other courses have to be attended in the prescribed order.
Registration for English courses for specialist legal language training and subject-specific courses (legal and business English) in the degree programme in Business Law takes place via StudOn.
Students should register via StudOn for English courses at the School of Business, Economics, and Society in Nuremberg.
Prospective students of English and American Studies have to complete the qualification assessment process. The qualification assessment process is an examination with several parts which prospective students of English and American Studies have to pass before starting to study. This process is not a placement test. It is an admission test which has to be passed for admission to a degree programme in English Studies or American Studies.
Students should register for the qualification assessment process online. Appointments are made available once registration opens. Appointments take place in the lecture-free period, generally at the end of July and the end of September.
French
Students without prior knowledge can register straight away in Oktis for elementary course I. Students who have learnt the language before must first take a placement test.
Students of French Studies require a knowledge of French equivalent to three successive years at school or level B1. They can then register directly in Oktis without taking a placement test. Students of French Studies who do not have the necessary proficiency in the language can attend French courses alongside their main degree programme. They are then treated the same as students of French for Academic and Special Purposes and must take a placement test.
Italian
Students who would like to take an Italian course alongside their main degree programme can register via Oktis. Students who have learnt the language before (e.g. at school) must take a placement test before registering. The result determines which level of course the student takes.
Students without prior knowledge should register directly and without a placement test for elementary course I. Places are allocated on a first come first served basis. Applicants on the waiting list should come to the first lesson together with those with have already been allocated a place.
Students of Italian Studies are entitled to a place in the relevant language courses. However, for administrative reasons it is still necessary to register via Oktis.
The examination regulations for the Bachelor’s degree in Italian Studies stipulate that students require proficiency in Italian equivalent to level A2 (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) before starting to study. Students must take a placement test to prove this level of proficiency. Intensive courses are generally offered before the beginning of the winter semester (September–early October) for prospective students of Italian who do not have the necessary prior knowledge.
Registration takes place in August. Please contact Paola Cesaroni Meinzolt if you have any questions or would like advice.
Spanish
Students who have no prior knowledge of Spanish should register directly for elementary course I via Oktis. If you have learnt Spanish before, you must take a placement test and then register for a course according to the results of the test. Students who have already taken a Spanish course at FAU and would now like to take the follow-on course do not have to take a placement test.
As a rule, it is important to register for a course in good time, as only 25 people can be admitted to each course. Up to five people can be added to the waiting list. Everyone on the waiting list should attend the first lesson together with everyone who has been allocated a place.
Students who would like to take a Spanish course at the School of Business, Economics, and Society in Nuremberg should register via StudOn. Places are allocated via a lottery.
The examination regulations for the Bachelor’s degree in Spanish Studies stipulate that students require proficiency in Spanish equivalent to level A2 (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) before starting to study. A placement test has to be taken to prove that students have this level of proficiency.
Students must register for language courses via Oktis. The registration system suggests suitable courses and students can register accordingly.
Any students who are native speakers of Spanish should contact José Juan Ventura Usó in good time before commencing studies.
Other languages
All information on other languages can be found on the department websites.
Registering for language courses at the Virtual University of Bavaria (Virtuelle Hochschule Bayern, vhb)
Several language courses are offered at the Language Centre based on material from the Virtual University of Bavaria. In such cases, in addition to registering normally as described above, you also have to register via the vhb website in order to be entitled to use the online material.
Fees
In general, courses offered by the Language Centre are free of charge for students enrolled at FAU.
The only exception to this are intensive courses for which a fee is charged. In addition, guest students and FAU staff have to pay a contribution as stipulated in the Fee Regulations of the Language Centre.
At present, the fees are
- €30 per semester hour for guest students and FAU staff
- €25 per semester hour for students for compulsory intensive holiday courses
Special regulations apply for preparatory German courses and for intensive holiday courses in German (see above).
NB: Extra fees are charged in this instance by the vhb for anyone who is not a student.