The German Course

(note: this information was valid in 2009, we are not sure if something has changed for 2010)

The German course ("Technical German for Engineers") is an intensive language course for students beginning their first year of PEESE with limited or no knowledge of German. It is taught by ZEMS (http://www.zems.tu-berlin.de/) which is the language department of the TU Berlin. It is a special course offered to PEESE students, 5 hours a day, 5 days a week, for around six months. If you are at the beginning of learning German, you will need all of these lessons in order to reach the level required.

The course is taught by Renate Klebe and Eliana Bislanis, who both work at ZEMS. In 2009, the course times were approximately:

Monday: 12:00-17:00
Tuesday: 8:30-12:00
Wednesday: 8:30-13:00
Thursday: 8:30-13:00
Friday: 12:00-17:00

This schedule was created to avoid conflicts with the other classes you can take (Energy Engineering, Energy Economics, and Optimization), which were (and still are) in the morning on Monday and Friday and in the afternoon Tuesday-Thursday.

In theory the classes should have started on October 18th, 2010, so if you are not attending, please try to find the course as soon as possible. It is not listed on the ZEMS website, but simply go to the Telekomgebäude (TEL building), to the 5th and 6th floors and ask anyone you find about the PEESE German course, or ask for Renate Klebe and Eliana Bislanis, and explain your situation.

Please be warned: they may be upset that you are coming late and show you that directly. Just stay calm and remember it is not your fault. Right now there is no administrator responsible with connecting you to them, so they are just as frustrated as you. Remember, your goal is to get into the German course.

Regarding money: This is not a free course and the price is comparable to other German lessons you would find in Berlin. Last year, students who took the entire German course paid 1250€. There is also the possibility to take the course starting half-way through if your German is sufficient enough, and pay less. In theory this money is used directly to pay the teachers, who are required by law to receive a certain amount for each hour taught. It is no longer clear who is responsible for receiving your money and distributing it to ZEMS, so you will have to explore this issue with the teachers. Finally, it is worth noting here that the course is not too expensive. The students of 2009 were concerned about the price, but when you consider how many hours the course is and calculate the amount you pay per hour, it is comparable, if not cheaper, to other German courses.

Getting your residence permit

When you arrive in Germany and are starting PEESE, one of the most important things you need to accomplish is to obtain you residence permit. Here I attempt to outline what is needed for this process.

___________________________________________________________________________

PLEASE NOTE: Visas and Residents Permits are a relatively serious issue, and in many cases your situation in Germany is completely dependent on the country you come from. As with all of the information on this site, please take this information as a starting point to finding your answers. There is no guarantee that this info is up to date or accurate.

___________________________________________________________________________

To begin, foreigners need a residence permit to stay in Germany for more than 3 months. This means you need one to complete PEESE. Residence permits to study are generally for 2 years and are issued by the foreigner's office in Berlin, called the Ausländerbehörde (http://www.berlin.de/labo/auslaender/dienstleistungen/).

Your status as a foreigner places you in one of two general categories:

1) those who need to apply for a visa before coming to Germany

2) those who can enter Germany without applying for a passport and simply get a stamp in their passport on arrival

You can determine which category you belong to by checking the internet for information on obtaining visas to Germany.

The procedure for getting your residence permit differs depending on which group you belong to. So I will briefly explain both.

a) FOR THOSE WHO NEED TO APPLY FOR A VISA TO COME TO GERMANY

after arriving in Germany with the visa you applied for in your passport you need to:

1) register at the Bürgeramt (info about that in another article)

2) open a German bank account

3) apply for health insurance

4) matriculate/enroll at the Campus Center at the university

5) print a bank statement showing you have at least approximately 8000€

6) bring passport and documents showing that you have completed steps 1-5 to the Auslanderbehörde.

b) FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT NEED A VISA BEFORE COMING TO GERMANY

1) register at the Bürgeramt (info about that in another article)

2) open a German bank account

3) apply for health insurance

4) print a bank statement showing you have at least approximately 8000€ in a German bank account. (Technically, you are required to have this money in a blocked account, which means an account that only allows you to take out around 700€ per month. However, in practice this requirement is not always enforced, and some banks even try to avoid creating such accounts.)

5) bring passport and documents showing that you have completed steps 1-4 to the Auslanderbehörde, as well as proof of acceptance to the university.

6) matriculate/enroll at the Campus Center at the university

The main difference is that for students without a visa, you cannot enroll at that university until you receive your residence permit. However, you have a limited time to enroll at the university (something like 2 weeks), and sometimes you need more time than that to complete the previous steps. If this is the case, you can go to the Campus Center and ask for an extension for your deadline to enroll.

The Auslanderbehörde has limited hours, and if you dont have an appointment, you usually need to take a number and wait in line. They only give out a certain amount of numbers every day, so it is best if you arrive early, even before it opens. However, there are other options. There is an office in the main building (Hauptgebäude) on campus where they take your documents and send them to the Auslanderbehörde. However, if you do this, you dont really have control over when they complete the process and give you your residence permit (and they take your passport, so you dont have it while you are waiting). There are also special opening times at the Auslanderbehörde for students, but they may not be on the website, so you will have to do some research to find out.

Administration of PEESE

In the 2010-2011 academic year, the PEESE program will have a new system for dealing with administrative issues. In the past, a PhD student working for Professor Wozny (one of the professors responsible for the PEESE program) was responsible for handling issues and answering questions related to PEESE. This PhD student was generally very familiar with common issues that PEESE students would have.

Starting in 2010, the position was eliminated, and the official administrators are provided directly by the university. The official administrator is Andreas Finze (http://www.tu-berlin.de/?id=36708). He is a bachelors student who holds limited office hours during the week and is trained to answer general questions. This means that it may be difficult to find answers to very specific questions or complicated scenarios.

If you are having problems, please ask the professors or students in charge of specific courses for help. There are also official guidelines and information regarding PEESE available at the Prüfungsamt (Exam office) and on the university online course website (www.isis.tu-berlin.de).

Questions

If you have specific questions that are not related to any of the posts we have written so far, leave a comment here with your question, and we will try to answer in a post.

Course List

Currently the structure of the PEESE course list is defined by modules and module lists.

1) a Module is a specific subject that you will study, and may include different courses pertaining to this subject, including lectures, exercises, and projects.

2) a Module List is a group of modules that share a common theme. The PEESE course list is divided into six Module Lists, and you will need to complete a certain number of Modules in each Module List.





Below is the translated version of the PEESE course list:
* means required course, E=taught in English, G=taught in German

Module List 1: Process Synthesis (min 12 points)
-Process Systems Engineering (3 points, E)
-Energy Engineering 1* (3 points, E)
-Energy Engineering 2* (3 points, E)
-Environmental Technology (3 points, E)
-Technical Reaction Management (6 points, D)

Module List 2: Process Simulation (min 12 points)
-Computer-aided Plant Design (CAP) (4 points, D)
-Process and Plant Dynamics (PAD)* (9 points, D)

-Process Simulation Project 1/2 (3 points, D)
-Thermal Modeling of Basic Operations (3 points, D)

Module List 3: Process Control (min 15 points)
-Fundamentals of Control Engineering* (9 points, D)
-Process Management (6 points, D)
-Process Safety Engineering (6 points, D)

Module List 4: Process Optimization (min 15 points)
-Design, Analysis and Optimization of Energy Plants (9 points, D)
-Fundamentals of Optimization (6 points, E)
-Thermal Design of Compression Refrigeration Machines (6 points, E)
-Process-related Environmental Management Methods (6 points, D)
-Optimal Experimental Design and Analysis (3 points, D)

Module List 5: Management (min 15 points)
-Environmental Management (6 points, D)
-Fundamentals of Workplace and Organizational Psychology (6 points, D)
-Fundamentals of Economics (5 points, D)
-Integrated Management (6 points, D)
-Energy Economics (6 points, E)
-Introduction to Intercultural Management (3 points, E)
-Working Techniques (6 points, D)

Module List 6: Intercultural Competence (min 16 points)
-Technical German for Engineers (16 points, D)
-Foreign Language at ZEMS institute (TU Berlin) (16 points)
-Intercultural Competence (6 points, D)
-Interdisciplinary Work (6 points, D)
-Interdisciplinary Communication (4 points, D)
-History of Technology I-IV (6 points, D)

Introduction

this blog is intended to help both applicants and new students to the PEESE program at TU Berlin who are looking for more information or answers to specific questions. Posts will be written in English in order to help the most people possible, considering that PEESE is a program that accepts students with no prior German experience.

please remember that there is no garauntee that the information posted here is either valid or current. Please use it only as a guide in finding the correct information.