ISP PREREQUISITES | HOW TO CHOOSE COURSES | LEARNING AGREEMENT

HOW TO CHOOSE COURSES, COURSE REGISTRATION, PROOF OF COURSE CHOICE

• Offered courses: please find all bachelor level courses, offered in the English language** for your course choice here.
• Course registrations: no course registrations required prior to the mandatory ISP welcome and orientation period on campus
  Exception: pre-semester courses German as a foreign language [All incoming exchange students will receive further information from our university's International Programs Office]
• Proof of course choice: as a proof of of your choice of courses the ISP requires from all incoming exchange students a learning agreement. 
  please see details in the next section
   

THE LEARNING AGREEMENT ("LA")

• reflects your choice of courses as well as the expectations of your home university which subjects should be chosen at our school
• is a contract in which your study plan will be approved by both, your home university and Pforzheim University's Business School
• is last but not least the basis that the courses you’re taking at our school will be validated at your home university

- Before you'll arrive in Pforzheim

• you'll choose subsequently a set of courses you’re going to take at our school, documented in the LA.
• This LA has to be signed by you, approved and signed by your home university and finally approved by our school.
• European/Erasmus students: typically you use the online learning agreement (OLA) https://ewp-dashboard.eu/ or an equivalent online platform used by your home university; 
  in case of learning agreement forms, please use the ones of your home universities, alternatively you will find the forms on www.hs-pforzheim.de/isp/downloads
• Students from overseas: please use the learning agreement from your school, alternatively please use our form here.

-  During your stay in Pforzheim

• You might need to update your LA – for example in case of timetable conflicts. 
  In case of necessary updates, you will do that in the first week of lectures at our school. For the update, you would need again the approval of your home university and the approval from the side of our school.
• During the ISP welcome and orientation period, right before the beginning of lectures at our school, you will be familiarized with our timetable and receive further detailed organizational information.
• Proof of choice of courses: we expect all exchange students to submit a learning agreement, latest during the first week of lectures at our school.

- Minimum workload 

• Please note that the ISP expects you as an exchange student to register for courses worth at least 20 ECTS credits,
• please check with your home university, whether this minimum number is sufficient and – in case you are having a scholarship – complies with the subsequent scholarship regulations. 

- Maximum workload

• The ISP recommends a registration of courses, which corresponds to the standard European semester workload of 30 ECTS credits.
• We don't recommend, however we accept an additional workload of 20%, resulting in a maximum of 36 ECTS credits per semester; credits of the pre-semester course in German as a foreign language can be added to the 36 ECTS.
   

FURTHER ORGANIZATIONAL INFORMATION

Seat limits

• Please note that for certain courses, especially seminars, workshops and projects, the number of participants might be limited. These courses are indicated with “(s)” on  www.hs-pforzheim.de/isp/courses
• Participation in such courses usually requires separate online or e-mail registration right after the welcome and orientation period, additional information about these courses will be provided there.
• Due to the high number of courses offered, the time-table may not always allow students to attend the courses they originally planned to take. Several courses may be allocated to the same time slot.

*For students from non-business programs, we do have a set of courses offered in the English language available, which can be taken without the above mentioned prerequisites. Admission of non-business students to the ISP prior to agreement with our International Programs Office (incoming@hs-pforzheim.de).

**Although this website focuses on courses offered in the English language, exchange students are welcome to choose business courses offered in German, French and Spanish  provided they meet the necessary language skills [B2-Level according to the Common European Reference Framework (CEFR)] and the prerequisites for the respective courses.