Robert, USA, ISP study semester & practical term
“I liked my experience at Pforzheim Business School to none other. Not only is the faculty excellent and the classes informative and interesting, but also I made valuable connections that have opened great opportunities for me in my career – including an internship semester at one of Germany’s strongest global enterprises.”

Facts & Options

• Pforzheim University is located between Stuttgart and Karlsruhe in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, which is Germany's most innovative region.

• Well over 1000 students of Pforzheim University spend one semester in a company every year. All of these mandatory internships of minimum 100 working days are supervised by our university and are an essential part of our bachelor curricula. During the internships, our students are not taking courses.

• More than half of all students write their mandatory final thesis in cooperation with a company.

• 70+ companies are actively recruiting on campus every semester.

More and more international exchange students from our partner universities add a practical term* in Germany to their study abroad period at our school. Pforzheim University’s International Study Program is appreciating and supporting this development 

• The ISP management will provide information and documents for all interested exchange students from our partner universities at the beginning of the study semester at our school.
• Our Career Center colleagues provide detailed information on how to apply for internships in Germany and support our international students in preparing their application documents.
• The Career Center is running a database with internship – as well as thesis and job – options in Germany for students, being enrolled at our school.
• Validation into the ISP record: International exchange students at Pforzheim University, enrolled in the ISP, will be allocated 30 ECTS credits for a successfully completed practical term into their ISP record.

Formal legal frame: 

1. the practical term for our incoming exchange students in the ISP frame is always voluntary 
   – and based on beforehand approval of their home universities.
2. Students stay enrolled at Pforzheim University's ISP program.
3. Visa: the student visa is sufficient (there is no working visa necessary)
4. Contract: the contract is done between the company and the ISP student.
5. Duration: minimum 100 full-time working days. [On demand: 60 full-time working days]
6. Module: “VPT1190 Voluntary Practical Term (minimum 100 working days)”, 30 ECTS credits  
   [“VPT1191 Voluntary Practical Term (minimum 60 working days)” 15 ECTS credits]
7. Please note: a second practical term is on formal legal reasons not possible.

Alternative option to an internship semester – applying for a job as a working student ("Werksstudent")

Sometimes it doesn't work out to find an internship semester – an alternative could be to apply for a job as a working student (in German: Werksstudent).

Formal legal frame: 

• Students are working at a company up to a maximum of 20 hours per week.
• Students stay enrolled at Pforzheim University's ISP program and are taking courses parallel to the job as a working student. 
  The potential amount of credits depend on the amount of hours – in case of working 20 hours per week, students should not take more than 15 ECTS credits
• Visa: the student visa is sufficient (there is no working visa necessary).
• The ISP program is supporting this format is well, however we do not allocate ECTS credits on working student jobs.
  – the regulation is the same as for domestic/degree seeking students at our school.

* On formal legal reasons, we use “practical term” for the one semester full time voluntary practical experience of our exchange students versus the mandatory ”internship semester” for degree seeking students at our school.