Language Requirements

Visiting students who wish to attend lectures offered in German should have at least B2-level.

Selecting Courses

The Osnabrück Department of Law offers a variety of courses ranging from lectures, practical preparation courses, seminars, colloquia and study groups. Most visiting students will want to search for an appropriate lecture.

Incoming students are encouraged to seek out advice from our office (erasmus@uos.de) before submitting their Learning Agreement.
Many courses are taught in German, and the more advanced courses might not be suitable for visiting students. 

• A list and description of all course can be found here.
• NOTE - courses with German titles are taught solely in German, courses with English titles are normally taught in English.

• A quick overview of courses offered in English can be found on our  Englischsprachige Lehre (courses offered in English) page.

• NOTE - the Law Department also offers courses in Spanish, French, Chinese and Polish as part of its foreign law program (see below). For further information contact the erasmus office.

Incomings and FFA

As mentioned above, the Law Department offers its students a voluntary, supplemental program called the Fremdsprachliche Fachausbildung (FFA) or Foreign Law Program.
This optional 2-year program offers students the chance to learn about a different legal system while improving their language skills. Legal systems covered in this program are the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Spain, Poland and China.

International students are allowed to attend these courses without any additional requirements, as long as they have knowledge of the respective languages.

More information on the FFA can be found on the FFA homepage.

ECTS Credits

In general, incoming/visiting students will not find any information on specific ECTS-credits for legal courses list above, as the German legal state examination is not based on the European Credit Transfer System.
Therefore, the School of Law has developed a modified system based on  Semesterwochenstunden (SWS) or “hours per week per semester”.

For merely attending a course the conversion is as follows:

1 SWS = 1 ECTS

2 SWS = 2 ECTS

3 SWS = 3 ECTS

4 SWS = 3 ECTS

5 SWS = 3, 5 ECTS

6 SWS = 4 ECTS

Attending a course AND passing an exam at the end of the lecture will be rewarded as follows:

1 SWS = 4 ECTS

2 SWS = 6 ECTS

3 SWS = 7 ECTS

4 SWS = 8 ECTS

5 SWS = 8, 5 ECTS

6 SWS = 9 ECTS

NOTE - students wishing to merely attend a course for credit must discuss with their instructor how this requirement can met at the beginning of the semester.

Types of Exams

Students should discuss with their instructor at the beginning of the semester (or earlier!) what kind of exam they will be expected to pass. Most courses taught in German have a written exam at the end of the semester that is given only in German.

Students may request an English exam (either written or oral) from their instructor at the beginning of the semester, but there is no requirement that such an exam be given.

Exams offered as part of the Foreign Law Program (FFA) can take various forms. Students are encouraged to speak with their instructor at the beginning of the semester to find out what exam possibilities exits.

General information: application, admission, housing, costs, language courses etc

You can find more general information on the website of the International Office of the University of Osnabrück, which is responsible for the general support of foreign students, like in matters of admission, housing, etc.
You may also find further information here.

Furthermore, the Language Center offers general and specific German courses especially for international students.

Semester dates

The general semester dates are as follows:

Winter semester: 1^st October – 31^st March

Summer semester: 1^st April – 30^th September

The lectures will usually start within the first two weeks of the term and end mid-February and mid-July respectively. At the beginning of each semester an orientation week will be offered.
Holidays are at Christmas (two weeks). Please check the exact dates at the homepage of the University of Osnabrück.