FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions
Updated: 19.05.2011

I have a strong interest in doing the winter 2010/11 master degree in architecture at the Brandenburg Technical University and have had first-hand information of the good conditions and the quality of the learning environment offered in Cottbus which raised my interest in the university. Is there any official ranking?
The BTU Cottbus is ranked on the first place to study architecture in Germany this year – within the last years, the BTU Cottbus was always one of the three best german architecture educations. See the CHE ranking results 2010 ranking.zeit.de/che2010/en/rankingkompakt.

The Architektur Studium Generale degree is a Master of Science degree; in achieving this, is one able to be a practicing architect?
To be accepted as a practicing architect, in europe, you have generally to work about at least two years after the first accepted university degree. The master degree of cottbus is an international accepted master degree. Regarding the usual carreer, the degree ‚Master of Science’ is the second step within the education to be accepted by the architectural associations of the countries – after having achieved the first step, the bacholor degree in architecture or a diploma. In Germany, after the university degree you have to cover all working levels in practicing, see the fee structure for architects and engineers of your country and the conditions of your association, see alos the Unesco, UIA directive.

Is the travelling costs contained in the Tuition fee of 1.800€ per semester? What does the tuition fee cover?
No, the traveling costs are not contained in the tuition fee. The tuition fee covers special costs of the education programme, like final exibition, guest critics, partly the teaching costs, a publication of the master symposium and results, etc.
To detail: The amount of the tuition fee per rotation will be shared into 3 pieces:
(1.) 50% to cover the administrative costs of coordination and the extra teaching costs of the programme of the mother institution BTU – there are some special and new elements within the programme to cover (in comparison with the normal architecture master programme).
 (2.) 33% to give to each partner university, being responsible for one workshop for expenses of extra costs (to complement the teaching stuff, to coordinate the workshop team, for the exibition of the workshop after six weeks, guest critics etc.).
(3.) 17% to take the costs of the final conference, publication, final presentation and german language crash course.

When the tuition fee is to be payed?
With the accreditation – and each semester, in march and august.

What additional fees would this degree engage, like administration fee...?
To explain the administration fee, which you will have to pay one-time each semester, when immatriculating: the first and the last semester of the four semester all together, you will have to pay 220€. This includes the accident insurance, the fee for adminstration of immatriculation, the student union, and – this is really important – a ‚semester ticket’, covering all public transport (bus, tram, train, subway) in Cottbus, Berlin and Brandenburg, the federal land of the BTU. In the two semesters, you are in other countries, you have to pay less 101,45€, the actual price of the semester ticket.

What about the living costs for accomodation, travelling costs i.g.?
You have to calculate the normal student living expense.
The costs for accomodation is different in accordance to the prices of student accomodation in each country, but in general around 250€ per month. The accommodation will cost between about 180 € and 450 € – it depends on local circumstances and the room occupancy rate. In the first year, the cost of accommodation was an average of 250 €.
To have a daily warm meal in the university mensa, this will cost around 70€ per month. To continue with your health insurance, within Europe, this is about 60€ per month. You should apply for an european card of your health insurance in your mother country.
The traveling costs are up to your individual planning. You may travel together with some students in an old VW Bus, but you can also travel by bike or by first class flight. As the whole programme is organized in advance for you in detail, we think, it will be important for your experience, to explore different ways to voyage.

Are there special scholar ships for the master programme?
For the moment, all partner universities of the new programme are establishing scholar ships for students of the participating universities. There are some scholarships for european studies – depending on which nationality you are, you may apply for. If you come from another country / university as of one of the seven partner universities, you may be informed by our university, the office of international affairs. look here: www.tu-cottbus.de/btu/en/international/scholarships.html.

Do i have to organize the accomodation on my own?
The reservation of accomodations is organized by the partner universities in advance. The booking of the accommodations is in the responsibility of the class – supported by the university administration of the partner universities. The occupancy of the rooms will be differ from single rooms to multi-bed rooms  – dependent on the availability and cost of accommodation.
In Cottbus, we need the names of the applicants at the end of july, to reserve the student appartments. Those, who apply later, will be supported individually, when arriving in Cottbus. We have a Welcome point at the BTU, office of international affairs, starting on 15th of september.

I understand that there is a prerequisite of one year of work experience which I do not have in the domain of architecture, although I have worked  in other fields (computor business).
Just send your recommendations of the work experience - we will consider, if the work experience is helpful for your career in architecture. As our job is really wide ranged, lots of different experiences may be reasonable within the fields of construction, architecture, engineer, urban planning, design offices, artist’ s ateliers or politics of planning.

With regards to grades that I will have acheived during this year of ERASMUS exchange, I do not beleive they will reach the criteria of A or "very good", although they are not poor. My Architecture project has been graded by my host university although the final grade will be given by the teachers in ENSAPBX. Also in ENSAPBX the benchmark for grades is low compared to other schools in the European Union. Would this be taken into consideration?
We take into consideration your indiviual portfolio on the one hand - and the grade on the other. Both is not necessarily the same, and as we are an artistic and scientistic discipline; we have to diversify the idea of excellency, to bear in mind that the different institutions have different cultures and reputation.

Is there a teacher, guiding  the students throughout the whole 8 workshops?
There is one of the teachers elected to be the mentor of one class, who will guide through the workshops. This person is elected by the examination board of the programme. The „Reiseuni_lab“ is the network of teachers, realizing the programme. The names you find at the study schedule on the web page.