Getting started at university

All first-year students can make their start at university considerably easier by taking advantage of the comprehensive range of courses available to them, including RUB‘s pre-courses, summer schools, buddy and tutor programmes.

In addition to these regular courses and programmes, RUB also offers courses especially for first-year international and refugee students.

Pre-courses

Generally all pre-courses take place each year before the start of the winter semester. However, some pre-courses are also offered online and are therefore available all year round. Please review the terms and conditions of registration on the websites listed below (most websites only available in German).

An overview of all pre-courses including links to the institutions offering them can be found on the Student Advice Centre website.

The general pre-courses by department include:

Department of Mathematics: Mathematical preparatory courses for Mathematics, Physics, Engineering and Natural Sciences students
Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology: Preparatory course for Electrical Engineering and Information Technology students
Medical Department: Preparatory course for Medical students
RUBBrücke: inSTUDIES online preparatory courses for students of languages, Mathematics, and Natural Sciences
Department of Economics

Pre-prep mathematics course especially for refugee students and applicants

This pre-maths course is a one-month block course that specifically addresses the needs of refugee students and applicants. Here they are given the opportunity to repeat mathematical basics as well as to extend their German language skills to mathematical terminology.

If capacities are available, the course is also available to other international students.

If you are interested, please contact us at studienberatung-mathe@rub.de

Detailed information can be found on the Department of Mathematics website.

Tutor and buddy programmes

In the tutorials of the individual subjects, higher-level students support first-year students. General introduction and accompanying subject tutorials help first-year students orient themselves in their respective subjects and to enter into an exchange with their fellow students.

An overview of all tutorials offered can be found on the Student Advice Centre website.

Programmes just for international and refugee students:

Buddy programme Natural.PALS

The buddy programme Natural.PALS facilitates a peer tutor programme by placing international first-year students of Natural Sciences with higher-level students of their department. International students benefit from individual and subject-specific support and establish initial contacts with their fellow students.

More Information