Back

Application for Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou

Chemnitz for SYSU exchange students

SYSU students have written enthusiastic reports about their exchange experience, read anonymised reports: A, B; CC, GL, FQC, FYX, SZZ, TBY,  YLC, YW

The advantage of Chemnitz is that

• costs of living are relatively low (similar to China), compared to other cities (like Munich or Cologne) in Germany
• the Department is very international, so you make friends from Spain to Turkey,
• the city has only 240.000 inhabitants and the university less than 12.000 students, so you get to know many people quickly.

SYSU students apply at their home university first and to Chemnitz later

Officially, exchange students have to hand in the following 4 documents through their departmental coordinators to Prof. Josef Schmied by June 1st:

• Application form for exchange students (Full-time MA applications for 2 years need this form)
• Based on the Models: BA Study Plan (winter term), the BA Study Plan (summer term) or the MA Study Plan (winter term), the MA Study Plan (summer term)
  and the current Course Descriptions, an individual Learning Agreement
• Short curriculum vitae/resumé (2 pages) plus thesis area/proposal (if available)
• Certificate of previous study achievements (Transcript of Records by SYSU).
  You do not need a TOEFL/TEFL certificate, but if you choose practical English classes, you do a placement test to get the classes you need.

After acceptance by the Dept, documents will be forwarded to Central Admissions and International Office (IUZ) that helps applicants to process all documents and sends out official invitation letters for the visa application.

• Confirmation of registration

if they wish

• Application for a room in a student residential home
• Registration for language and cultural studies courses

I hope that Chemnitz MA students can act as their "buddies" and help them to find their way round - maybe they can pay a return visit to SYSU in Guangdong later.

SYSU students can come for 1 semester, Oct.1st to February 28th, or a whole year to July 31st. To come 2 weeks earlier is an advantage because you get a German preparation class and several fresher events organized by the International Office and Student Representatives (StuRa).

Placements/Internships/M.A. thesis study visits for Chemnitz M.A. students at SYSU in 2018:

Since international interships are more and more important, I hope that the observation and practice of teaching English and German to Chinese MA students is a wonderful opportunity to combine work and travel. A good time would be mid-September to December, but also later, February to June. Apart from a convincing CV, I also need a detailed lesson plan for "Essen in Deutschland" (for the German class B1 level) and "Modals in English and German from a (Systemic) Functional Perspective" (for the English class C1 level), for example. This opportunity should be used to collect data or an MA thesis in TESOL or Chinese English. Afterwards I can give you the name of a student and the name of the Prof. of German, with whom you can work out all the details from living expenses, accommodation to teaching duties.

Joint teaching and e-learning:

We are planning a joint (creative) writing class with SYSU and an American university. Join in and practice your intercultural communication.

If you are interested in going to China, either to study or do an internship, let me have your project proposal well in advance (so that we can secure suitable on-campus accommodation).

Josef Schmied