Welcome Exchange Students!
TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology (Governance Department) welcomes incoming exchange students to the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Our international student advisors support exchange students studying at TUM - typically for a semester - from our international exchange partner universities. We are here to help you meet your academic goals, get settled in Munich, and support you throughout your time at TUM, Governance Department.
Institutional Setup
If you have come across the names TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology and Hochschule für Politik München (HfP), you may have wondered about our institutional setup. HfP is an autonomous institution enjoying the legal status of a public body. When in 2014 the Bavarian parliament in a landmark decision made Technische Universität München its new host university, this transferral paved the way for HfP to redefine the discipline of political science in a way to incorporate TUM's expertise in the natural sciences and engineering into the curriculum. HfP's newly founded corresponding faculty, the TUM School of Governance, became TUM's 14th department in 2017. At the end of 2021, the TUM School of Governance became the Deparment Governence of the TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology. In addition to offering classical courses in the core areas of political science, we train our students to focus on the interactions of politics, economy, society, and technology and are dedicated to educating a new generation of political scientist in cooperation with different TUM departments.
Virtual Tour
Would you like to explore Technische Universität München? You can take a tour just using your smartphone or tablet!
Winter Term: 01.October-End of March
Summer term: 01.March-End of September
General Dates and Deadlines you can find here.
In order to be eligible to apply to TUM, you must first receive nomination for a spot on an exchange program by your home university.
Once you are nominated by your home institution, you can apply directly at TUM. After that your application documents will be checked and decision about acceptance will be made. In the final step, you will receive your acceptance letter from the TUM Global & Alumni Office. The time frame for the notification depends on which semester you will spend at TUM: in December for the summer term, in July for the winter term.
More information about application process you can find here.
If you are planning to attend courses at TUM in English: Verification of your English skills – B2 level is requested
If you are planning to attend courses at TUM in German: Verification of your German skills - B2 level is requested
If you are planning to attend courses at TUM in German and English: Verification of your German and English skills is requested
The certificate can be issued by your home university or by a language school. Self-assessment tests without signature of the home university cannot be accepted.
Current timetables for the winter semester usually go live around mid-September, while timetables for the summer semester are typically available around mid-March.
As professors update the focus of their classes to reflect current trends and course times change from one semester to the next, our overarching objective is to train a future generation of political scientists with an understanding of tomorrow's key technologies. So take a look how that shapes our module offerings and what that holds in store for you!
Bachelor´s program in Political Science is taught in German (B2 level is requested). There are only several courses in English. Master´s program in Politics and Technology is taught in English (B2 level is requested).
Bachelor incoming exchange students are allowed to take some Master´s courses if no previous knowledge is required. This information can be found in course description.
Please note that our module codes all start with the letters "POL" (for political science) followed by a 5-digit module number. Higher module numbers often mean higher level classes. The courses at TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology (Governance Department) usually contain of two seminars (or lecture and seminar; or lecture and exercise). You must take both (seminar one and seminar two; or lecture and exercise) in order to receive credits for the course.
Course schedule for Bachelor's Program in Political Science
Course schedule for Master’s Program in Politics & Technology
International exchange students are allowed to take courses from other TUM departments (if no previous knowledge is required and the courses have free study places). Please note that at least 60% of the courses must still be taken at TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology (Governance Department).
Course registration usually begins one week after the courses are published in TUMonline.
Course schedule for the Bachelor´s program in Political Science you can find here.
Course schedule for the Master´s program in Politics and Technology you can find here.
At TUM you must register for the examinations and for the courses separately. Here you can find an instruction for the exam registration and course registration. Both of them you must do via our internal system: TUMonline.
(SET_2020_Folien_Tumonline_EN.pdf): https://wiki.tum.de/display/docs/Students
General information about important dates and deadlines can be found here.
Please note that the registration deadline for courses at other TUM departments may differ. Please inform yourself about the registration deadline directly in TUMonline or on the homepage of the respective department.
Please contact our international coordinator Ms. Ekaterina Riembauer concerning questions about the learning agreement: international(at)gov.tum.de.
Please clarify with your home university if you need a certification of your stay signed by a TUM representative and if so, your home university will provide you the form.
Certification of your stay
If your home university requires a certification of your stay signed by a TUM representative, please contact our international coordinator at TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology (Governance Department) Ms. Ekaterina Bondarenko: international(at)gov.tum.de.
Certification of your departure
This certification will also be signed by your TUM department representative after your final academic activity, e.g. last exam, end of courses.
Transcript of Records
You will receive a grade for every examination taken at TUM. The grade will be entered in TUMonline by the departments / professors. As soon as everything is complete, you will be able to print out the transcript directly from your TUMonline account. This will still be possible after you have been exmatriculated and you have returned to your home country.
Doing an exchange semester at a new university could be challenging. Therefore TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology (Governance Department) offers a buddy program for supporting international exchange students during their studies at TUM If you want to receive a buddy, please send an e-mail to our international coordinator Ms. Ekaterina Riembauer: international(at)gov.tum.de.
TUMinternational (or TUMi for short) is the orientation and support program for new international students at TUM. TUMi provides support for new international students at the beginning of their studies in Munich and offers a comprehensive program of cultural activities throughout the semester. The program is aimed at international exchange and full-time students at TUM.
More information you can find here.