The best place to start your life in Germany

How to get to study in Germany? Double Degree program!

I entered the Faculty of Marketing and Logistics in Minsk and decided to read a brochure that tells about my faculty. And there was one line in which it was said about a joint double degree program between my university in Belarus and Hochschule Mittweida in Germany. But, in order to participate in the program, I needed to know German at the C1 level, and at the moment when I read the brochure, I only knew a couple of words in German.

And I thought: I have two years to learn German. As a result, I just started learning the language by attending language courses, watching movies, playing video games and reading books. I did it just for fun and the goal was quite abstract, because I was sure that you can’t just go to a foreign university, especially to a German one.

But, everything worked out quite well: I managed to learn German and got the C1 language certificate. From that moment on I started to ask my dean’s office and the international office about how I could participate in the program. To my surprise, there was no one else willing to participate. So I was simply told: „Here is a list of documents that need to be sent. Wait for confirmation and go to Germany.“ I quickly gathered all the necessary documents and sent them to the International Office of the Hochschule Mittweida. The answer came very quickly: I was sent an invitation I needed for the embassy, confirmation of the scholarship, and instructions on the next steps. 

And I wasn’t just thrown into the unknown: International Office provided me with a tutor who helped me with everything, both before I came to Germany and during my studies. So integrating into the new system was incredibly easy. In Mittweida I studied with a lot of guys who also participated in the dual degree program, just like me. For two semesters I lived and studied in Mittweida, while studying online in Belarus. In June 2020, I received my bachelor’s degree in Minsk and started looking for an internship in Germany. Since I spoke German well and had international experience, finding an internship did not become too much of a problem: within two months I sent out a lot of resumes, and eventually got an internship at BMW in Munich.

After completing my internship, I wrote and successfully defended my bachelor’s thesis and received my bachelor’s degree. In this way I was able to get to Germany.

Check out opportunities at your and other universities

Perhaps your university has similar cooperative programs. Check it out, because it’s the easiest way to study in Germany. Well, if you don’t know German and/or already have a Bachelor’s degree, you can apply for a Master’s double degree program. For example, in the university where I study, there is an English-language master’s program „Industrial Management – Innovation & Business Expansion“. One semester you study at a university in Eastern Europe (Belarus, Russia or Bulgaria), and the second semester in Germany. And then you do an internship, write a master’s thesis and, after defending it, get two master’s of European standard.