Semester Abroad

Select a faculty and read the experience reports. We will also be pleased to establish contact to students who have stayed abroad.

It may also be useful to download our checklist for a semester abroad.

	Design and Art				Minden Campus
	Engineering and Mathematics				Social Sciences
	Bielefeld School of Business				Health

Already know where you want to go? Then check whether your faculty has a partner university in your destination country (see faculty overview in the downloads).

Good to know: At a partner university, you will normally not have to pay any tuition fees.

Once you have found a university, check the following points (Tip: universities often have a special website for incoming students):

• During which periods do lectures and examinations take place? (As a rule, German lecture and semester periods differ from those of universities abroad!)
• Which courses could you attend there?
• In which languages are the courses taught?

You can specify up to three partner universities in your application. Please make sure to also take a closer look at your second and third choices.

Could not find a match among our partner universities? You can also apply to other universities as a freemover.

In many cases, academic achievements from abroad can be recognised for your studies at HSBI. If they are not recognised, the courses attended abroad can be listed in your degree certificate upon request.

It is best to check with your faculty whether courses attended abroad will be recognised before you apply for a study place.

You should also discuss with your academic programme director which semester is best suited for a semester abroad and whether it makes sense to postpone modules to a certain semester for the purposes of recognition.

Faculty of Engineering and Mathematics – Information on practical project & BAföG
Students from the Faculty of Engineering and Mathematics can replace the mandatory practical project with a semester abroad. If you consider this, please make sure to take into account any effects that this may have on the length of your studies and your entitlement to BAföG (see Merkblatt Auslandsstudium IuM).

We recommend you get a rough overview of the costs of your semester abroad in advance (see checklist).

The good news is that there are many funding programmes and scholarships that offer financial support for your semester abroad. However, do pay attention to the application deadlines!

Some scholarships can also be combined, e.g. Promos + Mobility Grant, Erasmus+ Green Mobility Grant or “Auslands-BAföG” + most scholarship programmes.

Once you have clarified all points, apply for open exchange places at our partner universities.

The application periods are:

• 1 December 2025–31 January 2026 for the winter semester of 2026/2027 and/or the summer semester of 2027
• 1 May 2026–30 June 2026 for places in the summer semester of 2027 that were not allocated in the first round

Once you have applied, you will find further information on planning and organising your semester abroad here.