Institution

Pädagogische Hochschule is a friendly campus that has around 3000 students. It is one of several colleges in Karlsruhe, and its proximity to other college students makes it a great place to meet German friends and improve German conversational skills.

Main features include:

- “Buddy system” to help international students adjust to German life
- International Club organizes activities for German and non-German students
- Cake and coffee parties for international students throughout the semester

City of Karlsruhe

Karlsruhe is a pleasant city in southwest Germany with about 250,000 citizens. Its transportation system is very advanced, with fast trains running from Karlsruhe to Heidelberg, Stuttgart, Strasbourg, and Basel. Students may purchase a reasonably-priced pass (Studikarte) for the intercity tram-train (Stadtbahn Karlsruhe). The city of Karlsruhe provides study abroad students with free semester-long train tickets for intercity and regional trains. There are many activities in Karlsruhe, including going to the movies, dining, going dancing, shopping, and hanging out with other students.

Program in Brief

The study abroad program in Karlsruhe is an ideal program for students wishing to improve their German communication skills. The university is centered around the teaching profession, so all classes are oriented toward training future teachers. The university staff is helpful and friendly, and teachers are generally very willing to work with study abroad students to provide projects based on the individual student’s German language level.

Academic Program and Areas of Study

No prior knowledge of the German language is required for students entering after the spring semester 2010. All PC students will begin with an intensive six-week German language course based on the student’s German level (there are beginner courses for students who have never taken German before). After the language courses, students are then allowed to choose courses from other disciplines. Students who wish to take classes in English may take classes in the English and/or social science departments. Students wishing to take classes in German have more flexibility with course offerings and may choose from almost any of the courses offered to regular Pädagogische Hochschule students.

Orientation

There is a mandatory set of pre-departure orientations at PC for all students planning to participate in the program.

Housing and Meals

There are three dorms in which international students may choose to live. All dorms are within a five-minute walk from campus and a ten-minute walk from the main city area.

Two of these dorms are coed, with a kitchen and a men’s and women’s bathroom on each floor. Each student in these dorms has his or her own room with a sink.

The third dorm is for international and exchange students (although international students may choose to live in one of the other dorms instead). Each floor of the international dorm has two separate coed “apartments,” each with seven individual rooms, two bathrooms, and a kitchen.

There is no meal plan, but students may put money on their student ID card and eat in cafeterias around the city. There are many cheap restaurants around the dorms. There are plenty of grocery stores near the dorms where students may buy cheap cooking supplies and cook their own food in the dorm kitchens.