Have you graduated from school abroad? Then you may not be able to start studying in Germany straight away. In this case, the preparatory college at the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences will prepare you specifically for your studies.
If you comefrom an EU country, the EEA (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway) or Switzerland, you can usually study directly in Saxony with the degree you obtained in your home country - often without going through a preparatory college. You can find out exactly which qualification you need here:
Lessons at the Studienkolleg are held in German. For your application, you need at least B1 level German.
We recommend at least B2 at the start of the course so that you can follow the lessons well. C1 is then required for your subsequent studies at the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences.
You will need a good knowledge of German for the Studienkolleg and your future studies. There are many language schools in Saxony that offer suitable courses.
Before you choose a course, you should know your language level. You can find a free placement test on the Goethe-Institut website.
It is important that your course concludes with a recognized German exam.
Applications for the Studienkolleg Zittau are possible twice a year. You can find all deadlines here:
Applications must be submitted online via the university's application portal.
Before beginning your studies at the Studienkolleg, you must pass an entrance test.
The entrance test takes place twice a year in Zittau at the Studienkolleg, once at the beginning of February and once at the end of August, usually on a Tuesday.
Location: How to reach the Studienkolleg:
Studienkolleg
Schwenninger Weg 1
02763 Zittau
Good to know: It takes about 35 minutes to walk from Zittau train station to the Studienkolleg at Schwenninger Weg 1 (route).
The exact dates for the entrance test in the respective semester can be found under Procedure/Dates.
The entrance test refers to the following semester. The test in February is for the summer semester, the test in August is for the winter semester.
The test checks whether you have sufficient knowledge of German and mathematics to successfully take part in the Studienkolleg's classes / courses.
Whether a place at the Studienkolleg can be awarded depends on the result of the entrance test. After the test, applicants are ranked and assigned to the individual courses. For this reason, the entrance test is also known as the placement test.
The results of the entrance test are usually published the same week on the homepage of the Studienkolleg under "Results of entrance test".
Please note: Passing the entrance test does not automatically lead to a place at the Studienkolleg. Admission is only possible once all documents have been checked in full and the requirements have been met.
The entrance test can only be repeated once, at the earliest after one semester.
When you arrive at Studienkolleg Zittau, you must first confirm your participation in the entrance test with your signature. To do this, please present your invitation to the test and a valid identification document (identity card, passport or similar).
You will now be given a small piece of paper with your test room and test number on it.
You will receive an information sheet with all the important information about the entrance test. In it you will find the rules for the procedure, instructions for completing the test documents and the next steps: Retrieving your result, registering at the student residence, enrolment and information on the required textbooks.
You will now receive the test. On the first page, enter your personal details and your test number. Please also note the test number on all solution sheets in the top right-hand corner.
The test begins!
Your German language skills are tested in three areas:
The tasks on your basic knowledge test your vocabulary and whether you have mastered the basic grammar.
In some grammar tasks, you will have to grammatically transform simple sentences, for example an active sentence into a passive sentence or vice versa, and you will be tested on how confident you are in using the most common subordinate clauses in German, for example relative clauses and causal or conditional clauses.
Finally, you will be tested on how good you are at understanding German texts by
a) answering questions in bullet points
b) assigning information to lines of text
c) deciding whether statements are true or false
d) supplementing main clauses with appropriate subordinate clauses, etc.
The texts come from areas such as studies, travel, current world events or regional studies. They can be texts from personal experience, media reports or factual texts.
