Welcome to the Architecture Studies at the Berlin University of the Arts!
On this page you can find complementary information about your exchange semester in architecture. The International Office offers information about the general procedures of an exchange at UdK Berlin.
UdK only accepts exchange applications from partner universities.
Freemover applications are not accepted. Please seek out international office at your home university to see, whether a partnership can be initiated.
Applications for the Architecture Studies must include:
For the exact semesterdates please check here.
For exchange students of the winter semester (WiSe) the semester starts in the 2nd week of October with the Orientation Meeting and Welcome Week. The lecture period starts the following week and ends after the 2nd week of February. The submission of essays or documentations can go beyond February.
For exchange students of the summer semester (SoSe) the semester starts in the 2nd week of April with the Orientation Meeting and Welcome Week. The lecture period starts the following week and ends after the 2nd week of July. The submission of essays or documentations can go beyond February.
Here you can find the upcoming events of the UdK Internatinal Office.
Before your exchange semester can begin there are a couple organizational issues to be taken care of, like your visa, your health insurance and your enrollment at UdK. The International Office will assist you with those administrational steps. Please first follow their instructions to get started. Below you can find additional notes on how to prepare your exchange in architecture.
Once your enrollment has been processed and you received your student email and one-time password, you can activate your student account by logging in and setting your own password. It is important to have access to your student account and online services, since some of them you will need from the first day. Here is an overview of the most important services:
my.udk-berlin.de is the general platform for the account management and administrational record. There you can also download your certificate of enrollment.
webmail.udk-berlin.de is the in-browser inbox for the emails of your UdK mail address. Please keep in mind that for data security reasons all university related email communications are required to go via your UdK mail, not your private email.
moodle.udk-berlin.de is a platform for class organization, like sharing files and submissions. Not all classes use this platform, some organize via email. But the architecture institute uses Moodle for the registration in design studios. For that reason it is important to be able to access the platform before the lecture period begins.
cloud.udk-berlin.de is your cloud storage with 10 GB. Some classes organize via the cloud instead of Moodle.
Webex is used for online meetings and group chats. You can download the mobile or desktop app from the provider and log in with your UdK account.
print.media-lab.space is the online access to your printing account of the CAD_LAB. The printing account needs to be activated in person first. You can find more information here.
Here you can find more information as well as other online services of UdK.
The Learning Agreement is a contract between you, your home university and UdK. It ensures that your academic achievements from your exchange at UdK will be accredited and integrated into your study progress at your home university.
The Learning Agreement is a mandatory part of the exchange scholarship for students who study in a EU country, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland or Türkiye (Erasmus+ and Swiss-European Mobility Programme).
In the document you need to list all courses you are planning to take at UdK as well as the equivalent courses of your home university curriculum that you want to substitute. The document then needs to be approved by your home university and the Architecture Exchange Coordination of UdK.
The Learning Agreement is issued by your home university, either as a PDF or via an online platform. Please inform yourself at the international office of your home university about the details and the deadline for its submission.
If you study in Brazil, Israel, Japan, Taiwan, UK or USA (Intercontinental Studies Abroad), you do not need to prepare a Learning Agreement. However it is recommended to ask the international office of your home university whether there are similar or other documents you need to prepare.
The architecture studies do not publish their course program in advance. The offered classes vary each semester and are introduced on the first day of the lecture period at the Projektbörse. That means that you can not pre-select your classes and the registration will only start on the first day of the lecture period.
For students who need to prepare a Learning Agreement: Please ask the international office of your home university about the submission deadline.
For all exchange Students: Please inform yourself at your home university about their expectations on your course selection. Some important questions to be clarified upfront are:
The teaching centers around the design projects (Entwurf) offered by the design departments. Each of them has a studio for the project participants. There are around 10 to 25 students per project. You are encouraged to work in the studio of your project and appropriate the space together with the group. The studio groups meet with the teachers every week for desk critiques, most studios do it on Wednesdays. There is typically a mid-term presentation during the semester. The project ends with a final presentation at the end of the semester.
Additionally to the design studios, the architecture studies offer a lot of seminars. Among them is a variety of history and theory classes as well as technology classes and elective classes. The structure of the seminars can be very different: some have weekly meetings for lectures, presentations or discussions, some meet for bi-weekly excursions in the city, some meet on a weekend for an intensive workshop. The rough structure will be explained by the teacher at the Projektbörse.
Your exchange semester will beginn with the Welcome Week. It is organized by the International Office for exchange students of all study programs. It starts with the informational Orientation Meeting and also features different events to get to know Berlin, the university and each other.
Besides the program for all exchange students there will be an Introductory Meeting with the exchange coordination specifically for architecture exchange students. You will get a quick tour of the building and the chance to ask questions about the architecture studies in person. You will receive an invitation via email.
The Projektbörse is the opening event of the semester at the architecture institute. You will receive an invitation via email. The event takes place on the first Monday after the Welcome Week. At 10:00 am the whole institute gathers and the teachers introduce their classes to everyone. You will receive information on the offered design projects and seminars: their topics, when and where they take place and how to register for them. If you are unsure about a class, you also have a chance to ask the teacher directly.
After the Projektbörse you can start the class registration. You usually have to register for the design project until 4 pm on that very day. Other classes have different registration deadlines.
In the evening after the Projektbörse students and teachers usually get together to celebrate the new semester over some drinks.
The architecture projects and seminars are open for all students regardsless of their year of study. At the architecture institute only the first and second year Bachelor students have their own specific classes. All other students (Bachelor students of the third or fourth year, all Master students and all exchange students) choose from the same pool of offered classes. Thus the class groups will consist of students from different years and levels.
Besides the programm of the architecture studies you can also take classes of the Studium Generale belegen. The Studium Generale cultural-scientific and interdisciplinary-artistic basic program and offers classes open to all degree programms.
Under certain conditions you can also take classes of other degree programs. But you should first discuss it with the teacher of the class and the international office of your home university.
When choosing classes for your exchange semester, please keep the critiria for the later accreditation in mind. If you are unsure whether a class can be accredited in your studies, please discuss it with your home university before taking it.
The UdK does not use a central class registration platform. The different departments of the architecture studies use different platforms and methods for the registration in their classes.
The registration for a design studio is organized via a Moodle course. You can find it here:
moodle.udk-berlin.de / Courses / Fakultät Gestaltung / Architektur / Projektbörse Entwurf
The registration for seminars can be organized in different ways. Please pay attention to what is announced at the Projektbörse.
After you are registered in a seminar please approach the teacher and clarify the expected submissions and ECTS for the class. In some seminars you have the options to get 5 ECTS if you write an essay and 3 ECTS if you don't. It's important to discuss it at the beginning of the semester to avoid misunderstandings.
If you prepared a Learning Agreement prior to the Projektbörse, you will need to check whether the courses in the agreement match the classes you are actually taking.
It is common that courses from your pre-selection collide in their hours, are unavailable or you simply change your mind about them.
Once the semester has begun you have five weeks to document the changes in your Learning Agreement. It is imprtant that your new selection of classes is still compliant with the criteria of your home university. They once again need to be approved by your home university and the Architecture Exchange Coordination of UdK.
If you haven't prepared a Learning Agreement yet, you can do so once your class schedule is settled.
In order to get your classes of UdK accredited in your studies, there are a few important preparations to be made before you return to your home university. For the transfer of your credits you will need the official 'Transcript of Records'. It will be prepared for you by the International Office.
But there is an important step to be taken before: The UdK does not use a central class grading registry. For that reason you need to inform the International Office about the classes you have taken. Please use the form 'Record of Courses' to do so.
With presentations and submissions the end of the semester can get quite intense. However, it is important to prepare the Record of Courses well before the semester ends. Here you can download the form. You can print it out or fill it out digitally.
Please first fill out your name, the faculty, the degree programm and the semster of your exchange. If you spent two semester at UdK please use two seperate sheets.
Next you need to list all the classes you have taken at UdK. Fill in their title and the name of the teacher. Each class needs to be signed by the teacher.
Please think about which classes need to be graded and in which classes you just need to pass. If you are not sure, please consult your home university.
Once each class has been signed and (if necessary) graded by the teacher the Record of Courses needs to be approved the the Exchange coordinator as well. After that you can submit it to the UdK International Office.
Notice! We recommend to start the preparation of the Record of Courses as early as possible. Once the semester ends some departments can be hard to reach out to. In most cases it's faster to get the signatures in person before the teachers go into the semster break.
After you have submitted the Record of Courses to the UdK International Office, they will prepare the offical Transcript of Records for you. Please keep in mind that it can take up to five weeks for the transcript to be ready.
With the Transcript of Records you can start the accreditation process at your home university. The Record of Courses is an internal document and not sufficient for the accreditation.