Engineering studies at the University of Rostock

Hello folks

I am a fresh graduate in mechatronics engineering with six months work experience, never been to Germany before.

I recently got my admission to the 'Master of Science in Computational Engineering' program at the University of Rostock. Since then, I've been surfing the internet for information about the life in Rostock, the Uni, etc. I bumped into this very informative discussion forum and by the way I profit to thank all those who contribute.

I am two months away from the start of the courses, one week away from applying for the student visa. I wanted to know :

- How's the reputation of the university of Rostock among other German universities in engineering studies ? I have checked the Die-Zeit university ranking page and found that it has an average reputation and what I disliked the most is the 'Percentage of teaching by practitioners' value which is low in comparison to other engineering faculties. Despite knowing that, I wanted to get more opinions from people with experience, if there are any here.

- Is Computational Engineering a demanded branch of engineering in Germany (for those who are in the field) ?

- This Master is an international program, meaning courses are in English (though I plan to learn the German language as soon as I settle there). Is it a good idea to do an English Master program in a non-English speaking country ? will this reduce my chances for getting a job after completing the studies ? or will I be favored because I'd be able to communicate in both languages ?

- Once I settle and get used to the environment, I look forward to work in order to support my finances. Is it easy to find part-time/summer jobs in Rostock ?

Any helpful reply would be gratefully appreciated !

Cheers

The place has an unemployment rate of 12.3% at the moment (24% among foreigners), and they're celebrating their lowest rates since reunification. I'd put the chance to find part-time work in the region, especially as you're Tunisian and as long as you don't speak fluid German, at... oh, about zero percent.

Ooh that's pretty discouraging, but thanks for the reply anyway.
Any other reply is welcome as well.

Yeah, I think it has got to be stressed that the discouraging post above comes from somebody who has never been there and relies on statistics.

Can't really help you with the reputation of the computational engineering course or demand for comp. engineers - but generally Rostock is a pretty small university and does not have many areas where it is near the top in Germany, but it also probably doesn't have many areas where it is near the bottom. Probably no-one will say "Wow! A degree from Rostock! You're hired!", but nor should it be a negative to prospective employers. Something I'd really look at is whether there are good Praktikum (internship) places arranged for the students with relevant companies, maybe doing the Masters thesis together with one - who with luck may offer you a job afterwards, or at least be able to give you contacts. Certainly that seems a not-uncommon way to get started in the engineering job market here.

Regarding job prospects after doing an international MSc course - where would you be wanting to get a job? If in Germany then having done a German-language Masters would probably be a better career move - particularly in terms of knowing the specialist vocabulary in your area (although at least having studied in Germany is probably helpful, and a good command of the German language certainly is), but if outside Germany then it probably doesn't matter where or in what language you studied, unless it is at one of the leading universities in the field.

As to part-time work: although Rostock does have fairly high unemployment, it is also the second most expensive city in the old East Germany in terms of cost of living (behind Jena), and above the whole German average (stats from a study from a couple of years ago, probably reported in Spiegel, but I don't have the reference to hand). In other words, economically the unemployment statistic doesn't tell the whole picture (although the premium prices for tourists may well distort it) - Rostock is actually a fairly prosperous small city, with a fair tourist trade and still quite a bit of manufacturing industry (ships and wind turbines are two biggies), although the troubles at the shipyards have been well reported recently and there are, of course, some social problems (probably not really any more than in other similar-sized cities nation-/world-wide though).

My gut feeling would be that with little, or only rudimentary, German you will probably struggle to find something (although there may be the opportunity to do some paid work at the University as a "Hiwi"/"Hilfswissenschaftler"), but you could get lucky. With a little German, good English and some determination then I would have thought that your chances of finding something bar/restaurant/hotel work wouldn't necessarily be too bad. Certainly I wouldn't say it's a blanket "no way".

maekelborger, I can't thank you enough for your extremely helpful post !!! (Big Hugs )

Just a quick question:
What are those troubles at the shipyards and what kind of social problems are there ?

The troubles at the shipyard were of the purely financial sort - the Wadan-shipyards in Rostock Warnemünde and Wismar were declared insolvent a short while ago, but have just this week been bought by a Russian investor (see (German-language) report from the Spiegel). Unfortunately, probably around half of the 2500 workers will still lose their jobs.

As to social problems - relatively high unemployment, a fairly high number of people on Harz-IV/social assistance, quite a lot of low-paid work (e.g. in call centres), fairly high levels of poverty (relative, rather than absolute), probably a certain "Perspektivlosigkeit" ([perceived] lack of prospects) among many of the younger people. All of these are not uncommon in at least the former East German states, if not also among at least some groups/in some areas in the old West). In many of the rural areas there are demographic problems due to many of the younger population moving out (many to the west), but Rostock is probably one of the places they're moving to - iirc the population is currently undergoing a slight rise. The "problem areas" (such as they are - I wouldn't describe anywhere in Rostock as being a no-go area) are probably away from the city centre (which is populated more by the student/"urban"-types) in the old pre-fab tower blocks to the NE and NW of the city.

The NPD (neo-nazi/far-right party) did get seat(s?) in the city council at the local elections in May (from 3% of the vote is the figure I found from a quick Google - less than e.g. the BNP in the NW England in the recent European elections (a shameful 8%) - and I don't think many of the people who would warn non-whites from going to E. Germany would warn them against going to Manchester, Liverpool or the Lake District), but I wouldn't say that open racism and xenophobia are particular problems. That's not to say that there aren't incidents, but certainly in terms of the reports in the local paper most of the violent incidents (and I don't want to give the impression that there are an excessively high number of them - I don't think there are any more than you would expect in a city of Rostock's size) are usually money/drugs/alcohol/red-light district related.

my husband is a victim...per say of the Wadan Yards situation. I know a lot about it.

I think the unemployment "statistics" are higher than what the person who doesn't live here posted.

As for the program...no idea...my husband was there for two years for philosophy/poli science, changed majors to eletrical engineering and went to Stuttgart to finish school.

work is next to impossible if your German isn't good, unless you want to teach english.

maekelborger, again thanks a lot for the very detailed answer. I owe you a coffee in "Schusters Café" (is it any good? if not, blame google :-) ) once I'm in Rostock (if I ever decided to go).

Amber127, I'm sorry for what happened to your husband. I hope the situation gets better for both of you. Did he go to Stuttgart after completing the philosophy/poli program in Rostock Uni, or had he stopped and changed majors to electrical engineering ?

Fluid German?
The word you are looking for is "fluent" and not "fluid".

He changed programs after a year. Can't get a job with the first degree...

Actually, i've been there. And not just on vacation, but working. Not in Rostock but in Sassnitz, but it's the same there (...just without a bigass shipyard that gets all sorts of government subsidies to keep people in work).

Well, duh. "Felt" unemployment rates are always way higher than what they actually are. Doesn't make them any more realistic.

Yeah, Sassnitz is just the same as Rostock - apart from the slight difference of being a small port town with 10000 inhabitants instead of a university city and the economic capital of the region with 200000 inhabitants. Really, exactly the same.

University city just means there's about zero chance to get a low-paid job, because there'll be plenty of students doing internships or working for pennies. "Economic capital" - in MV - just means that its a place where people have congregated looking for a job, because they sure as hell won't find one out in the sticks where the population density approaches US values.
The small port cities actually offer good opportunities - in comparison - due to relatively steady tourism in the summer.

zero chance for a low paid job? You really know nothing about this area....