Software engineering at Kaiserslautern University

Hallo people

I am from Perú, I'm new here. I've came across with this page and let me tell you I liked so much since I was looking for a long time information about Germany. Magnificent!

Well, got to the point. I was looking for universities there, trying to get a postgraduate in Software Engineer. I got this university.

http://www.uni-kl.de/

Is that a good university? What do you think? I think it is cheaper than other ones: 650 euros per 6 months. The only problem for me is the cost of living.

I will be very grateful for your feedback.

Kind Regards

Rubén

Que tal tocayo?
Here's a link to a University Ranking fron DAAD. There you could compare how the Kaiserlautern Uni compares to others in different areas. When I went through the process of choosing where to study I did the selection based on where to live rather than where to study. At the end I came to the Technische Universität München and it was not a bad choice at all since it's one of the best technical unis in Germany (and I had no clue about that before). Remember that besides studying you will also be living here for some time, so you have to go somewhere where you get a good compromise between studies, life and personal finances. Take into account the difference in living costs in different cities, for example, it's a lot more expensive to live in Munich than in Berlin. Hope that helps. Suerte!

There is also a pretty good community of Peruvians living in Munich. I knew a few. But Munich is EXPENSIVE. Kaiserlautern is cheap.

Hola Rubén

Uni Karlsruhe is supposed to be the best for computer science.

Hola a todos,

Muchas gracias por sus respuestas = Thank you very much for your responses.
Well, I'm planning to study in Germany and also work. I think it will be in 2 years (2009 - 2010) because I definitely have to improve my german (Currently I'm taking studies in Goethe Institute here in Lima. I'm still in A2 level). I would like to stay here in Lima, but to be honest, salary is not even what i expect and i think i deserve more than that. Moreover, I am a pasionate for foreign languages, so this is an additional stuff. What impressed me are the fees for applying to this postgraduate: for example, just 650 euros per semester. It looks quite cheap. Is that amount typical there? Obviuosly, the are more fees to pay like for example public transport, matriculation, etc. The only hard thing that i can find out was the cost of living. My questions are:

- Do you know how much should I have per month to live comfortable (medium status)?
- How is life in Karlsruhe?
- There mentions about public transport per month -> 150 euros. It means I have free-pass for public transport for a month? Sorry maybe is a silly question, but in Peru is so much different.
- Can I get a part-time job with a student visa easily?

Thanks in advance.
Kind Regards
Rubén

Karlsruhe... the public transport should be cheaper. I would expect more like €150 for the entire semester which means you have a pass for all public transport for however long the ticket is valid for (if it is a semester it would be 6 months). I study in Heidelberg and pay about €100 a semester. I can go to a lot of places with the ticket, even Kaiserslautern and Würzburg.
As far as I know you can get a part-time job on a student visa if you are enrolled in a regular degree program.

Oh yeah, the fees are about the same everywhere in the southwest area. Tuition is €500, €100 for semester ticket, €100 for fees.
I would expect that with €500-600/month you can live a fairly decent life, especially if you find accommodation in student housing.

Thank you to all, your feedbacks have been pretty much exploited. I think, it'd be better if I go to Germany for my vacations of next year (2008) to make a glance by my own.

Anybody knows the average salary for a part-time software developer? Programs I know are C#, VB.NET, Java, PHP, C++ and Delphi.

Thank you very much!
Rubén.

Ruben, you can only work up to 90 full days or 180 half-days on a student visa as a non-eu foreigner. At least on the written law you are suppose to come here with sufficient funds to live without the need for a supplementary job. A proof of this is usually required when you register with the authorities to get your residence permit. Usual ways of proving that you can live without a job are a bank account with the equivalent of at least 600 euro per month for the time that you will stay or sometimes it is also accepted a letter where your parents or someone assures that they will support you. This letter should be accompanied by a bank statement which shows that your sponsor has sufficient funds on his/her own to actually support you. With the letter thing you don't really need to get any money from your sponsor, but it's good enough for them to see it written.
There is one exception to the 90-day rule and it is if you work as a student assistant in the university. This usually is considered to be in close relationship to your studies and thus is accepted for longer term.
Salaries for a student working part-time on IT or software developing areas in Munich go from 8 to 15 euro per hour approximately. So also don't expect to get rich there. I don't know figures for Kaiserlautern on that respect, but it shouldn't be very different. For living costs I also don't know figures for Kaiserlautern, but in Munich you can survive with 600, a little better live with 800. But only if you get a veeeery cheap room in one of the student dorms or a cheap shared flat somewhere. And the 600-800 range is not a fancy lifestyle, it allows you to pay the rent, health insurance, transportation, buy groceries and go out a bit. But not much than that. However, I reckon that Kaiserlautern should be cheaper.

And if you read closer in the university website, you will find some more information in english related to living costs and other issues relevant for foreign students.

Also for more information on work regulations you may want to ask your local german consulate.

Kaiserslautern and Karlsruhe should be cheaper, yes. You should be able to find a place to live for €200-250.
You can even find a place for that money in Heidelberg, and that city is a lot more expensive.

I lived in Kaiserslautern for a while and can't really recommend it.

It's very cheap (for Germany) but also..well...very boring. It's a small town in an economically depressed area. The students are mostly male, so if you're hoping to meet a nice German lady while studying here, don't go to Kaiserslautern. Karlsruhe is a much better bet in terms of student life/diversity of the student body.

but not the university. it's a technical university and traditionally the man to woman ration is pretty high.

In Baden-Württemberg the cities with the best student life are Freiburg and Heidelberg but I don't know if they offer your major.

Masters progarm at Univerity Heidelberg for computer science (their translation is "Application Oriented Computer Science"). i know a friend doing this. it's all in German. she works part-time at SAP as well as a "Werksstudent".

If I had known better back then, I would have rather studied Informatik (this is what Computer Science is called in Germany) at the UniKarlsruhe. They are said to be really excellent. And Karlsruhe is a small town, it should be cheap. A friend of mine from Venezuela studies there and she loves it.

Thank you for the tip. Yes, people told me Kaiserslautern is really very cheap.

Yeah, it could be, Well, actually I don't know anything of cities there in Germany 'cause I haven't been there yet. I was told TU KL is one of the best universities regarding computer science, software enginering and all that stuff. So, my intention is not to find a German lady to get married or fall in love. My goal is to get a degree there, I don't care if in KL there are not any woman over (hey, I'm not gay by the way ). Maybe at the weekends, i'll be able to visit Franfurt, Manheim, Stutgart, Munchen to get some fun, but believe me, fun doesn't matter.

I will check it out. Vielen dank Mariposa.

part-time at SAP? wow, really interesting.

Good news! I think I'm in the right way. Just save money and go there. If I look for studying there I have to plan my budget for these 2 years.

- First payment (matriculation): 1000 euros = 1000
- Tuition: 650 euros per semester (4 semester) = 2600
- Public transport ticket: 150 euros per semester (4 semester) = 600
- Cost of living for a month: 600 euros (12 months) = 7200

Total = 11400 euros

Is that ok for a good life there?
Do i need to add-up something more?

Thank you very much
Rubén