Getting Started
Before your studies
Starting a degree programme is not always easy. Everything is new and unfamiliar, there are an incredible number of people walking through the corridors and far too much information coming at you. To help you get off to a good start, here are a few points about the first few weeks as a new student.
Enrolment
For both the administration and prospective students, it makes the most sense and is the least stressful if enrolment, also known as matriculation, takes place within the prescribed period. Enrolment takes place via the application portal.
The student ID card in cheque card format (ID-1). This can be used in conjunction with a photo ID to identify yourself as a student, travel by train and pay in the canteen. The ID card must be activated digitally upon receipt. This can be done via the idm.hhu.de website.
BaFöG
You can find information about BaFöG on the website of the Studierendenwerk.
Mathematics, mathematics and mathematics
“Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.” Edsger W. Dijkstra
You may have read this quote somewhere before and you can make of it what you will. However, there is no denying that studying computer science is about much more than computers.
You won’t learn how to assemble a PC or how to install and use an operating system. You can learn how and why the components in a PC work and how an operating system works at its core.
However, in order to understand the processes in computer science, you need at least some basic maths. This is why you will attend a maths lecture in each of the first three semesters.
Preliminary courses
To make it a little easier to get started in university mathematics, the Department of Mathematics offers an introductory course every year, which is highly recommended. This usually takes place 2 to 4 weeks before the start of lectures (usually only before the winter semester) and lasts about 2 weeks. In this course, various basics of number theory, derivation rules, etc. are explained.
There is also a preliminary course in Computer Science this year. You can find more information about this here.
Attending the preliminary courses is definitely recommended to “get back in”, to get to know the lecturers and the atmosphere of a lecture.
ESAG
The student councils of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, (Medical) Physics, Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Computer Science, prepare a week of events for all first-semester students. This begins a week before the first day of lectures and introduces the newcomers to life at the university in various ways. This includes guided tours of the faculties, drawing up the weekly semester plans and various events (ESAG theatre, rally, party) to help them settle in.
This series of events is the first and therefore a very important opportunity to meet and get to know new fellow students (=other students). Further information about ESAG can be found here.
Starting a degree programme is not always easy. Everything is new and unfamiliar, there are an incredible number of people walking through the corridors and far too much information coming at you. To help you get off to a good start, here are a few points about the first few weeks as a new student.