© FH OÖ, Semtana GUIDE FOR INCOMING STUDENTS School of Medical Engineering and Applied Social Sciences Linz Campus www.fh-ooe.at/campus-linz Contents 3 Life as an International Student 10 Services and Facilities in Austria » Student ID Card » The University of Applied Sciences Upper » IT Information Austria » Austrian Student’s Union » Accommodation 4 Linz Campus 11 Dos and Don’ts » The Structure of our Degree Programmes » Final Degree Awarded 12 Events / Free Time Activities » General Information about Linz » Sports & Leisure » Reductions for Students 6 Our Degree Programmes 14 Essential Information » Bachelor’s Degree Programmes » Master’s Degree Programmes » Registration with the Local Authorities » Confirmation of Registration » Climate and Clothing 7 Internationalisation » Currency » Shopping » ECTS » Banks and Cash Withdrawal » Upon Arrival » Credit Cards » Grading System » Medical Services and Pharmacies » Emergency Numbers » Health Insurance Coverage 8 Academic Information » Non-Emergency Medical Treatment » Public Transport » Academic Calendar » Getting to Linz » Type of Classes » Important Vocabulary » Survival German for Student Life » German Language Courses » Personalised Schedule 18 International Students » Attendance Policy in Linz » Examinations 2 3 Life as an International Student in Austria Congratulations on your decision to embark on one of life’s greatest adventures: living and studying abroad. We hope that your stay in Linz will be a wonderful and unforgettable experience. International exchange students all over the world usually experience various phases of adjustment during their stay ab- road. At first you will probably see everything through the eyes of a tourist. Everything is new and exotic. After this stage you get down to the business of living your everyday life, which for some people is accompanied by a sense of disorien- tation or culture shock. This is a quite natural phenomenon when someone is in completely unfamiliar surroundings where everything is new. If this affects you, please do not hesitate to speak to one of the staff. We have been through this ourselves and will be more than willing to listen and talk with you about it. You may also find it helpful to bear in mind that this is a phase that will pass and, in the meantime, try to keep an open mind and seek contact with other people. The University of Applied integrated into the curricula. Students are invol- ved in R&D projects already from an early stage Sciences Upper Austria of their studies. (FH Upper Austria) Keeping in line with the Bologna Declaration, however, the transition to the Bachelor/Master The University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria system at the University of Applied Sciences is the largest university of applied sciences Upper Austria has already been completed in all in Austria and is an integral part of the tertiary58° 48° degree66° Arctic programmes. Circle 32° 24The° 74 °transition16° 8° 0does° 8° not16° only24° 32° 40° 48°74° 56° 64° Arctic Circle 66° 80° 58° 88° GR EE A ° GREENLAND NL SE education system. The organisation56 is defined serve to improve international comparabilityAND and S SEA NT RE BA ST í by the requirements of regional employment recognition, but also leads to a greater degree of Ob AN A R C T I C O C E A N rait WE mark St RI ° Den N 88 and research needs. Four locations in Upper flexibility for the students. Ostrov Ko lguyav Ob í U BE AI Austria’s central area offer innovative and inter- R A SI PL Ir L 48° Murmansk ty ° disciplinary academic degrees, each with sh 50 Reykjavik M ICELAND KOLA sh PENINSULA O ty NO Ir R WE U a different focus. GIAN N Omsk SE T 50° A Arkhangelísk A 80° S I To a e N i ve bo n rn S » h a l School of Informatics, Communications and FA EROES t ya o Dvin B a f FINLAND Yekaterinburg Media – Hagenberg Campus SWEDEN o f a l on ° SHETLAND IS. u 40 kh RUSSIA » School of Medical Engineering and Applied NORWAY G ATLANTIC Su Helsinki Social Sciences – Linz Campus HEBRIDES ORKNEY IS. Sankt-Peterburg Magnitogorsk Oslo Stockholm Kazan A Tallinn » School of Management – Steyr Campus SCOTLAND E ga ak ESTONIA Vol NORTH rr S ge KAZAKHSTAN 72° Edinburgh Ska Gˆteborg » School of Engineering – Wels Campus OCEAN C LATVIA Belfast SEA I Riga Samara DENMARK T Moscow IRELAND L Dublin Copenhagen A LITHUANIA ° B Vilnius ríy a 42 Syda ENGLAND RUSSIA Ur 42° WALES Minsk Do al a ° Cardiff NETHERLANDS n 32 BELARUS sn ARAL Universities of Applied Sciences – in German London The Hague Pripyat Berlin Warsaw De SEA BELGIUM ’Fachhochschulen‘ (FH) – are relatively new in Brussels POLAND UZBEKISTAN GERMANY Kiev Vol Se Paris Luxembourg ga in Prague Austria: the law authorising their introduction e UKRAINE Dn Loire LUXEMBOURG CZECH REP. C Dn ep A estr r was passed in the early ’90s and the first degree u SLOVAKIA R C na P Do A MOLDOVA A FRANCE VViiennaenna Bratislava T Bay of H Pr Kishinev S Bern Budapest I ut P programmes were launched in autumn 1994. The Bi scay A TURKMENISTAN 64° SWITZERLAND S N I A P HUNGARY S Odessa N e Ljubljana C A U C Bilbao MASSI F L A S U S S Ashkhabad aim of Austria’s Universities of Applied Sciences CENTRAL Ùn SLOVENIA CROATIA ROMANIA E A Sevastopolí A Rh Po Bucharest GEORGIA Tbilisi Baku 34° Porto Duer BOSNIA- Belgrade S o N is to provide a more practice-oriented education Andorra la Vella Monaco San Marino HERZEGOVINA BLACK SEA AZERBAIJAN I A PORTUGAL Sarajevo Yerevan T ° Ta Madrid 34 jo ANDORRA Co rsica BULGARIA ARMENIA N to complement the range of courses offered by Lisbon Barcelona ITALY YUGOSLAVIA Sofiya U ° O 24 M Rome Skopje Z SPAIN Tirane Istanbul R traditional universities. Education is founded on Sardinia MACEDONIA ELBU Ankara L.Van MADEIRA IS. Sevilla ALBANIA Tehran academic, research-based principles; Universi- BALEARIC IS. TURKEY Malaga I St rait of Gi braltar M GREECE R Gibraltar E D A ties of Applied Sciences are required to carry out Algiers I Si cily L Ti Z T Izmir A G g AG IRAN E Athens D ris R Rabat T O R O S OS Casablanca R M applied research and development, which are R OU Tunis A SYRIA E Baghdad N CANARY IS. MOROCCO u p TA Marrakech N Nicosia hra IN R I E N E t es S S A H A MALTA CYPRUS Beirut Las Palmas L A S A 26° A S A T N Damascus IRAQ Al Basrah T L TUNISIA S Cr ete LEBANON T A E A A U 26° H Tripoli KUWAIT Al Kuwayt El Aaiun Jerusalem Amman P ISRAEL e r Gulf of Benghazi JORDAN s i a n G u l f WESTERN Sir te Alexandria ALGERIA Cairo Abu Dhabi SAHARA Suez QATAR SAUDI ARABIA UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 56° 2 LIBYA EGYPT 3 Ni RED Riyadh 16° MAURITANIA l e SEA 8° 0° 8° 16° 24° 32° 40° 48° 0 500 1000 1500 Miles 0 500 1000 1500 2000 Kilometres Study at Linz Campus School of Medical Engineering and Applied Social Sciences The University of Applied Sciences, Linz Campus, moved into a beautiful, spacious new building in the hospital district in 2007, which includes a well stocked, professionally run library and state-of-the art classrooms and laboratories. At present, more than 800 students are studying here. Our academic programmes focus on three main fields: Social Work/Social Services Human Services Management and Public Management Medical Technologies Each programme has a clearly defined, practice-oriented focus. All include business courses, project work and research, and training in personal communication skills. Extensive internships are required in all degree programmes. General Information about Linz People in Linz do lots of sports along and on the Danube: running, inline skating, bicycling, Linz is a vibrant place – busy during the day, rowing, etc. And the Salzkammergut lakes, the plenty of cultural highlights and a great atmos- hills (’Sound of Music‘), and the Alps are not far, phere in the many bars and restaurants in the either, so day trips for hiking in the mountains, evening. The idyllic old alleys leading to the swimming, sailing, or skiing are no problem stylish main square are a great contrast to the whatsever. Linz is also a city of festivals: Linzfest, contemporary art and virtual worlds to be found Buskers’ Fest (’Pflasterspektakel‘), Brucknerfest. in the Ars Electronica Centre. The Landestheater, For chillier days there are a multitude of good the Brucknerhaus, Lentos und the Design Centre fitness and wellness clubs which often have provide a rich background for culture. Linz provi- special offers for students. You can dabble your des a wonderful infrastructure for the University toes (and swim) in the centrally situated Parkbad, of Applied Sciences – it is an ideal place to study in the Hummelhofbad in the south and in the Bie- intensively. Linz is the capital of Upper Austria, senfeld pool to the north of the town. There is a Austria’s third largest city (pop. 200,000) and in beach volleyball court near the VOEST bridge in 2009, Linz was the Cultural Capital of the EU. Urfahr, and there are two excellent lakes to bathe in – Pleschingersee to the north and Pichlinger- see to the south – where you can also play table tennis outdoors. You can find further information on www.linz.at/english/tourism. Final Degree Awarded The Structure of our Degree 1 General university entrance qualificationor Programmes Pre-entry course for university The Bachelor’s degree programmes (three years, 180 ECTS) require extensive internships 2 Bachelor (6 Semesters) during which students work in organisations or research institutes in Austria or abroad.