Organizing the Stay
After you have been accepted for an internship at TU Dortmund University (or in Dortmund), you should start planning your stay as soon as possible. To help you with this, you will find information on important topics concerning your stay below.
Cultural preparation:
On the following pages you will find information about Dortmund, the Ruhr area and "the" German culture.
Language preparation:
Even though you may not necessarily need German language skills for your internship, they are generally helpful for your stay in Germany. One way to improve your German skills before you arrive is, for example, the free online language training program from duolingo.
The search and reservation of accommodation is usually done by you, but you can ask your internship supervisor if he or she can help you with that.
You can find an overview of different accommodation options here. You can find general information about what you should consider in this Housing Guide.
If you are interested in a room in a dormitory of the Studierendenwerk Dortmund, your internship supervisor can clarify with the Studierendenwerk Dortmund whether a room is available during your internship period. The rental prices for short-term rentals range between 350,- and 500,- EUR. In addition, a deposit of 700,- EUR is required to finalize the reservation. Here you can contact the Studierendenwerk Dortmund. Please note that the minimum rental period is usually four months and only in exceptional cases shorter rental periods can be offered upon request.
From Dortmund Central Station you can reach TU Dortmund University within a few minutes with the S1, which runs every 20 minutes.
The main station Dortmund is also internationally connected by various train as well as bus connections.
The nearest airports are Düsseldorf International Airport (DUS) and Dortmund Airport (Dortmund has limited international flights). However, there are good train connections to Dortmund from most German airports (such as Frankfurt, Berlin, Hamburg or Amsterdam in the Netherlands).
You can decide whether you want to enroll during your internship, as a program student at our university or not. We recommend enrollment due to the following benefits:
- accident and liability insurance for events that occur in connection with the internship.
- discounted prices in campus restaurants
- reduced entrance fees to museums
- reduced prices for university sports courses
- the status "student" in Germany
- the ticket "Deutschlandsemesterticket", which allows free travel on public transport throughout Germany.
There are no tuition fees for enrollment, but there is a semester contribution of about 300 EUR per semester. The winter semester starts in October and ends in March, the summer semester starts in April and ends in September. If your internship period falls proportionally in two semesters, you can decide whether you want to enroll for both semesters or for one semester (or for no semester). If you do not stay at TU Dortmund University or in North Rhine-Westphalia for a full semester, you can apply for a proportional refund of the "Deutschlandsemesterticket" fee (part of the semester contribution) at the AStA (General Student Committee) at the end of your stay.
If you would like to enroll, please find more information on the process and requsted documents on this website.
If you decide to enroll, you can use the public transport throughout Germany with the "Deutschlandsemesterticket" (please find more information above under "enrollment").
If you choose not to enroll, you can purchase other tickets that allow you to use public transportation in and around Dortmund. There is no ticket available that is valid for the whole state of North Rhine-Westphalia, but there are different tickets for certain parts of the Ruhr area. If you don't enroll, you can buy monthly tickets or one-way tickets that cover most of the VRR area.
Young Ticket
If you do not enroll, we recommend that you buy the Young Ticket. This is a local transport ticket for pupils and students for unlimited travel in the VRR area and costs about 75 EUR per month. The purchase of the Young Ticket is only possible with an application in which it is confirmed that you are a student. Please contact us by e-mail so that we can send you the prepared application.
Vierer-Ticket (4-trip ticket)
If you do not live far from your workplace, a four-way ticket may be sufficient for your needs. It costs between 10.70 EUR and 56.00 EUR and is valid for four trips, each of which costs slightly less than the normal price. You can purchase all tickets in 5 different price categories, depending on how far you want to travel within the VRR area. You can get more information at one of the DSW 21 service centers (one service center is located near Dortmund Central Station: Kampstraße 46, 44137 Dortmund).
If you want to leave the Ruhr area and travel throughout North Rhine-Westphalia, there are some special tickets on the VRR website.
Here are three helpful links for timetables and any other questions you may have about transportation:
Map of the Dortmund public transport system
Fares, information and timetable of the VRR local public transport system
Fares, information and timetable of the national/international trains
To make contact with other students, it is a good idea to attend events organized by the Erasmus Student Network Dortmund: https://dortmund.esn-germany.de/
The International Office organizes the Meeting of the Minds every summer and invites interns whose contact details are registered to attend by email (you can also send us an email if you are interested).