Teaching Research & Education Abroad

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Location Trier / Idar Oberstein

Department:  Bauen + Leben Informatik  Gestaltung Wirtschaft    Technik

Location Birkenfeld

Department:  Umweltwirtschaft / -recht      Umweltplanung/-technik

The following universities/conferences have been visited by professors from Trier University of Applied Sciences in recent years:

    University of St Thomas, USA
    University of Edinburgh, UK
    Tampere University of Technology
    University of Portsmouth, UK
    University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy

For further information, please contact the International Office of Trier University.

Field report by Prof. Dr. Konstantin Knorr about his research semester in Edinburgh from the university magazine "Campino".

Here is an excerpt:

After more than four years at the HST am Schneidershof, my family and I spent the time from September 2014 to March 2015 in Scotland, where I spent a research semester at the University of Edinburgh (UoE). In addition to the main content of my work, I report on the application process, funding and my personal experiences.

...

At the INF department at Schneidershof, there is a degree programme called "Secure and Mobile Systems" in which students deal with these issues. My sabbatical gave me the opportunity to investigate selected topics at my leisure and to sound them out for future teaching.

...

My host at the UoE is David Aspinall. He leads a large research project on Android security called "App Guarden" and is the founder of the Centre for Cyber Security and Privacy at the UoE. My workplace is a guest office in the Informatics Forum at the UoE, where I have had the opportunity to exchange ideas about Android Security with other professors, PhD students and students in an international environment through talks, conferences and face-to-face meetings. The UoE's Computer Science department is one of the UK's leading ones and also enjoys an excellent international reputation. 500 researchers work in the Informatics Forum, making it one of the largest computer science research facilities in Europe.

I also made contacts with other Scottish universities, especially the University of Abertay in Dundee, which has been offering IT security courses for many years.

Tips for a semester abroad

The basis for a research semester is §53 of our state university law. It stipulates, among other things, that the president decides on the application for leave of absence in consultation with the department, that the course offerings and examinations must be maintained and that a report must be prepared at the end.

When contacting the foreign university, it is helpful to emphasise that you do not need funding. I also described in a "project proposal" what I wanted to do during the sabbatical. The official letter of invitation from the UoE was helpful for the application in Trier. I had presented my plan to the INF departmental council and had taken care of the transfer and representation of my own courses at an early stage. In a positive case, the application is approved by the president in a letter and, if necessary, conditions are imposed, such as not being allowed to earn money during the sabbatical.

Salaries continue to be paid during the research semester. There are numerous other funding options, such as a travel grant from the International Office and the ERASMUS Teaching Mobility Programme. Our International Office is the competent contact here.

Accommodation was the biggest cost for us, because unfortunately the UoE doesn't offer inexpensive accommodation for guests. We therefore had to look for accommodation on the open property market. It is pleasing that the allowance is valid worldwide with certain conditions, even for stays abroad of six months. German private health insurance and car insurance are usually also valid for six months in other EU countries.

...

Stays abroad in the European area can be supported by the

Erasmus+ programme.

Financial support for Erasmus mobility for teaching purposes or for further training is based on the different costs of living in the destination countries ("programme countries"). Uniform daily rates apply for funding by German higher education institutions.

As of 2022, the following fixed daily rates apply for Germany for four country groups up to the 14th day of stay; from the 15th to the 60th day of stay, the funding amounts to 70% of the above-mentioned daily rates:

•     Group 1: 450 euros per day for Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden
•     Group 2: 390 euros per day for Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain
•     Group 3: 330 euros per day for Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, FYR of Macedonia.

These daily rates are supplemented by travel costs depending on the actual distances between the place of departure and destination of the mobility, which are determined uniformly throughout Europe using a calculation tool.
The following amounts are reimbursed per stay and depending on the distance:

Distance                            conventional travel         environmentally friendly travel
10-99 km                            23 EUR
100–499 km                      180 EUR                                         210 EUR
500–1999 km                    275 EUR                                        320 EUR
2000–2999 km                 360 EUR                                        410 EUR
3000–3999 km                  530 EUR                                        610 EUR
4000–7999 km                 820 EUR
>=8000 km                      1500 EUR

The amount of the grant will be determined before the planned journey and bindingly fixed in a grant agreement. There is no entitlement to funding.

An Erasmus+ grant must be applied for at the Erasmus University Coordinator at Trier University of Applied Sciences