- Course location
- Wildau
- Teaching language
- • German
• English
- Date(s)
- •
March 2026 - August 2027 (registration deadline: 30 September 2025)
•
September 2026 - September 2027 (registration deadline: 30 April 2026)
- Description/content
- Wildau Foundation Year (WFY) is a one-year or a one-and-a-half-year study preparation programme for international students, facilitating their entry into the German academic world through preparatory studies. The core elements of WFY are language studies (Colloquial and Technical/Academic German) and subject-specific courses in IT, Mathematics, Physics, and Business/Economics. This integrative, modularised academic programme prepares international students for their studies at the Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau (TH Wildau) and partner universities. With regard to facilitating the integration of international students, WFY has two key aspects:
• academic integration, preparing for a successful start of studies in Germany, including preparatory studies in language, specific subjects, and academic methods
• social and cultural integration, including joint activities for international and German students and support for international students to assist them in finding their way in their new environment
The WFY follows two professional tracks, engineering and business, geared specifically towards the courses offered at TH Wildau. The programme team supports participants in selecting a course of study tailored to their professional interests. It offers them the opportunity to develop their subject-specific knowledge and language skills in order to meet the requirements of their chosen degree programme after the completion of the study preparation programme. WFY offers international students a preview of different undergraduate study programmes.
The Wildau Foundation Year offers training and support in:
• acquisition of technical and colloquial German
• language instruction focusing on the terminology of the Bachelor's courses following the final exam of WFY
• ability to organise studies independently
• methodology in academic reading and writing
• cross-cultural competences
• communication, presentation, and research skills
The programme runs for either two or three semesters and comprises three main areas of competence:
• German language skills up to level C1
• competences aiming at engineering and business studies
• cross-cultural competences and scientific methodologies as well as learning techniques, media literacy, research skills, and presentation skills
Language training and specialised courses are the focus of each semester.
In the one-year programme, colloquial and academic German is supplemented by academic English as well as subject-specific and laboratory courses.
In the one-and-a-half-year-programme, the first semester consists of colloquial German language classes only. In the second and third semesters, academic German, the subject-specific and laboratory courses are mandatory elements of the WFY programme.
The lectures are supported by field trips to companies, research institutions, and museums as well as political and cultural institutions in the Berlin-Brandenburg metropolitan region.