This English-language page contains information for Japanese students who are planning a stay at the Bergische Universität or who have already arrived in Wuppertal.
Before you arrive in Wuppertal...
Admission to the university: General instructions for applying for admission to the University of Wuppertal etc. can be found here.
Entry to Germany: If you are a Japanese national, you can enter Germany just by showing your Japanese passport, you do not have to apply for a visa in advance. If you are staying in Germany for more than three months, you will have to obtain a residence permit (Aufenthaltserlaubnis. Aufenthaltsgenehmigung) from the German immigration authority (Ausländerbehörde), but you must do this after arriving in Germany.
We give here links to the general regulations for "entry and residence" and "pursuit of gainful employment" in Germany (as provided by DAAD, the German Academic Exchange Service).
Click on the picture for a larger version.
Even though you do not need a visa to enter Germany, you still need some additional preparation for your stay if it is longer than three months. In order to obtain a residence permit from the German immigration authority, you need to be able to prove that you have sufficient financial means to cover your living expenses in Germany. The easiest way of doing this is with a "Verpflichtungserklärung zur Vorlage bei Grenz- und Ausländerbehörden" (Declaration of commitment to be presented to border- and immigration authorities) issued through a German diplomatic representation in Japan, most notably the German Embassy in Tokyo or the German General Consulate in Osaka. It is a statement by a person in Japan, typically your mother or father, who guarantees to cover your living expenses in Germany. You can see an example of this document on the picture; please click the picture for a larger version. Please contact the German Embassy in Tokyo or the German General Consulate in Osaka to arrange for this document to be issued before you travel to Germany. Note that the person issuing the guarantee (i.e., normally your mother or father) must go to the Embassy in Tokyo or to the General Consulate in Osaka in person. This is particularly problematic for inhabitants of Okinawa who must travel to Osaka. The General Consulate points out that Okinawans should take contact to the consulate staff before they leave for Osaka in order to make sure that they have all required documents.
We wish you a pleasant and interesting stay in Wuppertal. And please do not forget to have fun here!
When you have arrived in Wuppertal...
Finding your way on campus: You will have to learn to find your way around the University-of-Wuppertal campus, or rather around the campus'es. There are three of them, Campus Grifflenberg, Campus Haspel, and Campus Freudenberg. Their relative locations are marked on Map I. Campus Grifflenberg and Campus Freudenberg each have many buildings, Campus Haspel is relatively small. In general, each room has a code in the form X.pp.qq. Here, X is a letter code identifying a building. The buildings on Campus Grifflenberg mostly have single-letter codes B, D, F, G, H, ... The buildings on Campus Freudenberg have codes starting with an F, mostly with two letters in total: FA, FC, FD, ... Furthermore, pp is the number of the floor (or level) of the building and qq numbers the individual rooms on that floor. Maps II and III show the buildings on Campus Grifflenberg and Campus Freudenberg, respectively.
Map I
Map II
Map III
After your arrival in Wuppertal, you have many things to attend to:
Registration with the municipal authorities: You must register with the municipal authorities at the municipal registration office (Einwohnermeldeamt) at the address Steinweg 20, 42275 Wuppertal, if you live in Wuppertal. Normally, the International Office will organize for you to go there in a group, accompanied by a German student, during the "Welcome Week" (i.e., the first week of the lecture period).
Your dormitory room: If you live in the student dormitory of the University of Wuppertal, and you have not signed your rental contract already, you must go to the administration office of the dormitories and do this. Address: Max-Horkheimer-Str. 10, Level 1 (the lowest level in the basement), 42119 Wuppertal. Max-Horkheimer-Str. 10 is one of the dormitory buildings closest to the main university campus at Grifflenberg. You pay the rent for the dormitory room at the cashier's office in Room ME.05.03, opening hours 9 am-noon. You can choose to have the dormitory staff provide your bedlinen, it costs 19.50 € per rental contract. You pay this at the cashier's office together with the first month's rent. You can then pick up clean bedlinen on the 1st Wednesday of each month, 1-2 pm, in the room next to the washing-machine room at Max-Horkheimer-Strasse 10. Futhermore, you can choose to have your room cleaned by the dormitory staff when you leave; this costs 50 € that you also pay at the cashier's office together with the first month's rent.
Health insurance: If the International Office has made a health insurance for you with the company "MAWISTA", you go to Ms. Rademacher, Room O.06.14d, to pay for this. Please have the exact amount of money with you since Ms. Rademacher may not be able to make change.
Residence permit: If you are staying more than three months in Germany, you must obtain a residence permit from the Immigration Authority Office during the first three months. The Immigration Authority Office in Wuppertal has the address An der Bergbahn 33, 42289 Wuppertal. To make an appointment there, one can use the URL https://tempus-termine.com/termine/index.php?anlagennr=11&anliegenauswahl=ja&standort=auslaender&sprache=en (it is in English, lo and behold!). However, it appears that it is now possible to make group appointments and in coming years, the International Office will try to organize the applications for the residence permits.
For your appointment at the Immigration Authority Office, you should bring with you the following:
- Your passport.
- A biometric passport photograph. Biometric passport photographs are subject to very many regulations, and so it is advisable that you go to a photography shop in Wuppertal and have them make one for you. They can do it while you wait.
- Proof that you can cover your living expenses mentioned above. This is simplest with the “Verpflichtungserklärung zur Vorlage bei Grenz- und Ausländerbehörden" mentioned above. If you do not have one, things get very complicated.
- A copy of your rental contract, typically with the student dormitory.
- Confirmation that you are registered with the University of Wuppertal; you should have received it from the International Office.
- Confirmation that you have health insurance in Germany, for example the insurance policy from the company "MAWISTA".
- A fee of 110 € (January 2015).
Our experience shows that it is recommendable for you to live in the municipality of Wuppertal so that you can apply for your residence permit at the Wuppertal immigration authority office. The staff there have much experience with students from non-EU-countries and it is relatively unproblematic for you to obtain the residence permit there. The staff at the immigration authority offices in the rural districts surrounding Wuppertal have very little experience with students from outside the EU, and so it may be a difficult process to obtain a residence permit from them!
While you are in Wuppertal...
Some information to assist you with your studies:
Library: The university library is located in Building BZ (Floors 7-10) on Campus Grifflenberg. The entrance is on Floor 7. In order to use the library, you must register at the reception of the library at the entrance, thus obtaining a library card. The library card is also needed for getting an account allowing you to use the computers in the library.
Computers: Computers located outside the library can be used after you have registered at the helpdesk of the university computer center ZIM (in Room T.11.04, opening hours Monday-Friday 8 am-6 pm).
Food: The main student restaurant is located in Building ME, level 2, on Campus Grifflenberg. However, the university has several restaurants and cafeterias.
Now you are ready to start studying. However, you will probably want to relax a little from time to time and we make a few suggestions:
Sport: In the organization "University Sport" you can participate in lots of sport activities; see http://www.hochschulsport.uni-wuppertal.de/cms/kontakt. The gym is located in Building I, Room 14.36.
Cinema: A group of students from the Building Engineering Department organize a cinema at the University. There are regular movie shows in one of the big lecture halls, Hörsaal 14 (M.10.12). In particular, there are special shows with movies that are not dubbed in German but have the original sound with German subtitles. That is, the language spoken is often English and maybe sometimes even Japanese! The tickets are cheap, only 1.20 €. See http://www.unifilm.de/studentenkinos/wuppertal/unikino_wuppertal
From a Teatime on origami.
Language lessons/Teatimes: At the SLI (Language Learning Institute of the university) you can learn languages (such as English and German) at modest prices. Check out the program at http://www.sli.uni-wuppertal.de/en/home.html. To take a language course, you will generally have to contact the SLI (in Room S.09.06, phone: +49 202 439 3304, fax: +49 202 439 3306, e-mail: audio{at}uni-wuppertal.de) to make an appointment for a placement test. The SLI also organizes so-called Teatimes, where you can meet with German students of Japanese in an informal atmosphere and discuss with them topics of your choice in a language of your choice. For more information about the Teatimes, contact the SLI at the coordinates given above.
International Students Team: International Students Team Wuppertal helps you get to know other students, both international and German. It organizes a get-together for international students every Thursday evening in the Uni-Kneipe (Building ME, Level 4) and various other events for relaxation and recreation. Seewww.international-students-wuppertal.de.
Swimming: The Wuppertal public swimming pool (called the "Schwimmoper", i.e., the "Swim-Opera" because of its futuristic design) can be recommended for every fan of swimming. A one-day pass costs 2 € when you show your student ID. The address is Südstrasse 29, 42103 Wuppertal. See also https://www.wuppertal.de/tourismus-freizeit/baeder/102010100000007211.php.
Before you leave Wuppertal...
Click on the picture if you want to read the stickers!
De-registration with the university: You must fill in the form Antrag auf Exmatrikulation.doc (unfortunately only in German), and submit it to the International Office, Ms. Rademacher, Room O.06.14d, not more than 4 days before your departure.
De-registration with the municipal authorities: You need to de-register with the municipal registration office (Einwohnermeldeamt) at the address Steinweg 20, 42275 Wuppertal, if you live in Wuppertal. To make an appointment with the municipal registration office in Wuppertal, you can call the number 0202 / 563-0 (but we suspect they only speak German) or use the URL https://terminvergabe2.wuppertal.de/?company=stadtwuppertal (unfortunately only in German!).
Transcript of records: If you need a transcript of records, then please make copies of the certificates (Leistungsbescheinigungen) for all the exams that you passed and take them to the International Office, Ms. Rademacher, Room O.06.14d, when you do your de-registration with the university.
Your dormitory room: If you live in the student dormitory and you have chosen to clean your room yourself before your departure (thus saving the 50 € that it costs to have the room cleaned by the dormitory staff) you must make an appointment with a caretaker on a workday (Monday-Friday) before you depart in order that he/she can check your room. Make the appointment at the administration office of the dormitories. Address: Max-Horkheimer-Str. 10, Level 1 (the lowest level in the basement), 42119 Wuppertal. If you depart on a workday, you can leave the room key at the office. If you leave while the office is closed, for example during a weekend, just leave the key on the table of the room and slam the door.
Radio/TV: If you have registered as a user of German state radio and television at the Beitragsservice von ARD, ZDF und Deutschlandradio (fee collection service of ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio) you must de-register there also.
We hope you have had a really great stay at the University of Wuppertal and wish you the best of luck with your future activities. We hope to see you again somewhere/some time!
