Services around studying
For higher education studies, you attend a higher education institution such as a college or university. The Studierendenwerke are the right place to go to if students need information on housing, food, finances and everything else. In principle, the services offered by the Studierendenwerke are available to all students. Some services are specially tailored to international students.
Here are a few examples of what Studierendenwerke do to support international students and bring them together with German students:
Service package – the all-round carefree package
The wish: Settle in well, find your feet quickly, make friends and start your studies in a relaxed manner.
The reality: Finding an affordable apartment on the open market is very difficult. And doing this at the beginning of the semester with your perhaps slightly rocky German is even more difficult.
With the service package, a total of 16 Studierendenwerke provide international students with a welcome package consisting of a room in a residence hall, initial support and other start-up assistance. This makes it easier for them to arrive and settle in at their place of study.
The service package always includes a room in a student residence hall. At many locations, the service package also includes a student public transportation ticket, vouchers for the Mensa (student restaurant) and insurance. Each Studierendenwerk determines independently which services are included in the service package.
Some Studierendenwerke even provide a bicycle, computer, internet connection, crockery and bed linen or offer sport and language courses. The starting point is that with the service package, you have already paid a large part of your expenses before your course starts. There is a flat rate for the semester, which varies depending on the scope of the package.
This makes the costs of your stay in Germany more calculable. You will have therefore already answered the question “How much does it cost me to live in Germany?” in advance. One less thing to worry about! In some places, the immigration authorities even accept the booking of a service package as proof of funding for the visa. So another thing you don’t need to worry about!
Food connects – the Mensa as a meeting place
Vegetarian food, dishes without alcohol and pork, pasta, rice, sweet potatoes as side dishes – that's what the Studierendenwerk Mensa menus offer.
At the Multi-Kulti-Küche – an international cooking festival – international students become the hosts in their host country and create a menu according to their own ideas. For this event, the students cook for their fellow students using recipes from their home countries with the support of the Mensa chefs, and whet everyone’s appetite for cultural diversity.
Gazpacho from Spain, American turkey, Chinese dumplings, Caribbean chicken in orange sauce, Russian borscht. All this and much more has been served up over the past ten years. The Studierendenwerk takes on the purchasing of ingredients and event organisation. The students do the chopping, stirring and cooking themselves. To ensure that “nothing gets burnt”, the international amateur chefs are assisted by the Mensa professional chefs in preparing the international buffet.
Integration through culture
As soon as everything has been arranged for the start of the studies, the Studierendenwerke offer an international cultural and event programme that is not only very popular with students from abroad.
Students from all over the world meet up at various Studierendenwerk facilities to socialise with students from other countries and learn about new cultures. This also helps international students in particular to make connections quickly during their study visit in Germany.
In addition to traditional country evenings, there are also entire theme weeks organised by the Studierendenwerk together with the students. Various events are offered on a specific region of the world, for which students prepare exotic dishes from their home countries; present stories, music and literature, thus perhaps inspiring their fellow students to visit the region.
Intercultural education pre-school childcare
Experience cultural diversity as a matter of course, respect each other, learn from each other – from an early age: Children of students from many different countries come together in the pre-school childcare centres (known as “Kita”) of the Studierendenwerke.
The children and their parents experience and learn tolerance and appreciation when interacting with each other. From the very beginning, the children at the Kita learn a lot about culture, language and eating habits from other countries. And not in training courses or only from books, but quite naturally through everyday experience.
Information and orientation
Who? How? What? Where? How come? For what reason? Why? – Studierendenwerke help students to find their way around everyday life in a higher education setting. To this end, they offer information and, in some cases, advice in several foreign languages.
Cooperation and qualification
With each other instead of against each other. Studierendenwerke continuously work to achieve good study conditions for international students. They work together with local partners.
Advice and help
If you don’t know what to do in a crisis: Studierendenwerke support in emergency situations. Studierendenwerk advisers are attuned to the special needs of international students.
SIK Publications
The Service Point for Intercultural Competence (SIK) supports and presents the intercultural work of the Studierendenwerke with regular publications.
Related topics
Counselling and advisory services of the Studierendenwerke
"regional tutor programmes (residence hall assistants program)"
Digression: Higher education studies with a migration background
Related links
Regional tutor programmes (residence hall assistants program)
Contact persons at the higher education institutions
Residence hall finder: Search portal for places in residence halls
Information on the project “Wohnen für Hilfe” (accommodation for help)
A to Z on student life in Germany
How-to video: “How do I finance my higher education studies in Germany?”