Refugees participating in the programme of the “Kiron Open Higher Education GmbH”, who are interested in studying at the University of Vechta, can and have to apply like all prospective students.

Based on the courses offered by Kiron, the following related degree programmes offered at the University of Vechta might be suitable:

• Social Work (Bachelor or Master)
• Social Service Management (Bachelor or Master)
• Business and Ethics: Social Business (in the Bachelor Combined Studies)
• Social Sciences (in the Bachelor Combined Studies)
• Political Science (in the Bachelor Combined Studies)

The complete range of programmes can be found here.

You can apply for recognition of coursework or credits achieved in the Kiron programme.

For modules offered by universities, you have to submit a request for transfer of credits. Information on this request can be found here.

If you have completed modules not offered by a university, you can request recognition of skills acquired outside of higher education for these modules. Information on this request and the contact details of Maria Goldberg can be found here.

Dr. Katrin Schumacher will be happy to answer your questions.

The Network for Traumatised Refugees in Lower Saxony offers free psychological counselling (also for children and teens) in Hanover, Oldenburg and Osnabrück, among other places. Counselling sessions can be held in German, English or (with the support of interpreters) in many other languages.

The Studentenwerk also offers psychosocial counselling, which is open to all students of the University of Vechta.

The International Office regularly informs prospective international students and teachers with and without a refugee background about new offers at the University of Vechta as well as application deadlines.

In addition to prospective students and teachers with and without a refugee background, the free newsletter is also aimed at all interested counselling centres and volunteers.

If you would like to be added to the mailing list to receive the newsletter, please send a short email to Dr Katrin Schumacher (katrin.schumacher@uni-vechta.de).

The International Office raises third-party funds in order to be able to offer these programmes. Information on these programmes can be found here.

The International Office successfully applied for funding for scholarships for Ukrainian students and teachers by the DAAD-programme "Zukunft Ukraine – Stipendienprogramm für Geflüchtete aus der Ukraine an deutschen Hochschulen". Information can be found here (website currently in German only).

The University of Vechta has a long-standing and active partnership with the Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University in Luzk, which includes promoting student and teacher mobility and carrying out joint projects.

The one week training "Reach out!" in June 2024 is aimed at (prospective) teachers (primary and lower secondary) from Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and Germany.

The topics of the training are intercultural education, international networking of schools, racism-critical teaching and democracy education.

The training, organised by the International Office, is supported by the DAAD with funds from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

The project "Tandem international - gemeinsam mehr bewegen" (2022-2024) is funded by the DAAD programme "Ostpartnerschaften" ("Eastern Partnerships"). It is implemented by the International Office together with the Ukrainian partner university in Luzk, Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University. The project focuses on intercultural learning and collaborative teaching. In addition to teacher and student mobility, it includes the organisation of a study module "Ukraine: Literary and Intercultural Perspectives" in which students from Luzk and Vechta discuss both current voices in contemporary Ukrainian literature and intercultural issues.

The University of Vechta and the Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University in the Ukrainian city of Luzk have had a partnership for many years. Regular student exchanges and joint projects, among other things, have led to diverse and close contacts. Due to the Russian war against Ukraine, the students and teachers in Luzk are currently facing special challenges. In order to support them, the International Office of Vechta University has acquired third-party funding in the DAAD programme "Ukraine digital: Ensuring academic success in times of crisis", which aims at enabling Ukrainian students to continue their studies.

Within the framework of the project Ukrainian students at the partner university in Luzk receive scholarships. The aim is to contribute to the students' ability to continue and finance their studies despite the war. Many of the students have to compensate for their own loss of income - or that of their parents - and are confronted with rising rents and living costs. The majority of them are also involved in voluntary work, for example in caring for and accommodating Ukrainians who have fled.

Furthermore, teaching assignments for additional online seminars are awarded to lecturers at the University of Luzk in order to strengthen the online teaching offer of the partner university. In addition, workshops for Ukrainian lecturers will be offered which focus on tools and methods of online teaching.

The project is funded by the DAAD with funds from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

The International Office organizes international movie nights (Unikino Vechta) on a regular basis. In the winter semester there was a focus on Ukrainian films. With the support of the Ukrainian Filmfestival Berlin, the following to films were screened on campus: "The Earth is blue as an orange" and "Atlantis" (in Ukrainian with English subtitles). Details can be found here.