You can freely select any modules not offered by a geography department, as these electives are intended to be taken across different disciplines. You do not have to limit yourself to the FU and can also take modules at all other universities and colleges; however, it is required that your elective modules are hosted by/belong to a study program at the Master’s level (no Bachelors modules can be accredited toward your M.Sc.). Modules offered within the BUA (Berlin University Alliance) programs can be recognized and accredited as interdisciplinary electives for your M.Sc. Unfortunately, language courses are not recognized. Nevertheless, these regulations should not prevent you from taking courses that interest you, even if you cannot receive academic credit. Courses that are not included in your overall grade can still be listed on your final diploma.

It is important that you complete a whole module, as partial credit cannot be given for completing single classes or seminars within a module. Sometimes a module consists of only one course (such as a seminar, a block seminar, a weekly lab session, etc.); sometimes, however, a module can consist of multiple courses (such as a seminar and a lecture, two seminars, a seminar and a lab session, etc.). In this case, you would need to complete all necessary courses within one module in order to have this work counted toward your degree. What constitutes a module vs. an individual course therein is always laid out in the Study and Examination Regulations for each study program (German abbreviation: StPO)  or the university's/faculty's course catalog. If you're unsure, you can ask the teaching staff responsible for the class you are interested in.

No; you are free to choose any modules that fit the parameters described in the question above. There are contingents available for only the Department of History and Cultural Studies (see question on contingency agreements below). Outside of this contingency agreement with the Department of History and Cultural Studies (German abbreviation: GeschKult), you can complete a full module at any university or college of your interest, provided the parameters listed above apply and the professor/lecturer responsible for each course has agreed to your participation.

There is only one formal contingency agreement with another department at the FU Berlin, and that is with the Department of History and Cultural Studies (German abbreviation: GeschKult). There are five spots available for students from our Master’s program which are given out once a year; usually the deadline for applying for one of these spots within the contingency agreement is in late August or early September. More information can be found here (unfortunately not translated into English; if you require translation assistance, please contact fellow students or our student mentors at global-inequalities@geo.fu-berlin.de) or by contacting the Study and Examination Office (German: Studien und Prüfungsbüro).

After the application deadline, students who receive a contingency spot are reported to the GeschKult department by our examination office. Master’s students are provided with individual modules, and not module packages (this is only the case for Bachelor’s students), therefore, please let the examination office know your specific module requests for GeschKult when you apply. As soon as processing is complete, students can register for their module's courses as usual within Campus Management.

Please see also the following information on the website of the GeschKult department.

The language of instruction and/or examination for these modules does not have to be English. 

It depends on the course, as there is no specific regulation for this in our study regulations. However, if the course you are taking allows you to choose, you can decide whether you would like to receive a grade that is reflected in your overall final average.

There are three possibilities:

1. If it is a course at the FU, you can contact Ms. Zech / Ms. Nardozza (geopruef@zedat.fu-berlin.de) from the Examination Office (German: Studien und Prüfungsbüro) so that they can manually enter the course you have taken into Campus Management. The lecturer of your elective module can then enter your grade or a "pass/fail" as per usual, after the course has been completed.
2. Alternatively, you can also have a written certificate of successful course completion, the so-called "Leistungsnachweis" or “Teilnahmebestätigung”, handed out on paper. Especially if you have taken a course outside the FU, this is the usual procedure. The certificate is usually issued by the faculty where you are taking your course.
3. If you have completed your interdisciplinary elective modules during a semester abroad (i.e., Erasmus, Direct Exchange), your final transcript of records, which shows the number of credits achieved, the names of the modules completed as well as your final grades will serve as your proof of successful course completion. In the case that your transcript does not show a) credit points in terms of ECTS or b) grades that correspond to the German grading system used at the FU, you will have to additionally submit proof of translation of your credits and grades achieved into the German FU system. We recommend that you use the FU-internal grade translation guidelines; these can be found on the FU website here, available unfortunately only in German language, as a link embedded under “hier” in the following sentence on the website (please note that this link can only be opened when logged into the FU wifi or when using a VPN): “Eine Empfehlung zur Umrechnung im Ausland erbrachter Noten finden Sie hier. Bitte beachten Sie, dass diese Tabelle nur zur FU-internen Nutzung vorgesehen ist und daher nur aus dem FU Netz abrufbar ist.”

For this, you need your original certificates of successful course completion as issued and signed by your professor/lecturer, or the corresponding printouts from Campus Management. You must hand these in together with the completed form "Accreditation of Coursework" to the head of the examination board via E-Mail at humangeoexam@geo.fu-berlin.de, once you have all necessary 15 credit points. The head of the examination board determines whether the elective modules can be recognized and, if they agree, they sign the form for you and forward all documents directly to the examination office. The form for the accreditation can be found on the → forms page.

To accredit electives or courses completed abroad for the Master's programme, please use this form. TYou will hand in this form, once you have successfully completed all 15 interdisciplinary elective credits, together with your proof of successful course completion (see question above) to the examination board for our Master’s program. Please fill out one form only for all your completed modules! Toni Schmiz is the contact person for the Examination Board. For enquiries in this regard, please contact humangeoexam@geo.fu-berlin.de.