Requirements for matriculation in the 2018/19 winter semester

The following study requirements apply:

• A school education that has qualified you foradmission to a
  
  university of applied sciences, and
   
• An internship or vocational training

As there are always questions about this topic, we would ask you to carefully review the following points to ensure that your transition to the degree program is as smooth as possible.

School requirements

In order to successfully enroll in a degree program with us, you need a "university entrance qualification."

To put it simply: you need a school certificate stating that you are eligible to study at a university of applied sciences.

This can be a normal high school certificate, a certificate from a technical college, a technical school, a higher commercial school... whatever. The important thing is that it states that you are eligible to study at a university of applied sciences.

If you have obtained a technical college entrance qualification at a technical college, e.g. in the field of "construction," various certificates may contain a clause such as "...is permitted to study the following field of study at a university of applied sciences: construction,...". This restriction may exist, but it is not the norm. If there is no restriction on the certificate, this is considered a general university of applied sciences entrance qualification.

If you have previous training as a technician, your diploma should include a corresponding clause regarding your eligibility for a degree program. If not, please contact us.

A secondary school diploma, even if followed by completed vocational training, is not sufficient.

Internship/training

The second requirement for admission to the Industrial Engineering degree program is "proof of practical experience."

Practical experience in this sense is defined as:

• Completed vocational training in the field of metalworking/Electrical Engineering and a 6-week internship in
  economics or
• Completed vocational training in the commercial/administration field and a 6-week technical internship
  or
• a basic internship and a specialized internship, each lasting 6 weeks.

  The basic internship must be completed before starting the degree program. Proof of the specialized internship must be provided by the end of the third semester (February 28) at the latest.

If you are unable to complete the basic internship before starting your degree program but still wish to begin your degree program in the winter semester, please contact the university's Enrollment Office.

Please note, however, that if an internship is required to obtain your university entrance qualification, this must of course be completed independently of the internship for the university. 

Terms: Basic and specialized internship

The basic internship is an internship that must be completed before the start of your studies. It is either a "technology" internship or a "business" internship.

The specialized internship provides specialization in your basic knowledge, but must be completed in the other field. For example, if you have completed a basic internship in "business," the specialized internship is the "technology" internship. And vice versa, of course, if your basic internship was the "technology" internship.

The exact responsibilities to be completed are specified in the following chapters on internships. Please note that you are not allowed to combine the contents of the two internships, i.e., first an "economics" internship and then a "technology" internship (or vice versa), but please do not do both "mixed up."

The basic internship must be completed before starting your degree program and lasts 6 weeks. The specialized internship, also lasting 6 weeks, must be completed by the end of the 3rd semester at the latest.

All internships must be completed on a full-time basis.

If you have completed relevant training, you may not need to complete an internship, or only need to complete part of it, depending on your training. However, if your training occupation is of a different nature, it may be necessary to complete the entire basic and specialized internship.

We have already answered various questions about the required internship in previous inquiries. You can find a collection of these in the menu under "Already Recognized."

Required internship

As a general rule, admission without practical experience in a company is not possible.

If you have completed an internship as part of your school education, this may be recognized in whole or in part under certain circumstances. However, this is only possible if the content of your internship meets our requirements.

Model factories are often set up as part of school education. However, we do not recognize these as internship companies.

Activities carried out as part of the supervised annual internship that is still required at some types of schools can be recognized, but only if the activities we require have been completed and are expressly confirmed by the internship company.

However, one thing is essential: the internship must have taken place in a company. Not at school, even if model factories are operated there, for example. As already described, this is unfortunately not sufficient.

Contrary to the legal regulations on voluntary internships, the internship to be completed is a compulsory internship as part of your degree program. This is exempt from the statutory minimum wage. (See Bachelor's Examination Regulations - V. Special Section Industrial Engineering, § 35 W)

Technical internship

The technical internship should include at least two industry-related activities from the following areas:

• Manual working techniques on metals, plastics, and other materials
• Machine working techniques with cutting machines and non-cutting shaping machines
• Joining techniques
• Heat treatment
• Technical surface treatment
• Tool, fixture, and gauge construction
• Assembly of devices, machines, and systems
• Quality assurance (measurement and testing in the laboratory and in production)
• Establishment of operations and organization of work processes

The order of the individual points is not important to us.

The first 6 weeks of the internship must be completed before the start of your studies; this automatically counts as the basic internship, as it must be completed before the start of your studies.

The remaining six weeks of the internship automatically constitute the specialized internship, which must be completed by the end of the third semester, but in the other area (technology/business).

All internships must be completed in full. However, this does not have to be in one go; it is possible, and sometimes even advisable, to split the internship between different companies. Please note, however, that no period of the internship may be shorter than 3 weeks.

Business internship

The business internship should cover at least two of the following functional areas:

• Procurement/materials management
• Production planning/organization
• Accounting
• Electronic data processing
• Credit management / credit transactions
• Human resources
• Sales

The order of the individual points is not important to us.

The first 6 weeks of the internship must be completed before the start of your studies; this automatically counts as the basic internship, as it must be completed before the start of your studies.

The remaining six weeks of the internship automatically constitute the specialized internship, which must be completed by the end of the third semester, but in the other area (technology/business).

All internships must be completed in full. However, this does not have to be in one go; it is possible to split them up and do them at different companies, which can sometimes even be beneficial. But please note: no periods shorter than 3 weeks.

Dates

The basic internship must be completed before the start of the program. This is usually in the third week of September. Please refer to our dates page for the exact start date. (Please note the lecture periods!)

However, you must submit your application for the degree program earlier: Study places are allocated directly by the university, so please submit your application by July 15 of the respective calendar year.

The internship does not have to be completed before matriculation. If you receive the invitation to matriculate earlier, we will need confirmation from your internship company that you are doing the internship there and when it is expected to be completed. You will receive more detailed information on this with the invitation to matriculate.

The specialized internship must be completed by the end of the third semester (February 28). As with the basic internship, there is no grace period, no matter how reasonable your reason may seem. Unfortunately, none of us can get around this legal requirement.

Internship companies

We must point out that the internship must be career-oriented: in other words, it must be relevant to your future field of work after completing your degree program. This also means that you must complete the internship in a larger (industrial) company where you can gain experience in various functional areas/departments. This can be an industrial company, the central administration of a trading company, or a service provider.  Do yourself a favor and look for the largest company possible. Only there will you see and learn a lot!

Certificates from craft businesses are unlikely to be recognized. We do not provide original training for these either!

Make sure that you pass through as many departments as possible. Also make sure that the activities are distributed as evenly as possible over the internship period, i.e., for a 6-week basic internship, do not spend 4 weeks in accounting and one week each in 2 other areas.

Typical temporary jobs are generally not recognized as internships, e.g., supermarket work, pizza delivery, or warehouse and production assistant jobs. Model companies, business simulation games, example companies, etc., which are often found in schools, are also unlikely to be recognized, as they are not real companies.

The following applies to graduates of a business high school (e.g., here in Lemgo on the Lüttfeld): During their school career, there is a maximum of two weeks of student internship, which is not enough for our requirements. Therefore, a full basic and specialized internship must be completed.

When submitting an application, you should bear in mind that many companies close for holidays, especially during the summer months. A certain degree of flexibility is therefore required when choosing the period for the internship.

Internship confirmation

In order for your internship to be recognized, you must submit a corresponding confirmation from your internship company.

This must be written on original letterhead with the company letterhead. In addition, it should bear the company stamp, but a signature is mandatory.

The confirmation must contain the following: ...that you (your name, address, place of residence) completed a basic or specialized internship (please specify) in the period from...to...and performed the following activities: And now please list the activities you performed.

It is best to use the wording of our requirements for basic and specialized internships. This is because the confirmation will be checked by our administration in the form of the Enrollment Office directly upon matriculation. If your confirmation deviates from our specifications, it will first be forwarded to the faculty for additional review.

This will cause a delay. It is therefore in your interest to ensure that the confirmation corresponds to our "ideal model."

What will be recognized as an internship from my professional activity?

Each degree program has a description of the required content. If you can provide us with confirmation that you have already completed these activities (in whole or in part) within a period of X weeks, we can recognize them.

Which coursework already completed will be recognized?

When transferring from another university to ours, coursework already completed can (but do not have to) be credited. Recognition takes place after matriculation by the respective subject lecturer. He or she recognizes it if the number of hours, course content, and form of examination are comparable.

Industrial engineer: Internships at a higher commercial school/vocational college?

If you have completed an internship of several months in an industrial company as part of your higher commercial school/vocational college education, and the activities there correspond to the activities we require and you can provide appropriate confirmation, we will recognize the "Economics" internship. The "Technology" internship still needs to be completed.

Industrial engineer: Internships at a business high school?

This type of school does not usually offer practical placements lasting several months in industrial companies. Therefore, there are no internships that can be recognized.

Recognition

The Production and Economics Faculty at Ostwestfalen-Lippe University of Applied Sciences decides on the recognition of basic and specialized internships. Contact: Mr. Volker Siebrasse (Tel.: 05261/702-5712). Please use the email form for inquiries.

Relevant training and professional activities can be credited towards the internships. The faculty of Production and Economics at the Ostwestfalen-Lippe University of Applied Sciences decides on this credit.

Your internship will be recognized in full or in part if your internship confirmation shows that you have achieved the results we have set.

Please note that the submission of the specialized internship is required for continuing registration for the 4th semester. Please plan any necessary recognition well in advance.

Inquiry/contact

If you have any questions about the recognition of basic or specialized internships, Mr. Volker Siebrasse will be happy to help you.

You can reach Mr. Siebrasse by phone at 05261/702-5712, or better yet, contact him by email.

However, please note the following:

Compare the content of your previous activities with our internship requirements. An inquiry such as:

"Will my xyz training be recognized as an internship?"

cannot be answered by us without a more detailed description of your activities. Please describe in detail what activities you have completed over what periods of time and which of our internship contents you would like to cover with them.