Curriculum Changes
The curriculum change process encompasses all the steps necessary so that you receive a different curriculum from the standard curriculum.
This particularly applies to:
- Stays abroad, during which alternative courses are used.
- Taking modules in an elective field outside of the elective catalogue in order to create an individual academic profile
- Taking modules outside of the course of study in preparation for changing a course of study.
Brief Overview of a Curriculum Change
- Submission of a request in the request database
- Collecting all necessary signatures
- Submission of the complete request to the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
- Formal review (time scope) by the Faculty
- Review of content by respective lecturers
- Return of the application to the student(s) and transmission of a copy to the Central Examination Office
- Central Examination Office inserts the relevant modules into the study plan
- Registration of the relevant examinations in RWTHonline by the student(s)
Typical processing duration by the examination boards: 2 to 4 weeks
Note: You must submit the request before taking exams! Please submit the application to the Examination Board at least two weeks before the end of the modular examination registration period to ensure timely processing. When recognizing academic achievements that have been completed via an application for a change in the study plan, the most recently applied for status per module is always taken into account. Modules in which a performance has already been taken can no longer be removed from the study plan or replaced.
Detailed Description
Requests are submitted via the form Request for internal Curriculum Change
The signed form is submitted to the respective examination board with all of the required signatures:
- Signature of the occupational field advisor/Master's supervisor
- (For students in the business administration and engineering course of study with a specialization in mechanical engineering: Your economic supervisor can submit their approval via email. Please include the email in your request.)
Note: Your request cannot be processed if signatures or documentation are missing.
Applications can be submitted via e-mail, sent to the faculty by mail, or dropped in the "red mailbox" (Eilfschornsteinstraße 18, 52062 Aachen, first floor). The original document should not be submitted additionally if the application as already been sent to the examination board vie e-mail. Digitally submitted applications must be signed or digitally signed.
All results regarding the applications will be communicated to the applicants after the decision of the respective examination board. For this purpose, a decision letter will be sent via e-mail.
The occupational field advisor/Master's supervisor reviews
- whether a sufficiently similar module to the requested external module exists in the student's curriculum.
- If this is the case, the student has the lecturer of the RWTH module sign the process slip.
- If there is no module in the curriculum that is sufficiently similar, the occupational field advisor/Master's supervisor reviews, whether the external module can nevertheless be integrated into the curriculum.
The Faculty of Mechanical Engineering reviews the formal equivalence of the time commitment of the academic work completed outside of the curriculum.
The review of business and economics modules is carried out bythe mentor of the respective business and economics specialization.
The respective examination board then reviews the request a final time. After your request has been processed, you will receive the processed form in the mail at the address provided.
After you complete the external modules, please submit the original copy of your transcript of records and the final page of the curriculum change filled out to the examination board. The examination board will issue a notice of accreditation and inform the ZPA of the accreditation.