During the Mobility (DTM)

This page will give you an overview of important systems and procedures for your student life at TH Köln.

Please note that some of the pages linked here are aimed at the degree-seeking students of TH Köln. While the vast majority of information is equally valid for you, occasionally a specific detail might not apply to your situation as an exchange student. When in doubt, just ask us at incomings-exchange@th-koeln.de.

Even after your arrival in Germany, our MobilityOnline platform will continue to keep you company. Please log in at regular intervals and make sure that your workflow is always up to date. If you neglect this, you may not have access to crucial functions when you need them (e.g. confirmation of your LA-DTM, extension of your stay, important documents for your Erasmus scholarship...).

Below is an overview of the most important steps in the “Arrival”, “During your stay” and, if applicable, “Extension” sections of your MobO workflow.

• Confirmation of Arrival

As soon as you have arrived at TH Köln, you must enter the date of your arrival in MobilityOnline. This step is necessary so that you can keep progressing through the workflow and access important functions (e.g. download your Confirmation of Arrival, create a Learning Agreement - Create During the Mobility...).

Please log into MobilityOnline and

• go to the step “Stay abroad started” in your workflow
• click on the step “Please answer the questions”
• enter the date of your arrival in Cologne or Gummersbach. Please note: the earliest date we can confirm for you is the start of the semester (Summer Semester: March 1, Winter Semester: September 1). Even if you arrive earlier, your official stay can only begin with the start of the semester.
• save your entry.

The Department of International Affairs will now check and confirm your details. After confirmation, you'll be able to download an official “Confirmation of Arrival” document in the next step of your workflow.

If your home university insists on using its own template for this confirmation, please complete the necessary steps in MobilityOnline anyway. Then send your home university's template to us at incomings-exchange@th-koeln.de. We will check the date in MobilityOnline and fill in your template accordingly.

To participate in courses, there is generally no need to register separately for each course. Special teaching formats such as labs, projects or block seminars might pose an exception to this rule. When in doubt, please ask the responsible lecturer or your Departmental Coordinator at TH Köln whether registration is required for a particular course.

Many faculties provide materials and information (e.g. course scripts, reference materials, learning resources, etc.) on a digital learning platform such as ILU or THSpaces. Access to those platforms is reserved for enrolled students of TH Köln. We therefore recommend completing your enrollment 4-6 weeks before the start of lectures so you have all courses and materials available to you in good time.

To take examinations, you must register in advance during certain registration phases, which may vary from faculty to faculty. Most faculties use the platform PSSO (Prüfungs- und StudierendenService Online), where you can register and deregister for examinations, view your grades and generate a Transcript of Records at the end of the semester. At three institutes / faculties, exam registrations will be handled by the responsible Departmental Coordinator (see list below).

Please make sure to ask your Departmental Coordinator about the relevant exam registration phase at the beginning of your mobility. He or she will also be able to help if you have doubts about the correct method of exam registration or other academic questions.

● Exam registration via PSSO

A general tutorial video explains how to use PSSO. Please make sure you watch this video!

To protect your examination data, a so-called TAN (Transaction Authentication Number) is required for every action in PSSO. A TAN has the function of a single-use password; it becomes invalid after use. 

With your student ID card (MultiCa), you will receive a letter with five initial TANs, which you can use to generate a longer TAN list. Therefore please keep your letter in a safe place! Although it is possible to request a substitute if necessary, this costs time and creates unnecessary work for the Student Office. Ideally, you generate your TAN list right at the start of the semester and not just before you register for exams.

Please note that you will only find examinations in PSSO that match the study program and study semester you are enrolled in at TH Köln. In the “Other” category, you will also find examinations for the language courses offered by the Language Learning Center at TH Köln. 

Examinations that belong to other semesters, study programs or even other faculties will most likely not be shown for you in PSSO. To register for exams that you cannot find in PSSO, please contact the study office at your campus location in good time. Send an e-mail from your smail address (this is your official e-mail address at TH Köln) to the study office containing the following information:

• your full name
• your student ID number
• the full name of the module, the exam number and the name of the examiner. Please do not use abbreviations or your own translations!
• the study program and faculty to which the examination belongs

You can find the contact details of the study offices here.

● Exam registration via Departmental Coordinator

A few faculties and institutes handle exam registrations differently. Here you can find an overview:

● Exam period

Examinations normally take place at the end of the semester. However, there can also be exceptions: some courses include a so-called “semester-accompanying assessment”. Those assessments can be presentations, projects, papers etc. which have to be completed during the semester. The exact examination dates will only be published a few weeks after the start of the semester.

Please note: At Deutz campus and Gummersbach campus, it may occasionally happen that an examination takes place after the official end of the semester. In this case, you must take action to remain enrolled at TH Köln until the examination date. If you do nothing, you will be disenrolled at the end of the semester and will not be able to take the exam!

In this situation, the following applies:

• If you are taking the exam in question for the first time, TH Köln will extend your enrollment free of charge until the day of the exam. In this case, please contact the Department of International Affairs by email (incomings-exchange@th-koeln.de). In your email, list all relevant examinations with the name of the subject, examination number, examination date and name of the examiner. 
• If you are retaking the examination in question, you must re-register for the following semester and pay the semester fee. → Querverweis vom Wort "re-register" zum Abschnitt "Re-registration" .
• If you are enrolled in a Double Degree program at TH Köln, you have to re-register for the following semester and pay the semester fee as well.

Please check at the beginning of the lecture period whether the course selection recorded in your (D)LA-BTM has changed. There are often minor changes, e.g. due to scheduling conflicts.

• If you have not created a LA-BTM, or if your course selection has remained unchanged, you do not need a LA-DTM. In this case, please open your workflow in MobilityOnline, click on the step “Answer question about the Learning Agreement During the Mobility” and answer the question “Would you like to make changes to your Learning Agreement (BTM) / create a Learning Agreement (DTM)?” with “NO”.
• If you have created an LA-BTM and your course selection has changed, please document those changes in an LA-DTM (Learning Agreement - During the Mobility) within 2-3 weeks after the start of lectures. In this case, answer the question “Would you like to make changes to your Learning Agreement (BTM) / create a Learning Agreement (DTM)?” in your workflow with “YES”.

Creating your LA-DTM basically works the same way as creating the LA-BTM.

• Students who use OLA/DLA revise their Learning Agreement in the mobility platform of their home university and then send it to TH Köln via the EWP network. If you have any questions, please contact your coordinator in your home country. IMPORTANT: Please do NOT send a completely new DLA/OLA, but an updated version with tables A2 and B2 filled in.
• Students who use Learning Agreements in PDF format should please create an updated version of your LA-BTM that clearly shows the original course selection and the changes. This version must be signed by yourself and by your coordinator at your home university. Upload the document with both signatures in the “Upload Learning Agreement (DTM)” step of your workflow in MobilityOnline.

Do you like your stay at TH Köln and you would like to stay longer than originally intended?

There are three conditions for extending your stay:

   1. Your home university agrees to the extension

   2.You will remain enrolled at your home university throughout your whole (extended) stay. No exchange at TH Köln is possible without enrollment at your home university.

   3. The host faculty at TH Köln agrees to the extension.

To apply for an extension of your stay, first go to MobilityOnline and make sure that all steps in the “Arrival” and “During your stay” sections of your workflow have been completed! If this is the case, you will now see the step “Answer question regarding the extension of your stay”. Click on this step and answer “I want to extend my stay (yes)”.

Now contact your home university and ask for a written confirmation of their consent. This confirmation can either be a (digital) letter or an email from your coordinator. What's important is that it is written in English or German and contains the following information:

• your full name
• the specific duration of the planned extension (e.g. “March 1 to August 31, 2026”)
• that your home university agrees to the extension
• that you will remain enrolled at your home university and will not end your studies during this period.

You can either upload the confirmation in your workflow (step “Upload confirmation of home institution”) or your coordinator can email it directly to incomings-exchange@th-koeln.de.

Now the host faculty will be informed and can accept or reject your application for an extension.

These are the deadlines to apply for an extension:

Extension for the following winter semester: 15.05. to 15.06.

Extension for the following summer semester: 15.11. to 15.12.

Attention non-EU citizens:

If you are not an EU citizen, please check the validity period of your visa or residence permit and extend it in good time! If needed, we can issue an updated Letter of Admission for you.

What you need to do to enrol for your first semester at TH Köln is explained in the “Enrolment” section. → Link zu “Arrival and enrollment”

For each subsequent semester, you will need to "re-register" (Rückmeldung in German) in order to remain enrolled at TH Köln.

If it was agreed from the outset that you would remain with us in the following semester, re-registration is very simple: you only have to pay the semester fee. You will receive an automatic reminder by email from noreply@th-koeln.de a few weeks in advance, stating the re-registration deadline. If you pay the semester fee after the re-registration deadline, you will be charged a late fee.

If the original plan was for you to leave after the current semester, re-registration is not possible without further action. In this situation, a block in CaMS will prevent you from re-registering for the following semester. In order to be able to re-register, you must first apply for an extension of your mobility. → Link von den Worten “Extension of your mobility” zum Abschnitt “Extension” If your application for an extension is accepted, we will adjust the block and you can re-register by paying the semester fee. Once again, if you pay the semester fee after the re-registration deadline, you will be charged a late fee. 

Details about the re-registration block:

In principle, ALL exchange students and freemovers have a re-registration block, as they will only be at TH Köln for a limited period of time. The re-registration block is adjusted to the planned duration of your stay. 

If you would like to check your personal re-registration block, log into CaMS, go to the Student Services section and click on the “Blocks” tab. If you suspect an error with your block, you can contact us at incomings-exchange@th-koeln.de. But please read carefully what is stated under "Semester" first.

Here's an example from CaMS: The block will prevent re-registration for the winter semester 2025/26, but re-registration for the summer semester 2025 is possible without problems.