This page gathers all the useful information and links concerning the student exchange for both visiting students in Germany and Canada, affiliated to MADD-Gen and DiDy, respectively. No claim of completeness comes with the information. If some info. is unclear write one of the mentioned contacts below, if it is outdated or some links are down, contact the last person who edited this page.

Dr. Roland Wittler, Bielefeld Universität, Bielefeld, DE.

Prof. Dr. Martin Ester. SFU, Vancouver, CA.

If you are a MADD-Gen student, the following information might be useful.

More information coming soon.

This sections lists the services that enable you to enter Canada by obtaining the necessary official documents. If you have no previous experience and have not been to Canada, fill both of the questionnaires present in the following links.

• Find out if you need an Electronic Travel Authorisation (eTA) or a visitor visa
• Figure out which permits you need, if any, for your stay in Canada

Note “during the application process for either an eTA or visa, take the time to read carefully everything and double check the filled information as well as all the uploaded documents (if any). If you come to a payment page, be ready to print to PDF the receipt.”

Below are possible scenarios described as examples for flight travels and citizenship:

• On an indirect flight to Vancouver: e. g. transfer within Canada. One will need to present all the required documents to Immigration control directly upon landing. Consider planning ahead a gap of 1–2 hours to pass through immigration and transfer between flights.
• EU citizen with an active eTA (attached to your passport number). Be sure to have the pertaining email of the acceptance for the eTA in an offline form (on your mobile or printed out with the rest of your documents).
• EU citizens are allowed to stay up to 6 months without a visa. It is possible to extend your stay 30 days before the initial 6 months pass. This extension is case dependent yet usually spans from 2–3 weeks.
• Chinese nationals studying in Germany, beware of the 6 months rule so not to lose the residence permit for Germany.
• More coming soon.

The 6 months stay in Canada is considered a business travel.

• Travel application is required: Dienstreisegenehmigung.
• Advance payment for travel costs

Fill in “Antrag auf Abschlag Reisekosten”, to be found on the page linked above. Note, that after you are back, you still need to fill in the final travel reimbursement form “Reisekostenabrechnung”.

Also check out our general wikipage concerning travelling.

Depending on the actual months that you stay in Canada, you might want to apply for a leave of absence for one semester Urlaubsemester.

The following list of papers is required to be filled out and submitted '3 months prior to arriving at SFU. Once they are completely filled and/or scanned, mail Kathleen Bizjak including A. Deister and R. Wittler in CC.

• Choose/Decide a supervisor in SFU (officially, there must still be an SFU Prof. for the paperwork even if you will be located at UBC, BC Cancer Agency, etc). This has to be discussed with your current supervisor beforehand.
• Complete the Visiting Research Student form.
• A transcript, which refers to the record of your academic standing in your course of studies at Bielefeld.
• Bielefeld University has a home policy for worldwide health and hospital insurance coverage, which we all do have. Yet it is necessary to declare that we also do have an alternate coverage plan through the Alternative Medical Coverage form
• A scan of the proof of medical insurance issued by your insurance company (AOK, TK, etc) in English (signed and dated).

“SFU does not charge tuition fees to visiting graduate research students, but they will be asked to pay fees to cover student activity fees and the U-Pass BC transit pass.”

Be sure to verify all the necessary papers listed in the link below under Arrival Checklist, and never hand out originals.

Source.