How many courses can I or do I have to take per semester?
Erasmus students
Erasmus students have a free course choice. We recommend to select courses from our course list for international exchange students.
Erasmus students are not obliged, from the perspective of Freie Universität Berlin, to obtain a certain minimum number of ECTS-credits while studying here.
However, the maximum number of ECTS-credits from law courses taught in foreign languages (other than German) is limited to 30 per semester. That means that you are only allowed to take more than 30 ECTS-credits per term, if those ECTS-credits exceeding 30 in a semester stem from German-taught courses.
We recommend Erasmus students to take courses according to their individual interest and according to the rules set by their home university.
Themis students
Themis students are required to take 30 ECTS-credits worth of courses, including exams, from our (mostly) English-taught course program in International Law and Business Law. Themis courses are made available on our course list for international exchange students under the sub-header "Courses Taught in Foreign Languages at the Law Department". Students in the Themis program may even choose one module up to 6 ECTS-cr which is not a classified Themis course.
However, the maximum number of ECTS-credits from law courses taught in foreign languages (other than German) is limited to 30 per semester. That means that you are only allowed to take more than 30 ECTS-credits per term, if those ECTS-credits exceeding 30 in a semester stem from German-taught courses.
German language courses do not count towards the Themis credit requirement.
Themis students need to attempt exams worth of 30 ECTS-credits seriously, and to pass at least 24 exam credits in order to qualify for the 'Joint Certificate in International and Business Law'.
Overseas students and students from other programs (i.e. DAAD scholars)
Overseas exchange students and students from other programs have a free course choice. We recommend to select courses from our course list for international exchange students.
If you belong to this group, you are not obliged, from the perspective of Freie Universität Berlin, to obtain a certain minimum number of ECTS-credits while studying here.
However, the maximum number of ECTS-credits from law courses taught in foreign languages (other than German) is limited to 30 per semester. That means that you are only allowed to take more than 30 ECTS-credits per term, if those ECTS-credits exceeding 30 in a semester stem from German-taught courses.
We recommend students from this group to take courses according to their individual interest and according to the rules set by their home university or by their scholarship-awarding organization.