Accreditation of Academic Achievements

In general, all achievements accomplished in a previous university degree programme are recognized after switching your study programme or university, if there are no decisive differences in content and standards in comparison to the modules offered in the Medical Engineering degree programme at FAU. For accreditation in the Master´s programme, the achievement usually may not have already been incorporated in the preceding Bachelor´s programme (to ensure a gain in knowledge).
The accreditation is decided on by the lecturers of Medical Engineering based on the presented module descriptions.
For a preliminary assessment, it is recommended to have a look at the FAU module´s description in UnivIS and a description of the external module that you wish to have accredited. The more extensive the concordance between the modules’ descriptions is, the more likely a possible accreditation is. 80% of concordance is a minimum for that. Once you receive admission for the Master´s programme, you can submit the filled out Form for Academic Recognition, an academic achievement overview of your preceding studies and the descriptions of the modules that shall be recognized at the Office of Recognition of Academic Achievements.

You can find an overview of the classes you must take in Master´s degree programme Medical Engineering and the module handbook with a description of contents and objectives of the individual classes here:

• Overview Master (Degree Programme and Examination Regulations 2019)

The Form for recognition of academic achievements can be found here

If you intend to enter a higher semester after switching your study programme to Medical Engineering, please contact your accreditation representative beforehand and submit all the accreditation documents required. If sufficient achievements are accredited, a document will be issued for you to guarantee a semester upgrade at enrollment.

For the accreditation of academic achievements intended for a so called “compulsory electives” during you Master´s the following special provision applies:

You do not have to prove that your academic achievement has been the equivalent in content and academic objective to a module that has been taught in the Medical Engineering degree programme at FAU. A professor of the degree programme must solely verify that the academic achievement is a technical and qualitative to the Medical Engineering degree programme. For that, the applicant must name a professor of the degree programme who works in a field whose subject is similar to the course visited and will provide detailed information on the external module to the accreditation representative (see below). If the professor approves the accreditation, the academic achievement will be registered under its original title (or if part of a foreign module, an English translation will be given) and with its original ECTS credit worth as an obligatory compulsory elective within the corresponding module group.

This opportunity is suitable for academic achievements rendered during a semester abroad.

For the module “flexible budget” (Master) every graded academic achievement is accepted. You do not have to find an equivalent module at FAU.

Academic achievements acquired at FAU, that you cannot or do not want to use as part of your regular Master’s degree and Master’s certificate, can be listed in the “Additional Subjects” section of your Transcript of Records. For modules that you have completed outside FAU or VHB (hence, at a university abroad or at another university in Germany), this is not allowed anymore since October 2018. However, you can still submit proof of these external achievements to your future employer by handing in the Transcript of Records by the respective university together with your job application.

The following documents are required for the accreditation:

• Excel spreadsheet with detailed content description for external modules/academic achievements – not necessary if you have entered a Learning Agreement for accreditation during a semester abroad
• Performance overview/certificate with grades and credits
• Accreditation form – completed and signed.

Please fill the required information in the excel spreadsheet (the pre-existing examples are a visual aid and can be erased) and forward it including your certificate/transcript and accreditation form to the accreditation representative of Medical Engineering. She will forward your request to the professor in charge of the module. If the professor accepts the accreditation for his module, your achievement will be transferred directly to the Examinations Office. If the professor denies your request, you will receive a refusal statement from the professor.

If the accredited achievements exceed 30 ECTS credit points, you will automatically enter a higher semester. The same applies for 60, 90 ECTS credits, etc. (upgrade of 2 or 3 semesters). If you have applied for a leave of absence during your stay abroad and have accredited for more than 29 ECTS credits, your leave of absence will not be revoked, but you will subsequently enter a higher semester.

Academic achievements that were already rendered at FAU (passed or failed) cannot be substituted retroactively by an accreditation.

 

Contact accreditation representative of Medical Engineering

The accreditation of academic achievement from vocational education also follows the above mentioned procedures, but is subject to slightly different regulations. If you have questions, please contact your accreditation representative.

 

The accreditation of foreign achievements converts grades and credits according to the following formulas, unless you provide other official conversion tables:

Grade conversion: x = 1+3 (Nmax-Nd)/(Nmax-Nmin)

Nmax= best possible grade

Nmin= minimum grade to pass

Nd= achieved grade

 

Credit conversion in ECTS: x = Cd (CFAU/CAusl)

CFAU = Credits FAU per semester (30)

CAusl = Credits abroad per semester

Cd = achieved credits per module

If you started your studies in winter term 2018/19 or later, i.e. you are studying according to the study regulations (FPO) version 2018 or 2019, you have to proof to our Examinations Office that you completed certain mandatory modules when registering your Master’s thesis. These mandatory modules (which are also marked with footnotes in your module catalog ) are the following – they are not to be confused with conditional subjects!

• Clinical Applications of Optical Technologies and Associated Fundamentals of Anatomy (module group M1)
• Pattern Recognition (module group M2)
• Pattern Analysis (module group M2)

If you have already covered the contents of these modules in your previous degree please contact the responsible person for accreditation with the above-mentioned documents (see category “Accreditation procedure”) and ask for an exemption from the obligation to complete them again at FAU. If the exemption can be granted you are free to skip these modules and choose other modules from the same module group instead. Important: As the modules from your previous studies counted towards your first degree they will be accredited  with 0 ECTS credits and without a grade, hence not be counted for your Master’s degree. Please note that you can only file a petition for the zero-credit accreditation of a mandatory module if you have not started to give exams for the same module yet. Once you have had your first exam attempt (may it be successful or not) you are not allowed to file an accreditation for the module anymore.