FAQ and manuals

1. FAQ for international Students & Applicants

In the FAQ for international students and applicants, you can find information on several topics regarding living, studying and working in Darmstadt resp. Germany.

2. Information Brochure for first year students (Pdf-Datei, 2,2 MB)

Students at the beginning of their studies naturally have many questions. In this information brochure we give you an initial overview of relevant topics and contact persons.

3. Activation of the student account

At the beginning of your studies you have to activate your account once. You will find instructions and a tutorial on the account in general on the IT Services pages. 

4. subscribe and unsubscribe to the e-mail distribution lists

At the beginning of your studies you are registered in all e-mail distribution lists of the university. If you wish to deselect some of these distribution lists, you can do so in your user account using the so-called "self-service function".

Especially - but not only - for first-year students it is not easy to keep track of everything concerning your courses. Here you will find overviews and contact persons for everything concerning your studies.

1. Overview IT systems of the h_da (Pdf-Datei, 359,3 KB)

The Hochschule Darmstadt operates several IT applications for the organisation of studies, but also provides various applications for you as a student. Here you can get an overview.

2. Glossary (coming soon)

The glossary is currently still under construction. Here you will find explanations of terms that you will encounter repeatedly in the university context.

3. Contact persons

Here you can find an overview of all contact persons in the Department of Advanced Education with their respective responsibilities and contact details.

1. Overview of the IT systems (Pdf-Datei, 359,3 KB)

During your studies you will come into contact with a range of tools and IT systems. Here you can find an overview of the systems used at the h_da.

2. Libraries in and around Darmstadt (Pdf-Datei, 377,9 KB)

As a student you often have to refer to books and other resources/media from the library. In addition to the library of the Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences, you can also make use of the University and State Library of the State of Hessen, located in Darmstadt and the German National Library in Frankfurt.

We have summarised all the key contact data and website links of these libraries for you. In the second section of the guideline, you can also find further information about using the h_da library Services.

3. Study administration via System HIS-QIS

HISQIS (also QIS or LSF) is the administration platform of the h_da for study organisation. An overview of the functions of QIS can be found on the pages of the IT-Service (Video).

Via QIS you can register for courses and exams, retrieve certificates, view your grades and study history, etc.

4. Learning platform Moodle (Pdf-Datei, 500,5 KB)

Moodle is the central learning platform of the h_da. Each of your courses has an accompanying course on Moodle. More tutorials are available in Moodle itself (link in the tutorial). 

5. reference & knowledge management via Citavi

Citavi is a program for reference management and knowledge management. The h_da makes Citavi available free of charge to all students. If you need further information or assistance, please contact the library.

If you acquire competences prior or parallel to your studies which are also targeted in your studies, you can have these competences recognised or credited if they are equivalent in terms of level, content and scope.

There are basically two forms of recognition/accreditation - individual and blanket. With individual recognition, you submit a separate application for each module that you would like to have credited. Blanket accreditation means, that for some courses or programmes the university has examined the possibility of recognition in advance and you only have to submit one application form for several modules. In the MBA programmes we do only offer individual recognition at the time being.

There is also a distinction in the recognition/accreditation of university and non-university achievements. Higher education achievements are certified achievements that you have acquired in another degree programme and possibly at another university. Extra-curricular achievements are all achievements and competences that you have not acquired at a university - whether formally in the context of further education or informally, for example through work experience. 

Further information about the accredidation of competences can be found in our guideline (Pdf-Datei, 454,4 KB). Further information on the recognition procedure and all forms and completion aids can be found in our
Form Center. Please check the Process for recognition of competences (Pdf-Datei, 19,0 KB) before you fill in or submit an application form.

If a module is successfully accredited, the participation fee for your degree programme is reduced by the corresponding fee for the module. Please note that applications for recognition are subject to a processing fee which is offset against the fee reduction. You will find the exact amount of the pro-rata reduction as well as the processing fee in the fee schedule for your degree programme (Part-Time (Pdf-Datei, 68,1 KB) and Full-Time (Pdf-Datei, 68,3 KB)).

1. E-mail address

You will receive a student e-mail address from the university at the beginning of your studies. All digital communication between the university and you will take place via this address. This is where you will receive important messages. Please make sure that you read your e-mails regularly. You can do this

• via Webmail Roundcube
• in your own E-Mail Client (german instruction only; if you need support, please contact the IT-Services)

2. Subscribe and unsubscribe the e-mail distribution list

At the beginning of your studies you are registered in all e-mail distribution lists of the University. If you wish to deselect some of these mailing lists, you can do so in your user account.

3. Account (Video or Information IT-Service)

You can maintain your student account via the so-called self-service function. You can change your data here, for example, if you move and want change your address data, as well as subscribe and unsubscribe to e-mail distribution lists.

At the beginning of your studies you will receive your student ID, the Campus Card. Information about the Campus Card and its functions can be found on the pages of the Student Service Center.

The Campus Card is already activated at the beginning of your studies, so you do not have to do anything at first. From the second semester onwards, you need to revalidate the Campus Card (Pdf-Datei, 305,3 KB) every semester so that it is still valid. You can find instructions here (Pdf-Datei, 305,6 KB).