Welcome to the Department of Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnology!
We're excited to welcome you to Mainz. This guide has been developed to help you find your way to us, from application to course selection and beyond. For all questions related to the department (course registration and selection, Online Learning Agreements, Erasmus+ paperwork and so on), contact the Erasmus+ departmental coordinator, Dr. Taylor McConnell (he/him), at erasmus.kulturanthropologie@uni-mainz.de.
Application
To apply for an Erasmus+ student exchange, you must be currently enrolled in a degree programme at one of our partner universities in the faculty with which we have an agreement. The list of current partners is available here. You must first apply for an Erasmus+ exchange at your home institution – please contact your departmental coordinator for more information, as the application process varies from university to university. Once your application has been approved, your coordinator will nominate you directly to the University of Mainz through our International Office. The International Office will then inform the Department that you are arriving.
You must, however, apply directly to the University of Mainz as an Erasmus+ exchange student through the JOGU-StINe platform (the International Office will give you more information about this in due course). Each semester, you must pay a Semesterbeitrag, often around €350, which covers public transportation, subsidises food in the university cafeterias and contributes to the sports, psychotherapy and solidarity funds run by the General Students' Committee (AStA). This is not tuition but must be paid to enrol. Information about the application and semester fee will be sent by the International Office, not from the Department.
Online Learning Agreement and Course Selection
Prior to arrival, your university will send you information on how to complete your Online Learning Agreement (OLA). Please contact the Erasmus+ departmental coordinator, Dr. Taylor McConnell, at erasmus.kulturanthropologie@uni-mainz.de, for information on the course offering in the coming semester. We offer a limited number of courses in English for the time being, but we expect the number of English-language courses to increase from the 2024/25 winter semester. You must take at least half of your courses in our department but are welcome to take the remaining half in other departments and faculties. You should clear with your departmental coordinator whether additional courses outside Cultural Anthropology/European Ethnology will count toward your own degree requirements.
A current overview of the courses offered in our department is available here as well as on JOGU-StINe. To find our courses on JOGU-StINe, click on English – Course Catalogue – desired semester – Faculty 05 - Philosophy and Philology – Kulturanthropologie/Volkskunde. While the course titles might be translated into English, you must click on the individual course offering to see whether the course is taught in German or English. To visit a course in German, we expect that you have learned the language to the B2 level. The International Office will send further information on language courses for those interested in learning German while in Mainz.
Once you have submitted your OLA, your departmental coordinator will approve it before it is forwarded to the Department here in Mainz. Dr. McConnell will review the OLA and write to you if there are any questions about your course selection. If the course offering changes by the time you arrive in Mainz, do not worry – you can change your OLA at any time and resubmit it for approval to your home university.
Arrival in Mainz
The JGU International Office will send you all the relevant information you need on housing, transportation, semester fees and the Erasmus+ student team, which arranges excursions to destinations in the area. These often include Frankfurt, the Rheingau wine region, Heidelberg and Strasbourg.
Once you arrive in Mainz, you will be invited to various events during the Welcome Week that precedes the start of teaching, normally in mid-October for the winter semester and mid-April for the summer semester. During the Welcome Week, feel free to contact the Erasmus+ departmental coordinator, Dr. Taylor McConnell, at erasmus.kulturanthropologie@uni-mainz.de, to clarify any questions about courses or the department and to complete your Certificate of Arrival (at the end of the semester, too, your Certificate of Attendance).
Freemovers
The application for freemovers from partner universities outside the Erasmus+ framework is currently being redeveloped. It is expected that interested students will apply centrally rather than to their desired department. Please address any questions about the freemover program to the GIS Services team at gis@international.uni-mainz.de. More information is available here.