Paderborn students are enrolled at a foreign university during a semester abroad and attend courses with a comparable scope to that in Paderborn. A successful semester abroad specifically includes taking part in the regular, standard examinations customary to the host university at the end of the semester.

The Computer Science department endeavours to establish university partnerships with student exchange programmes in order to provide study places abroad and, in some cases, financial support. Nevertheless, students have to show considerable initiative and often have to have additional qualifications (e.g. in a language). They may incur additional costs: tuition fees, visa fees, proof of language skills, additional health insurance, travel costs; however, in most cases substantial funding is possible under the Erasmus+ programme.

• Consolidation of professional knowledge, especially in areas not covered in Paderborn.
• Consolidation of foreign language skills
• The personal experience of being part of another society and understanding of that society
• Successful examination performance

• The University of Paderborn maintains formal partnerships with foreign universities that are open to the subject of Computer Science and provide for student exchanges. Within the framework of these partnerships, the available exchange study places are advertised annually in Paderborn and are taken up by the successful applicants who are selected in Paderborn. For each active partnership, one member of The Faculty of Computer Science is the program officer or program representative.
• Persons interested in a stay abroad should contact a member of the Department of Computer Science, who, if possible, can arrange a stay abroad together with a foreign colleague.
• The person interested in a stay abroad is to arrange the place of study abroad ("free mover") completely on his or her own as far as possible. In particular, they choose the target university and must apply according to the selection criteria there. In doing so, he or she competes with other applicants from all over the world.

At least three quarters of a year must be allowed as a lead time for all the above options. It is strongly recommended to contact the foreign representative of the Computer Science department at least one year before the planned start of the stay abroad.

For formalised (established) partnerships the following procedure is followed in Paderborn: The available study places abroad are advertised separately for each host university. In order to be able to spend a semester abroad in the 5th semester, students must apply for the advertised study places abroad after the end of the 3rd semester via the Academic International Office to the foreign representative of the subject.

For each host university and each call for applications, a selection committee is appointed by the International Student Advisors of the subject. This committee consists of the Programme Officer of the partnership and additionally one member of the IT department. Based on the application documents and a selection interview with the candidates, the selection committee makes the selection. Depending on the agreement, the selection may have to be approved by the host university.

After completion of the stay abroad, the board of examiners will acknowledge the services provided if they correspond to the usual services in Paderborn. For this purpose, students must acquire certificates of achievement customary at the host university and, if necessary, submit confirmations given by university teachers of the host university.