Until April 19, 2020, engineering students can still register for the language tandem in the summer semester 2020, which will take place using various online tools.

Due to the current corona situation, the Tandem.MINT cannot be implemented in the usual form in the 2020 summer semester either. For the protection of all participants, it is planned to have the language tandem exclusively take place online using tools such as Skype, Zoom or FaceTime.

Especially in the current situation it is a great challenge to get in contact with fellow students and to improve language skills and intercultural competences. With the online version of Tandem.MINT the organisers would like to try to close this gap.

In exchange with a tandem partner who is a native speaker of the target language or has a high level of proficiency in the target language, students can improve their foreign language skills and try out intercultural communication.

The fact that the tandem partner is also studying a STEM subject makes it possible to discuss subject-specific topics and to establish links to typical contexts of action in the course of study and to improve the language of the subject. In this way, students train for the professional context to work together in multilingual and culturally heterogeneous teams in a subject-specific way - and thus acquire key competences for the increasingly internationalised professional world already during their studies.

Prerequisites are: Proficiency in the target language of level B1 (CEFR) at least (for typologically distant languages: level A2) as well as proficiency in the primary language as a native speaker or comparably high level (C1 at least).

Students can choose between two variants of the programme and either obtain a participation certificate or credit points.

Further information and the application form are available on the following website: internatural.blogs.rub.de.

Tandem.MINT is a joint venture of the projects inSTUDIESplus and ELLI (sponsored by the BMBF) and the University Language Centre (ZFA). It was launched as a pilot-programme in summer semester 2018 is since offered once per semester.