Sunday 8 October 2017

Berlin a city for students

Streets 

It's easy to find a place in Berlin, thanks to the signboards of streets on all the road crossings. All the houses have numbers mentioned outside. Ideal streets( not roads) have a place for two cars to pass, two cars(each on either side) to park, cycle road and pedestrian road. 

Road crossings 

Roads have cars, cycles and pedestrians passing by so there are three signals. One for cars, other for bicycles and the pedestrian crossings. Some places have a switch to request a red signal for pedestrian crossings. Unlike India, people here crossroad with utmost care and safety, almost nullifying the chances of an accident. 

Automobile 

It's a cold country so public transport vehicles have heating systems. Largely walls are made of glass. 

Public Transport 

Being a student you get a 6 months semester ticket which gives complementary public transport service in ABC Berlin region. This area is more than enough. The public transport is run by BVG. Recently I saw an advertisement of BVG which states "Ich mir gal", which means I don't care and love them as they are. Automatic ticket vending machines are present outside every S U Bahn station. Unlike the Delhi metro you need not show a ticket to enter station. It's always open, just walk in. You would rarely find some ticket checker on S and U Bahnbut if you meet one at a wrong time, you will go through heavy fine.  

Finding public transport is easy and accurate on Google maps. Everything runs on time. Stations are equipped with information centre, large city maps and plenty of safety sign and obviously emergency exits. 

U- Bahn (UnderGround Trains)

World's some of the oldest underground metros started in Berlin. U bahn of Berlin is of 1900. And fortunately it's still in operation. U will find u bahn in underground (old) and over ground (New). It's faster than S bahnThe old u bahn station are worthy watching once in Berlin. 

S- Bahn (Rapid City Metro)

They are new and slow as compared to U Bahn. S and U Bahn have automatic gate closing system, which closes with a red flash of lights at doors. When it reaches station, in orde r to open door you have to press a switch. 

Bus  

It's the more easy in the sense of availability and convenient for handicapped. All the major stops have a display showing the arrival time of the bus. Every stop has a place for passenger to wait and sit along with complete city map, and respective bus maps passing through. The bus arrives on time, bends towards the stop in order to be convenient to step up and down. The door near the driver is to get in, and others to step down. Show the ticket to the driver, or if you don't have purchase from him. As you get inside you can feel the warmth, make yourself comfortable with the seats. A screen would be showing the real time route and stops of the bus. The bus stops only if someone is supposed to step in or out. You can find many stop switches near the seats which can be used to notify the driver to make a stop.  

Tram (Street Trains)

Generally the tram is present in the eastern side of the city. Ticket vending machines are present inside. These are generally slow and passes through roads. 

Ferries

Yes the BVG includes Ferries, and they are freely accessible by the student semester ticket. One can be found near Wansee Lake. 

Bus Drivers 

Buses are generally double deckers or long. The drivers are very skilled as you can't find a bus with scratch on its body. Car drivers are very sincerely in following traffic rules. Honking is very rare, and is considered as an expression of anger. Driving on Highways is entirely different, roads have a minimum speed and some have no limit on max. The chances of accident is less but if you met an accident the chances of survival is indeed less. 


Tuesday 3 October 2017

Ph.D. Registration at TU Berlin

Registration as a student in a foreign university is sometimes a tedious job. At Technical University Berlin it's no different. Enrollment is necessary for semester ticket and Eduraom details. City registration is not compulsory to proceed with the registration.

Documents required:
1. Letter of Acceptance: This is different from the one you got for the Scholarship application. This letter is obtained from Faculty of your studies. You need to submit Application as a Doctoral Candidate (Separate for all the Faculties) along with the letter of invitation by your PhD Supervisor. The application form might require the signature of your PhD Supervisor. Sometime it might take a week's processing time to try to submit it well before registration.
Attachments: PhD Proposal, Plan of your research work, CV, Copy of degree certificates (Originals are also required).

2. Declaration for PhD studies: This is a simple form common for all the faculties could be found here. You can simply download, fill and sign this form.
Attachments: Letter of Award, Insurance papers.

3. Online Application: Similar to all the institutes TU asks for your personal, educational and residential information. You can simply fill the form from here. Form can only be filled in Internet Explorer or Firefox

4. Fee payment receipt: Details of fees can be found here. For DAAD Scholarship holders the Verwaltungsgebühr (Administrative Fee) is pardoned. Once calculated you can pay fees at the institute main building (Ground Floor) fee payment kiosk.

5. Copy of passport, VISA and degree certificates (Originals are also required).

Reach Campus Centre with all these five documents and their attachments. In case of any doubts, don't wait for the email response from Campus center, directly reach them on Phone. Better to reach Campus center in Morning at least 30 minutes before the opening time to avoid long waiting.

After successful submission, you should receive few letters:
1. Matriculation Confirmation with Provisional semester ticket: which can be used for public transport
2. tubIT registration details (via email): With the instructions you can register and get a tu-mail ID, same can be used to access eduroam. You will also be asked to upload a photo, which will be used in the student ID card.
3. Semester Ticket
4. Student ID card (also called campus card)

This blog was written on 10 October 2017, information might change over time and is purely based on experience.
For details and clarification please refer to the main website.

Saturday 4 March 2017

Research Grants – Doctoral Programmes in Germany

DAAD research grants is an opportunity to carry out full-time Ph.D. research at the majority of German universities. Pre-requisites for applications are:
  • First class Masters degree (Not ongoing)
  • Acceptance letter from a German Professor
  • Mutually (with guide) prepared Ph.D. Proposal 
  • NO exam is required until the thesis is to be written in language except English
    Further Details (such as scholarship benefits) are available at Research Grants – Doctoral Programmes in Germany

    Procedure

    • With above-mentioned documents the application by 1 October (starts 6 weeks before) on DAAD Portal
    • If shortlisted would receive an email from DAAD New Delhi Office by the first week of January
    • Interviews are held in the first week of February
    • Results are expected by last week of February (only if selected)

    Interview Experience

    Below is the list of questions I had to face for my DAAD Ph.D. interview at New Delhi DAAD office
    • Panel consist of four persons, left to right: a German lady prof, a DAAD office representative, an Indian Prof and a German prof.
    • Interview lasted for around 20 minutes and the sequence of question was as follows

    Indian Prof:
    Read out my CV quickly
    1. What are you doing right now?
    2. What you are doing right now is different from your master's work as well as your proposal, so how do you relate both of these?

    German Prof:
    So, you have been in Germany for a while…
    1. What you liked in Germany.
    2. Asked whether I know German, then discussion in German about food, places visited
    3. Why you choose the same prof. Did you search for someone else?

    DAAD office representative:
    1. What other things you like in Germany, and why?

    German Prof:
    1. I had mentioned demerit of a method in my proposal, Elaborate it.

    Another German Prof:
    1. Explain the proposal in a lay man’s term?
    2. Mention some of its advantages and applications.

    German Prof
    1. What do you aim to opt after your Ph.D., industries or academics?
    2. As you have done your masters, How would you guide someone for his master's thesis?

    Indian Prof:
    1. what topic would you suggest him/her for Ph.D.?

    Fortunately, I got selected for the research grants which is initially for 1 year + 2 months language course at Marburg. The grant extends based on performance which is a normal procedure. I was also a DAAD IIT Master sandwich progamme students and had written a similar blog for it, which you can find here at: DAAD IIT Master Sandwich Program