Key information:

• Access and registration via:  sim.htwsaar.de/bewerbung
  • Always use the latest version of one of the following browsers: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge based on Chromium
  • Apple Safari and Internet Explorer are not fully supported
• Always exit the SIM application portal using the Log off button and then close the browser.
• Using the application interface: Navigate to the different sections using the navigation menu on the left side of the window
• Mandatory fields are indicated by a red asterisk 
• For help texts click on the " i " symbol
• For your draft application, click on "Save and Return"
• Upload of documents: permissible file formats are JPEG/JPG or PDF.
• If you are having technical issues with the SIM application portal, please send your questions to: sim-support@hiz-saarland.de (always provide your "Antrags-ID" starting with 1000000)
• If you have any questions about the content of of the online enrolment application after reading this guide, please make a screenshot of the respective section and send an email to: incoming@htwsaar.de (always provide your "Antrags-ID" starting with 1000000)

Registering with the SIM application portal

1. Visit the folllowing page: sim.htwsaar.de/bewerbung
2. Switch language by clicking on the symbol in the very upper right corner, then on " Sprache & Region wählen" / "Select Language & Region", choose English from the drop-sown menu and click "Speichern"/"Save"Note: The language you set here is your language of communication. This means that you will receive future mail messages in this language
3. Click on "Create account"
4. Enter the required data when promted. Note: Please enter an email adress that you can access reliably at all times over the entire application period.
5. After a few minutes you should receive an automatic verification email at the email address you specified. The email will ask you to use your existing login ID or to log in using the username specified in the email.
   Note: If you have not received the verification email after 15 minutes, please check your email spam folder. After receiving the verification email, you have 24 hours in which to click on the link in the email, enter your username and password and then click on "log in" to activate your user account. If you do not activate your account within 24 hours, you will need to go through the "create account" process from the start.

If you have forgotten your password, click on the "Forgot Password" button.

Applying for your degree program

1. Click on the registration tile “Enrolment Summer semester (Exchange students)” 

2. Select the tile ‘Enrolment Summer semester (Exchange students)'

3. Select the study programme in which you will be enrolled at htw saar (see your acceptance letter) 
Note: Students of the EPS programme also need to select the study programme mentioned in their acceptance letter.
 

4. Select the indicated semester under "Intended Semester"  

5. Only complete the mandatory fields with your personal details on the next page:
Note: You can navigate through the application via the menu on the left side.
Important:
We strongly recommend to fill the postal address of the International Office under 'Your address and contact details'. This way, your student ID card cannot get lost while shipped.
Address: 
  Malstatter Str. 17
  c/o International Office
  D-66117 Saarbrücken
We will then collect it from the central student administration and hand it over to you.

(Your nationality (=Citizenship): Country from which you hold a passport)

6. Only complete the mandatory fields with your pre-university educational credentials

(Higher education entrance qualification = „HEEQ“: secondary school leaving certificate qualifying for university admission and matriculation)

7. Only complete the mandatory fields about your higher education entrance qualification

As average grade enter "8,00"
For the details, enter the actual designation/ name of your higher education entrance qualification/secondary high school certificate in your country (e.g. Baccalaureat, A-/O-Level, Matura etc.).

8. The next page about your work experience is pre-filled (both options "No"), you do not need to enter any additional data.

9. Only complete the mandatory fields about your study history.

Notes:

• Student enrolment record: Upload a scan of your current certificate of enrolment of your home university that states that you are a student there during this current academic year. Do NOT upload your transcript of records with your grades here!!
• Country in which you were first enrolled at a university: e.g. if you enrolled at a university in France first and later moved to Finland for continuing or starting a new study program there, please select France as the country where you first enrolled at a university.
• Year and * Semester in which you first were enrolled at a  university: e.g. if the month of your first enrolment was between January and June 2023 select year “2022/23” and summer semester.  If the month of your first enrolment was between July and December 2023, select year “2022/23” and winter semester
• Type of study: select first study for an undergraduate degree (Bachelor‘s) or second study for a graduate degree (Master‘s) or Consecutive Master Programme if you are enrolled in a consecutive Master‘s programme at home
• Intended qualification: 
  Select the qualification that you are studying towards at your home university: 
  - ‘Master’s degree from a university (not completed)’ if you are currently in a Master’s program OR  ‘Bachelor’s degree or equiv. (not completed)’ if you are currently in a Bachelor’s program
• First subject: 
  Select the German designation of the degree programme that you will find in your acceptance letter (selection is unfortunately only possible in German at this stage). Students of the EPS programme also need to select the name of the study programme mentioned in their acceptance letter!

10. Only complete mandatory fields about your examinations taken

Notes:
Have you already studied this subject at another university:

• select ‘No’ if the study programme at your home university is different from the study programme you are being enrolled at htw saar (see admission letter)
• select ‘Yes’ if your study programme at your home university corresponds with the study programme you are being enrolled at htw saar (see admission letter). An upload (*Certificate of no impediment) is required but you can just upload a simple blank sheet of paper.

10.a If you have selected "yes" on the previous page and hold a first diploma (e.g. Bachelor's degree), fill out the mandatory fields


Notes:

• Also answer the question "Have you already studied this subject at another university" with either yes or no. If you select yes, upload a blank sheet of paper with the upload link below.
• Type of study: the typical selection is ‘First study"
• Degree Qualification: the typical selection is either Bachelor’s degree from a University OR Bachelor’s degree from a University of Applied Science
   
• First subject (Name of study programmes are in German only. If you need help with this, please use Google translator in order to find a match (approximate match is sufficient!)
• Overall grade: enter 8,00. No upload of academic records required!
• If you have taken any further examinations, tick yes and fill out the further fields

11. At the next page "Parallel enrolment", select "yes" as you will also stay enrolled at your home university. Fill in the other mandatory fields.

12. Health Insurance: NOT possible without PRIOR action from your side!! Please see our information about health insurances here and on the bottom of this webpage, after 'What are the next steps..."

Note:
1: Statutory health insurance from a statutory Germyn health insurance fund
2: Private health insurance from outside Germany
3: Statutory health insurance from EU - Students with an EHIC card
-> In all 3 cases, please follow the instructions about health insurances here.

13. Upload your files

•  Small sized picture that will be used for your htw saar ID-card (please upload a small sized picture in jpg format)
•  Upload your ID document (copy of national ID card, students from overseas upload a copy of their passport)
•  Upload acceptance letter from the International Office

14. The next page about the confirmation of intended qualification is pre-filled, you do not need to enter any additional data.

15. Transfer of the semester fee
Paying the semester fee*: all exchange students need to wire the fee through a bank account that participates in the European IBAN bank transfer system (deadline is 15 March, better some days before this date!) before submitting the enrolment application. We strongly recommend that students from outside of the EU who are not able to transfer the fee through an IBAN account open a bank account with an online bank (also facilitates the next steps like transfer of the rent etc.). In some few exceptional cases, the amount can be paid in cash at htw saar’s cashiers office upon arrival. Student from outside the EU who cannot open an bank account with an online bank should send us a notice asap to incomingnoSpam@noSpamhtwsaarnoSpam.de .
*Semester fee: this fee is not a tuition fee, but a mandatory social fee charged to all students by the student union covering free public transport in state of Saarland AND within whole Germany - the so-called “Deutschland(semester)ticket” for all busses, trams and regional trains all over Germany - as well as access to the sports and cultural facilities, food services and other student services.

Exchange students need to transfer 345,30 € to the following bank account:
Recipient: HTW Saarland
Bank: Landesbank Saar (Saar LB)
IBAN: DE67 5905 0000 0031 5200 34
BIC: SALADE55XXX
Reference: 261, your first name, last name and date of birth

16. Verification of input data / Declaration (in lieu of oath)

• make sure to tick the box ‘I hereby confirm the disclosures and declarations made above’
• ‘Proof of payment of semester fee’: submit proof of payment as a PDF. Enrolment cannot be finalized until the semester fee has been credited in full to the htw saar account.
• ‘Other documents’: no additional uploads are required

17. Click "Submit" in the very low right corner

18. Confirm the information you have supplied (click on "Commit")

You will receive on-screen confirmation that your application was submitted and you will be notified of your "Antrags-ID", starting with 1000000.

19. Find your application as a tile in the section "My Applications" of your start page (If you do not see a new tile, please clear your browser cache using the key combination CTRL+F5)

• If you still cannot see it, please check - well before the enrolment deadline is due to expire - that you did actually send your enrolment application via the "Submit" button and that you did not simply save it without submitting it.
• If the status of your application is still not showing as "Application submitted" please contact the Admissions Office by email (stud-sek@htwsaar.de) quoting your applicant number/'Bewerbernummer', starting with 502... or your "Antrags-ID" starting with 1000000.

Thank you for submitting your enrolment form by the deadline!

What happens after you paid the semester fee and have submitted the enrolment form:

The htw saar Admissions Office will process your enrolment form. If the data and the uploaded documents are accurate and the semester fee has been booked to the university‘s bank account, you will receive an email of the Admissions Office about the official admission document for download, along with the IT-datasheet required for the registration of the htw saar IT infrastructure (e.g. SIM-study portal, Moodle, htw saar email account, etc.). Upon log-in to the SIM-study portal, you can download your certificate of enrolment, change your address, see your grades (after exam period). Furthermore, you will receive your student ID card, created by the Admissions Office, from the International Office by end of March/beginning of April. Last but not least, with your successful enrolment, you will be able to register for the Deutschland(semester)ticket which grants free public transport within whole Germany. Our Student Buddies will guide you through the process if required.

For enrolment (registration) at any German university, every student must have sufficient health insurance. The new online procedure between universities and the public German student health insurance funds ("Gesetzliche Krankenkassen") requires that all students enrolling in a university first contact one of the statutory health insurance funds and inform them about their upcoming studies and their current health insurance status. The German health insurance provider will then submit a digital status notification to the university, indicating whether the student holds German public health insurance or not. This electronic record serves as proof of valid health insurance for the students' enrolment. One of the following 4 cases should apply to you, depending what kind of health insurance you hold at home or if you over 30 years old. More information, see: www.htwsaar.de/en/incoming-students/preparing-your-stay/health-insurance-in-germany.

For all cases (1-4) send your notification (templates see below) via email to ONE of the selected statutory health insurers listed below, located in Saarbrücken or nearby. You can mention the German name of the electronic record required by the htw saar admission office, which is "Datensatz für die Einschreibung an der Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft des Saarlandes, Saarbrücken." Please note that there is typically NO confirmation message once the electronic record has been sent, neither from the health insurance fund nor from the university.

AOK Saarland

szs.kl@service.rps.aok.de
www.aok.de/pk/rps
www.aok.de/pk/rps/kontakt/aok-vor-ort/
www.aok.de/kp/uni/information-for-international-students/

BARMER

service@barmer.de
https://www.barmer.de/en

IKK Südwest

info@ikk-suedwest.de
www.ikk-suedwest.de/geschaeftsstellen/saarbruecken/
https://ikk-suedwest.com/?lang=en

Techniker Krankenkasse

Submit your data via this website and follow the instructions: 
Click on → ‘Nachweis erhalten’ which leads you on the page ‘Ihr Versicherungsstatus’ where you select the country in which you hold health insurance and click on ‘Weiter’. Next page asks you about ‘Befreiung Krankenversicherungspflicht’ (= exemption from statutory German student health insurance). Click on ‘Ja’ if you hold an EHIC card or have sufficient health insurance in your home country/country of studies. If not, click on 'Nein', ich möchte Mitglied der TK werden' (I want to become a member and take out health insurance with of the TK), then click on ‘Weiter’. On next page ‘Angaben zu Tätigkeiten’ select ‘Nein, nichts trifft auf mich zu’ and click on ‘Weiter’. As 'ID der Hochschule' put H0003095 and select Hochschule für Technik… and select 1.04.2026 or 1.10.2026 as 'Studienbeginn' click on ‘Weiter’. Next page: fill your personal data and click on ‘Weiter’. Next page ('Angaben zu Leistungen') fill ‘Ich habe keine Leistung bezogen’ and click on ‘Weiter’. On the following page ('Hochladen des Versicherungsnachweises') you need to submit a scan of your EHIC (Erasmus+ students who hold the European health insurance card), others who hold a private health insurance need to submit their private policy document, especially with the scope of coverage. In the latter, the TK will assess and decide if the scope is sufficient for an exemption from German student health insurance or not. Then click on ‘Weiter’. 

Further questions can be addressed to: anika.schmidt@tk.de ( Student advisor: Ms. Anika Schmidt)
https://www.tk.de/en

DAK Saarbrücken

service756200@dak.de
https://www.dak.de/dak/english-2167614.html