Bilkent University

Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE) Department

Exchange Program 2012-2013

NEW: Fraunhofer Institute Summer Internship Positions are available for 3rd year and MS level students. 4th year students who will graduate after the Summer of 2012 are also welcome.

Application Deadline: March 30, 2012. For details, click here.

A. Erasmus Program with European Universities

The EEE department has bilateral agreements for student exchange for the undergraduate students for the 2012-2013 year under the Erasmus student mobility program with the following universities (as of now) in electrical/electronics/computer engineering:

• Tampere University of Technology, Finland (two students 2x10 months, education basically in English)
• Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain (two students 2x10 months, education basically in Spanish)
• Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland (one 3rd year student 1x9 months, one 4th year student 1x6 months, education at 4th year mixed English/French otherwise French)
• Friedrich-Alexander-Universitat Erlangen-Nurnberg, Germany (one student 1x10 months, language basically German)
• Telecom sud Paris, France (three 4th year or graduate students, language is French) also see
• http://www.telecom-sudparis.eu/p_en_international_etudesetranger_8267.html

Applications are done in the second semester in the March-April time frame. The student selection process is based on CGPA (50 %), and the level of English (COPE score, ENG 101 and ENG 102 grades, 50%). Applicants should also demonstrate good command of the language in case of a language other than English is used for teaching for the university of interest. Applicants should be at least in their second year and we prefer second year students to apply and use their third years at school towards the exchange program. However, note that some of the programs above are directed towards only 4^th year students. Details on how to apply will be announced later.

For more details, please see

http://www.bilkent.edu.tr/bilkent/admission/outgoing_exchange/

B. Exchange via Bilateral Agreements with Universities around the World

Bilkent University has exchange agreements with several major universities in the world. The list of these universities are given in

http://www.bilkent.edu.tr/bilkent/admission/outgoing_exchange/bilateral_agreement_list.html

EEE Department students have preferred mainly University of California campuses in the recent years as well as Drexel University, City University of Hong Kong, etc. We encourage our students for an international experience during their fall, spring, or full academic year. Students with a minimum CGPA of 3.00 and currently in their 3rd or 4th registration semester are eligible to apply for Exchange via bilateral agreements. All students who plan to apply for the Student Exchange Program should contact the Office of Exchange Programs in Registrar's Office for more information. Applications are accepted generally at the end of November. In addition, your studies abroad will be recognized at your home university. We generally expect 4-5 EEE students to take advantage of this opportunity every year.

Again, for more information, please visit

http://www.bilkent.edu.tr/bilkent/admission/outgoing_exchange/

C. Summer Internship Program

We have an ongoing agreement with the Fraunhofer Institute for a 3-month internship program. Master and bachelor students (after their third year of studies) are offered to intern at the Chair of Information Technologies LIKE or the Fraunhofer IIS. The internship should not last less than 3 months. Starting date and duration are flexible and can be arranged with the supervisor. Extensions and the preparation of Bachelor or Master Thesis are possible upon mutual agreement. Applications are done in the second semester. Details on how to apply and list of available internship topics will be announced later.

For more information, please see

http://www.like.eei.uni-erlangen.de/bilkent/Information_Turkish_students.shtml

For more information, do not hesitate to contact

Nail Akar, EEE Departmental Exchange Coordinator

E-mail: akar@ee.bilkent.edu.tr   Tel: x2337

Student Exchange Program FAQ

(generally based on the FAQ page of our CS department maintained at http://www.cs.bilkent.edu.tr/~selcuk/exchange_faq.html)

What are the financial issues involved for an exchange student?

The university tuition/scholarship status remains intact for the exchange student. The student continues to receive his scholarship or pay his tuition to his home institution (Bilkent University) as he/she would do otherwise, of the same amount. Living expenses are generally on the student’s own for students of Part B. On the other hand, Erasmus program (Part A) pays a stipend to the student for their expenses. These grants are distributed according to the country at which the hosting university resides see below the country of destination and associated Erasmus grants.

Country	Erasmus Grant per Month in €
Austria	463
Belgium	429
Bulgaria	300
Czech Republic	420
Germany	425
Denmark	596
Estonia	365
Spain	438
Finland	515
France	497
United Kingdom	540
Greece	407
Hungary	403
Ireland	523
Italy	480
Lithuania	326
Luxemburg	429
Latvia	365
Malta	365
The Netherlands	468
Poland	403
Portugal	395
Romania	322
Sweden	493
Slovenia	386
Slovakia	373

Part C students are also offered a stipend.

Can't I go to exchange on the 4th year?

The ideal time for going to exchange is one's 3rd year in college, so that the student will have a chance during his 4th year to complete the courses he couldn't find at the host institution and will be able to graduate in time. A student who goes to exchange on his 4th year may delay his graduation for one or two semesters. This said, several of the programs above are directed towards only 4^th year students and we therefore encourage applicants from 4^th year students (Telecom Sud Paris is one such example) as well.

How can I apply for the exchange program?

Application for the Erasmus exchange is done through the departmental coordinators; and application for the other exchanges are done through the Office of Student Affairs. Applications for non-Erasmus exchanges are typically received in mid Fall semester; Erasmus applications are received in early Spring. The exact application deadlines and the requirements are announced each year by e-mail to the Bilkent student body.

Is there a GPA requirement for exchange applications?

Bilkent is very selective about the students it sends for exchange. The minimum cumulative GPA requirement as of now is 2.8 for Erasmus and 3.0 for the general exchange applications, although the actual GPA of the selected students tends to be much higher, especially for Part B students. Any possible changes that may occur on this requirement will be specified in the announcement e-mail.

How is the course program determined for the exchange students?

Once the student is selected for exchange with a particular university, he/she should go to that university's course catalog webpage and identify the courses that are suitable. These courses can either be the equivalent of a Bilkent EEE course, or otherwise can be taken as a technical or non-technical elective. (I encourage students to take the exchange as an opportunity for taking courses they find interesting which are not offered at their home university.) The departmental coordinator and the student then go over the course list and finalize the courses that will be taken.

How are the courses transferred to Bilkent?

The credits of the courses taken in the exchange are transfered towards the student's degree at Bilkent, but their grades are not included in the CGPA. That is, once the student returns back to Bilkent, based on his transcript at the exchange university, the student will be exempted from several of his/her courses at Bilkent. The general rule is that the sum of the adjusted credits (ECTS credits in case of European universities) should exceed the sum of the ECTS credits of Bilkent courses that are to be exempted. For example, a student who succeeds in three courses with an ECTS sum of 19 credits, we exempt the student from three Bilkent courses with 18=6*3 credits. In case of lack of a common credit system, we adjust the credits of the home institution based on the institution’s own credit system plus the length of the semester at the foreign institution.

Is there a grade requirement for the courses taken in the exchange?

A passing grade is required for a course to be accepted for the student's degree at Bilkent, which usually means a grade C or higher.

What if I can't find some of my required courses at the exchange university?

It is very rare that the course offerings of two departments agree exactly and the exchange student can find all his required courses at the host institution. Typically there will be courses that are missing, in which case the student will take other courses instead that can be counted towards his 4th year electives, and will take the missing courses upon his/her return to Bilkent.