Our Buddy Program

The DEGIS Buddy Program was launched in the Wintersemester 2020/2021, with the goal of connecting one or more incoming international students, so-called “Incoming Buddies” with an experienced senior international student in Germany, so-called “Local Buddy”. The goal of the program is that the Local Buddies, who have a great understanding of the challenges of newly arriving international students in Germany, can help the Incoming Buddies on overcoming these challenges and have a smooth start in Germany.

How does the Buddy Program work?

1. 1. DEGIS opens applications for whoever wants to be an Incoming Buddy (newbies) or a Local Buddy (veterans)
   2. Once meeting the criteria, the students will be introduced to each other in batches based on the cities they are located
   3. Every batch will be composed of all incoming and Local Buddies from each represented city
   4. For six months, the Local buddies should fulfill some basic tasks to support the Incoming Buddies’ experience and they will get a 6h certificate for that
   5. Every batch might have a leader to guarantee basic communication and task delegation. The leader will get a 12h certificate
   6. Experience will be checked by a survey after 1, 3, and 6 months – and it will determine if the Local Buddies get their certificates
   7. We, unfortunately, don’t guarantee everyone will get a buddy batch, as we depend on the volunteer interest of both Incoming and Local Buddies

What are the criteria to be an Incoming Buddy?

• Being an international student in Germany
• Being in their first semester of enrollment
• Fill out the registration form on time
• Commit to filling out the checking survey

What are the criteria to be a Local Buddy?

• Being a student in Germany
• Being enrolled for longer than one semester
• Fill out the registration form on time
• Commit to filling the tasks and the checking surveys

Since the program is on a volunteering basis, all our Local Buddies support the Incoming Buddies without expecting anything in return. We expect both sides to be respectful to each other. In order to guarantee that, both sides have to agree to a code of conduct, in which they agree to the rules of the program.