International Viadrina Ambassadors

What is an International Viadrina Ambassador?

International Viadrina Ambassadors are international Viadrina students who return to their former high schools and talk to students in their home country about studying and student life at the European University Viadrina and answer their questions directly. This helps the high school students to orientate themselves and makes it easier for them to start their life as a university student in Germany.

And what do you get out of it?

As an International Viadrina Ambassador, we will reimburse part of your travelling expenses to your home city. The preparatory presentation training will also help you to be more relaxed when presenting in front of an audience during your studies - and you will also realise how happy the students are to receive "insider" information about their studies.

How can you become an International Viadrina Ambassador?

In order to become an International Viadrina Ambassador, you have to take part in a workshop that prepares you for the assignment. This workshop consists of two units or training sessions that take place over two days. In the first part, you will receive all the important information for the school assignment in an informational training session. The second session is a presentation workshop where you will be prepared by a professional trainer for use at your school.

 

You can apply for the International Viadrina Ambassador Programme 2025 from now until 25 November 2025. You can find everything else in the current call for applications (PDF).
The next training for International Viadrina Ambassadors is expected to take place from 29 to 30 November 2025.

I am an international Viadrina ambassador – how do I plan an assignment?

You have taken part in the information training and presentation training. Now you can start planning your journey home. You can do an assignment at any time during the year in which you were selected. When exactly you do your assignment is up to you. It makes sense to combine a visit home to your family during the semester break with an ambassadorial assignment.

1. First, get in touch with the coordinator to find out whether there are any opportunities to finance an assignment in your home country.
2. As soon as you receive the message that you are allowed to carry out an ambassador assignment, you should make an appointment with the respective school.
3. Once you have the go-ahead from your school, apply for your fee contract. Please send an email to botschafter@europa-uni.de in good time. You should bear in mind that the processing time for your application will take around two to three weeks. So please contact us in good time by e-mail. Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to subsidise your assignment if you submit your request at short notice.
4. As soon as your fee contract has been issued, we will send you an email and arrange an appointment for you to sign and collect your ambassador bag, which contains information material and forms. If you like, you can also collect material for your assignment (e.g. photos, city maps, course schedule, etc.) that you personally associate with the Viadrina. This way you can make your presentation during your ambassador assignment more vivid.
5. Shortly before you start, you should speak to the people responsible at your school again to clarify any technical issues. For example, you should clarify whether a projector etc. is available and whether you need to bring your own laptop.

How do I carry out my ambassador assignment at the school?

Now you have prepared yourself in the best possible way, it is the day of your school visit. During your visit, you will report on your studies at the Viadrina and (student) life in Frankfurt (Oder) or in Germany.

We would like to give you a guideline with a possible outline for your assignment at school:

1. An icebreaker (5-10 min) at the beginning not only lightens the mood but also familiarises you with each other. You can either do a general round of introductions (name, age, interests) or ask a specific icebreaker question, for example: If you could be an animal, what would you be? What is one thing you could not live without? If you could travel anywhere, where would you want to go? If you were stranded on a desert island, what music or band would you like to have with you? If you could have dinner with a person of your choice (from history, politics, film and television - dead or alive) who would it be?
2. The presentation (30-40 min) "Presentation of the Viadrina" will be made available to you as a Power Point Presentation. You are welcome to modify it slightly if necessary, but it is important that all important information is included and communicated to the students. You can either give the presentation in German or in your native language.
3. A question and answer session (5-10 min) gives the students the opportunity to actively participate again. You can talk about your own experiences and give tips and tricks. The students are usually most grateful for this exchange because they learn from a direct source what it is like to come to Germany.

Please also remember to have the students fill out the participation list (names in Latin letters) and have the teacher sign the cover sheet.

What should I do after my school assignment?

After your visit to the school, you should write your experience report. You will be provided with a template for this.

As soon as you have returned to Frankfurt (Oder), please make an appointment with us by e-mail (botschafter@europa-uni.de) to submit the documents from your assignment.

We need the following documents from you for the billing:

• completed participation list,
• Cover sheet signed by the teacher,
• Your personal experience report,
• Your invoice

You will be provided with templates for these documents.

Only if you submit these documents can your fee contract be settled and you will receive your travel allowance.