letter of reference - University of Waterloo

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING EXCHANGE PROGRAM

For UW students going to TU Braunschweig, TU Hamburg-Harburg and TU Vienna

The academic structure in German and Austrian universities is vastly different from that at the University of Waterloo, i.e. undergraduate students do not sign up for courses at the beginning of the term, as is done at UW, but rather, sign up for the all important final examination at the end of the term. This means that the student is on his or her own regarding attending classes, studying, etc., something like our graduate program. Experience has shown that not all UW undergraduate students, having spent a couple of years or so in our more structured academic environment, are able to cope with the rather unstructured academic setting. Based on this, we ask that you comment on the student’s ability to carry out independent academic work, i.e., similar to what we expect of our graduate students. Spoon-feeding is something German and Austrian universities do not practice; hence some UW students might experience difficulty with their system of learning. Also, we ask that you comment on the student’s ability to work with others, especially concerning any possible attitude problems. Please send the letter of reference to my attention: Prof. Reinhold Schuster Coordinator, Exchange Programs with TUBS, TUHH, and TUW Faculty of Engineering Exchange Office Carl Pollock Hall, Room 1320 University of Waterloo Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1 We appreciate your time in being a referee and thank you in advance for your effort.

EXCHANGE\STOUT Reference letter