When you enrol at the beginning of your degree course, you will be given a Student ID card. This card will be needed for pretty much everything, so you should always have it with you.
The Student ID card is a blue chip card which has multiple functions. It is, for example ...
Your chip card also gives you access to the main building in Cologne through the rear entrance, as well as access to the WIZ in Dagobertstraße, the IT room in the library.
Please note: Every semester, once you have reregistered, you will also need to re-validate your card for the coming semester. There is a machine for this purpose, located next to Room 2 at the rear exit of the University.
For assistance with new, defective or lost chip cards, please contact the IT department.
You can send an email to: Chipkarte(at)hfmt-koeln(dot)de
The department’s office hours are 11:00 to 12:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays in room 204 on the second floor of the building at Theodor-Heuss-Ring. At HfMT, please ask for Personnel/Finance/IT.
If you are experiencing problems with your chip card, please get in touch using: zutritt@hfmt-koeln.de
Once your card has credit on it, you can also use it for the university photocopiers. You will find these on the mezzanine level, on the left around the corner from the lifts, and in the library. Copies cost Euro 0.05 (A4), or Euro 0.10 (A3).
On the reverse side of the chip card, you will find your lender number for the library. You can use this to borrow books and sheet music from the library or order them online. Further details can be found in the library on the 4th floor, or in the local libraries at the Aachen and Wuppertal sites.
The Semester ticket allows you free bus and train travel throughout the whole NRW area.
For students at the Cologne and Wuppertal campuses, the university will no longer send paper tickets by post from the winter semester 2022/23 onwards. After successful re-registration, the semester tickets will only be available for download in the online ticket shop of Deutsche Bahn: https://www.ots-nrw.de/. Please note that when entering your first and last name in the online ticket shop, these must match the details on your student card (blue chip card) exactly so that a ticket can be issued. There are no additional costs and the tickets can be retrieved several times.
Students of the Aachen campus receive their semester tickets via ASEAG.
1. THE VRS, VRR AND AVV TICKET
You can find further information here:
2. THE NRW TICKET
If you forget your ticket, please speak to the train attendant. You can, for example, present your ticket in the passenger centre at the main station within a period of 14 days. In this case, you will not have to pay the usual fine of Euro 40 but instead just a processing fee of Euro 7.
Since March 2023, it is only possible to pay in the canteen with EC, credit, debit card or Gooogle Pay, Apple Pay. Payment with the topped-up student ID card is no longer possible!
You can have the credit on the chip card paid out up to three years after the last payment. To do this, please contact the Studierendenwerk directly.
More information you can find on the Website of the Studierendenwerk.