Semester Starts   [18.04.20]

The show must go on! Even though many questions are still unanswered, the courses at the University of Hohenheim will start on Monday in digital form as previously announced. The President's Office adopted the most important guidelines and recommendations for the Corona exceptional semester in a crisis meeting on Friday. They are to be adapted to the current situation at least every two weeks. The Online Courier summarizes the most important points and background information.

The summer semester will be "unusual," but it should not be a "lost semester," the state ministers of education and the arts stressed in a press release at the beginning of April.

The University of Hohenheim is also pursuing this goal to the best of its ability. Preparations have been running at full speed for weeks. They are being made more difficult by the changing political conditions, which are still in flux at the moment. The further course of the pandemic cannot be predicted either.

In order to ensure that lectures can begin on Monday, the President's Office has adopted preliminary guidelines for the upcoming semester in a fast-track procedure after a virtual crisis meeting with all Deans of Studies, members of the student representatives, and numerous other stakeholders. The guidelines are to be adapted to the current situation at least every 2 weeks and adjusted if problems occur.

To create the necessary scope for implementation, a special statute is also to be adopted as a second step to supplement the existing examination regulations.

Complete version of the Corona Guidelines for Studying and Teaching:

• Decision by the President’s Office from 17.4.20

(English version at the end of the document)

The most important points at a glance

Lecture times:

• The regular lecture period runs from 20 April to 18 July.
• Regular courses will be compressed from 14 to 12 weeks, students will receive the full number of credits.
• Block periods expected: 20 April - 30 April, 4 May - 29 May, 8 June - 3 July, 6 July - 31 July.
• Semester leaves of absence are possible if students are working in activities related to the Corona pandemic (e.g. harvest workers, supermarket help, social work, etc.) Note: Tuition fees can only be refunded for applications received by 19 April!

Courses:

• Courses run, if at all possible, digitally: from start to finish
• Updates to the courses (changes in formats, exams and coursework, etc.) should be communicated by those responsible for the modules via ILIAS as soon as possible. This information is binding.
• Livestreaming should be avoided, asynchronous teaching formats are the rule.
• External excursions, conferences, and summer schools have to be cancelled or moved to the digital environment, language courses will also be held digitally

Hygiene policy & on-campus activities:

• In cases where meetings on campus are unavoidable, a hygiene policy governs binding measures and recommendations (distance, maximum group size, face masks, disinfection, responsibilities, etc.).
• Above all, examinations (see below) and, if necessary, experimental work for final theses are considered unavoidable.
• From 4 May at the earliest, important internships, exercises, and excursions can take place on the campus grounds in exceptional cases, provided that no online alternative exists. This is only possible in small groups (5 people, including supervision) according to the hygiene policy.
• On-campus activities for which the implementation of the hygiene policy cannot be guaranteed must be postponed.
• The hygiene policy will be continuously supplemented and updated.

Exams:

• Individual exams (e.g. for theses, doctoral theses) can be taken from 20 April onwards in accordance with the hygiene policy. Those who cannot come to the University due to travel restrictions or quarantine can request an online individual examination.
• The University hopes that group exams can take place on campus from 18 May. In order to minimize the danger of infection, they will be distributed over several rooms and the measures of the hygiene policy will be implemented.
• Open examinations from the winter semester (2nd examination period) will be made up for step by step from 18 May until the end of the summer semester. Students should be informed about the exact dates at least two weeks in advance.
• The regular examination periods in the summer semester are planned from 20 July to 7 August and 21 September to 9 October. Changes are possible!
• Changes in examination formats should be announced as soon as possible via ILIAS. At present, only those examination formats are possible that are specified in the examination regulations. A working group is currently examining whether and under what conditions online examinations may also be considered - but there are still many open questions.

Deadlines & Certificates:

• Those who could not finish their studies as planned in WS 19/20 due to the coronavirus must remain enrolled. There are grace periods for re-registration free of charge. For other fees (tuition fees, administrative costs, StuWe, VS) different regulations apply.
• If necessary, the certificate or academic achievements required to participate in a course or module can be submitted later.
• Deadlines for the preliminary examination and final examination will be extended by one semester if necessary without application.
• If a thesis cannot be completed as planned because of Corona, an application for an extension or a new topic is possible.

University operations & buildings:

• The University of Hohenheim's on-campus operations will remain reduced until further notice, working from home is the rule, buildings will remain largely closed for the time being (exceptions: examinations, etc., see above).
• It is planned that individual facilities, such as the library, will gradually resume limited student attendance.
• More information about the University' s operations will soon be available on the Corona page.

Important for lecturers

Even if the ban on meetings is relaxed during the semester, courses started digitally must generally be completed digitally. The reason: Students who are in quarantine or are affected by travel restrictions should be able to continue their studies.

The university management is calling on lecturers to avoid streaming lectures via live streaming if possible, but to choose other, asynchronous formats for online teaching. On the one hand, live streaming could overload the technical infrastructure, on the other hand there is a risk that students with limited Internet access or who lack equipment will not be able to participate. Asynchronous materials placed online at an early stage can also help to ensure that courses are completed if lecturers themselves are quarantined.

The Teaching Service Portal provides an overview of various options for digital formats and support services.

Modules and courses must continue to fulfill the qualification objectives set out in the examination regulations or the special statutes. However, module supervisors have a great deal of flexibility in how exactly these goals are achieved. For example, practical components could be replaced by virtual demonstrations or smaller excursion units by educational films, so that modules can be carried out.

Those responsible for modules are requested to communicate all changes to courses in two ways:

• Via ILIAS => to quickly inform the students: The information should be available by 27 April, for blocked modules in blocks 2 to 4, the information should be available before the start of the block. The module descriptions in HOHcampus and the curricula do not have to be updated.
• Via Excel table => to give a complete overview: The table will be provided shortly by the respective faculty along with further information. It serves, among other things, as information for study commissions and Deans of Studies so that significant changes can be approved. The table will then also be made available for students' information.

Advice on whether planned changes are classified as "essential" and therefore require approval can be obtained in advance from the Teaching Development (WL@uni-hohenheim.de).

Background: Exams

Carrying out examinations under hygienic conditions is currently one of the biggest challenges for the University. In addition to the upcoming examinations in the summer semester, 170 centrally organized exams from the winter semester still have to be taken.

To ensure that a minimum distance of 2 meters can be maintained for group examinations, additional rooms and supervisors must be organized for each exam. In addition, hygiene training for the supervisors is also required. The hygiene policy and the Corona page will be supplemented shortly with further information.

Where possible and justifiable, alternatives to on-campus exams should be carried out. At present, however, only formats that are specified in the examination regulations or that have to be redefined (e.g. term papers, podcasts, etc.) are considered for this.

The University is also dealing with the question of whether and under what conditions online exams could be a legally compliant alternative. Since there are still many questions unanswered, however, it is not possible to plan with this option at the moment.

Individual exams are an exception: In certain individual cases, if students cannot travel to a final exam due to travel restrictions or quarantine, it is possible to take the exam digitally. The use of this online examination format must be approved by the coordinator of the respective degree program or the chair of the doctoral committee. A first handout for online exams (in German) is available to support this.

Text: Leonhardmair / Translation: Neudorfer