Studying in the summer semester 2020

In accordance with the respective versions of the Corona Ordinance (CoronaVO) in effect at the time, the lecture period started on 20 April 2020 with online-based courses. It ended as scheduled on 18 July 2020.

In general, courses will be offered online through the end of the lecture period. Since 15 June, individual courses or course dates have taken place in person at the university if the presence of all participants was absolutely necessary for that teaching format. In general, this applies to block courses, especially laboratory and practical sports courses, which will be announced separately.

Please check the departmental and general university websites regularly for more information, especially the page uni.kn/coronavirus.

No face-to-face courses took place during the periods of “Notbetrieb” (standby operations) and extended on-site standby operations (16 March – 13 May 2020). Even now, during conditional on-site operations, courses can only be conducted online. Starting 15 June, individual practical, experimental or other in-person course events that can only be completed in laboratories or other rooms on the university campus will be possible in compliance with the infection protection regulations. Such events are only possible if a risk assessment has been conducted and all the participants are documented. Visit ZEuS and the department websites regularly for the most current information on courses.

The course catalogue was updated for the summer semester: see ZEuS. As few changes as possible have been made to the usual registration procedures. Please consult ZEuS or your department's website and register for courses the usual way (i.e. via ILIAS, ZEuS or whatever other means your department usually provides). Any potential adjustments to the regular registration procedures in the summer semester will be announced on the departments' websites or in the respective course descriptions in ZEuS. The Centre for Transferable Skills has adjusted its registration process as well.

Please visit your department’s website for information about the summer semester 2020. The list of departments will grow as more information becomes available.

Faculty 1
Chemistry
Mathematics
Physics
Psychology

Faculty 2
Philosophy
Empirical Educational Research 
Sport science

Faculty 3
Politics and Public Administration
Law

In the last months, a number of digitally enhanced teaching and learning options have been developed at the University of Konstanz. The interdisciplinary ones are listed here for you:

– Transferable skills: Digital cross-disciplinary courses for bachelor’s and master’s students

The Centre for Transferable Skills (SQ) has developed a “digital plan b” to offer cross-disciplinary courses for bachelor’s and master’s students, whose examination regulations require them to complete coursework in transferable skills. Further information is available on the Centre for Transferable Skills website: uni.kn/sq.

If you have any questions or need more information, please send an email to sq@uni-konstanz.de.

– Writing Centre: Online courses and workshops

The Writing Centre offers its Writing Tutoring Service in addition to a number of online courses and workshops on the ILIAS platform, that will continue to grow throughout the semester. The current course listing is available on ILIAS.

– Career Service Online events

The Career Service has moved all its events to digital formats. An overview of upcoming events is available on the Career Service website.

Use the Career Service’s eLearning Tool as you prepare for and complete an internship. Get valuable tips and support with every step along the way: from getting your orientation to finding and completing an internship. The eLearning Tool is available in ILIAS, and it is available for students of any subject in both German and English.

Our Library is open again for on-campus studies. Further information under our "FAQs on conditional on-site operations" at uni.kn/en/coronavirus, item 7.1.1.

Generally speaking, regular attendance can also be required for successfully completing digital courses that take place for all students at a set time. The respective examination regulations apply to such courses as well. However, as different reasons might make online presence difficult, teachers should communicate attendance requirements in a way that is especially reliable, transparent and timely.

Courses that had to be cancelled (in current or past semesters) will generally not take place later, unless the teaching staff explicitly sets one or several replacement dates. Currently we cannot say if and when this could be.

It will be assessed on a case-by-case basis whether you can get credits for courses you started but that are now cancelled as a result of coronavirus regulations. The university has discussed this matter with the departments and teaching staff. Your teachers will inform you of your options.

Since 25 May 2020, exams have been taking place at the university that were either postponed in winter semester 2019/2020 or that regularly take place as oral or written on-campus exams. Risk assessments, pandemic seating plans and instructions for written on-campus exams as well as the instructions for oral on-campus exams determine the required measures to prevent infections.

All examinations had previously been cancelled on 16 March 2020 in line with a directive of the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts Baden-Württemberg (MWK).

In order to offer alternative forms for conducting examinations, the Senate passed a “Satzung der Universität Konstanz über den Einsatz alternativer Prüfungsformen und über alternative Prüfungstermine bei infektionsschutzrechtlicher Erforderlichkeit” (statute on alternative exam formats and dates). The statute enables teaching staff, in consultation with the respective Examination Boards and departments, to offer students alternative exam forms, including online formats. More information is available in the “Handreichung zur Durchführung von (online-gestützten) Prüfungen bei ausgesetztem oder weiterhin eingeschränktem Präsenzprüfungsbetrieb” (guidline on conducting (online) examinations where on-site examinations are impossible/limited).

Lehramt (teacher education): Don’t forget to regularly check the BiSE website (in German) for updates. BiSE will inform you on this website as well as via email about current developments.

Yes. On 24 April 2020, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports and the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts published regulations regarding postponed state examinations for teacher education programmes (spring dates).

“Landeslehrerprüfungsamt Freiburg” (LLPA, state teacher examination authority) informed the respective students of these regulations and some specifications. For more information about the regulations at the University of Konstanz in line with current plans as well as contact information, please visit the BiSE website (in German).

The most important information in brief:
– The examination period at the University of Konstanz will presumably take place from 02 June 2020 to 17 July 2020.
– Oral examinations will generally take place in person.
– The exams will take place without state examiners.
– Details about the registration process at the university will be available soon.
– Students will continue to receive updates via email on any changes or additional information.

In general, you can register using the usual procedures. If there are changes, the department or course lecturer will announce them.

During conditional on-site operations you can register with the Central Examination Office for final exams in the following study programmes (thesis and final oral examination): Please note that you can only register for the exams via email and not in person.

15 - 30 October 2020

• Bachelor's programmes in the humanities (all subjects) and the bachelor's programme Motor Neurorehabiliation as well as the MSc Sport Science
• Bachelor of Education programmes (all subjects)
• Master of Education (Computer Science)

01 - 15 December 2020

• Bachelor’s programme Philosophy
• Master's programme Psychology
• Continuing education programme Psychology with a Concentration in Forensic Psychology

Please contact the person in the Central Examination Office responsible for your study programme already in the weeks before the registration period begins.

Most of the written and oral examinations originally scheduled for the winter semester 2019/2020 that had to be postponed took place at the university between 25 May and mid/end June 2020. They were carried out based on §2 para. 4 of the respective version of the Corona Ordinance (CoronaVO) in effect at the time, unless they have been replaced by other examination formats. Select rooms were used for these exams. The required infection protection measures for written examinations were laid out in the risk assessments, pandemic seating plans as well as in the respective instructions for conducting written and oral exams at the university.

All examinations had previously been cancelled on 16 March 2020 in line with a directive of the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts Baden-Württemberg (MWK).

Participants of written exams in the Audimax or one of the lecture halls on level A7 will be picked up by the examiners at the i-Point entrance and accompanied to the respective lecture hall. Outside the university buildings, you will have to keep the required distance apart and avoid forming any groups. You are also required to wear a face mask on your way to the examination room. The documentation of the persons present is done through the registration for the exam and the examiners who have to register all persons present during the exam. If you are taking a written exam in other rooms of the main building, in the R building or in the sports hall, then you will also be picked up in front of the respective room or at a prearranged entrance.

Students taking in-person oral exams will be picked up at the entrance they were previously assigned. Alternatively, online exams via videoconferencing software continue to be possible, except for teacher education students taking the first state exam.

Please note the important information regarding the summer examination period in section 3.1.5.1.

The exam period of the summer semester has started. As we wish to provide the best-possible protection for all participants in written or oral on-campus exams, we kindly ask all examiners and students to keep the following points in mind (also published in the ‘Instructions for written and oral on-campus exams’, in the right column of the page):

• All persons involved in on-campus exams (students, examiners, supervisors, observers, minute writers etc.) have to bring their own face mask. Please wear it when entering the building, on the way to the exam room, on the way to your seat, on the way back as well as in all situations in which a minimum distance of 1.5 metres cannot be kept. The face mask may be removed during the exam.
• A supervisor or examiner will meet the students at the previously announced entrance to the corresponding building in which the exam room is located. Please stay at least 1.5 metres apart in the building or when waiting outside.
• Students have to bring their own writing utensils and permitted equipment, and use only those during the exam.
• If the exam takes place in the sports hall, please wear flat sports shoes with soft soles (sneakers or similar) to protect the sensitive floor.
• Students must take their allocated seat in the exam room. They have to note down the seat number on the exam sheet. If an exam must take place in two or more rooms due to the large number of participants, students can only take the exam in the allocated room (this way it is possible to trace contacts in case of an infection)
• The seats that may be used are all the required minimum distance apart.
• After every exam, a cleaning service cleans and thoroughly airs out the room.
• No one is permitted to participate in an on-campus exam who is not permitted to enter the university premises as per § 7 of the Corona Ordinance (“persons who 1. have or had contact to a person infected with the coronavirus if not more than 14 days have passed since the contact, or 2. experience typical symptoms of a coronavirus infection such as loss of smell or taste, a high temperature, cough or a sore throat”; § 7 Sentence 1 of the Corona Ordinance from 23 June); in this case the de-registration from the exam takes place ex officio after the candidate has informed the university about the fact.
• Examiners and supervisors who belong to a SARS-CoV-2 risk group according to the overview provided by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) can be exempted from supervisory duties during written exams. Those responsible for an exam are asked to inform their supervising staff about this option in the run-up to the exam. The same applies to examiners, observers and minute writers during oral on-campus exams. If the examiner is affected, an online oral exam may be agreed upon with all parties involved in individual cases. 
• Students may decide themselves whether to participate in the on-campus exam or not, unless the examination regulations determine compulsory participation in their case. However, if a student registered voluntarily in the summer semester 2020 in line with the department’s regulations and has not de-registered within the announced deadline, the registration will be compulsory. If the student does not want to take the exam he/she must immediately declare, explain and, if applicable, also prove the reason for withdrawing from the exam. A reason for withdrawal is, as usual, illness, which must be documented by a medical certificate. A new reason is if the student belongs to a SARS-CoV-2 risk group as defined by the Robert Koch Institute (must also be documented). A withdrawal for reasons related to the coronavirus may be granted in individual cases upon approval of the unit responsible as per the examination regulations (e.g. because of study conditions or the possibility to participate in courses and exams, illness in the run-up to the exam).
• If their participation in the exam is compulsory and they belong to a SARS-CoV-2 risk group, they have the right to withdraw from the exam for good reason. In case of oral exams, an online oral exam instead of the on-campus exam may be agreed upon with the examiners.
• All persons who participated in an on-campus exam (students, examiners, supervisors, observers, minute writers etc.) have to inform Student Affairs and Teaching (referat.lehre@uni-konstanz.de) as well as our in-house physician Heike Strauß (betriebsarzt@uni-konstanz.de) immediately if, within 14 days after participating in the exam, they are diagnosed with a SARS-CoV-2 infection.

For the purpose of concluding the digital summer semester with appropriate online exams, the Communication, Information, Media Centre (KIM) will offer a separate examinations environment in ILIAS. Since 2 July 2020, two different types of online examinations have been available:

1. Remote “take home” exams:
You can use the ILIAS training module to conduct remote or “take home” exams based on the “download – work – upload” principle. Students will be required to download a file with exam questions, complete them offline and then upload their answers.

The advantage: This type of examination comes with lower requirements in terms of studentsʼ technical equipment at home (e.g. internet connection) since candidates do not have to be online for the duration of the exam.

The disadvantage: Automatic correction of single or multiple choice questions isnʼt available.

2. Live online exams:
You can use the ILIAS test module to offer live online examinations where students have to be logged on to ILIAS for the duration of the exam to post their answers directly to ILIAS (e.g. single or multiple choice, attribution questions, open questions).

The disadvantage: This type of examination comes with higher requirements in terms of studentsʼ technical equipment at home (e.g. internet connection) since candidates will have to be online for the duration of the exam.

The advantage: Automatic correction of single or multiple choice questions is available.

More information on the ILIAS exams environment is available at uni.kn/en/coronavirus under “teaching in the summer semester 2020”, section 4.4.

Post-exam reviews currently require considerable effort. Since the university only offers conditional on-site services and has only a limited number of suitably large rooms available, examinations that had been postponed will continue to have first priority for using these rooms. Please check your department’s website to find out when exam inspections will be possible.

Previously, the deadlines for students to submit written performance assessments such as term or seminar papers as well as final theses and the like had, at first, been extended by the duration of the library closure. Since the university gradually resumed operations and students then had sufficient access to literature, the Rectorate asked the departments on 6 May 2020 to reassess the situation. In consultation with the respective examination boards, the departments determined a point in time at which the extension of deadlines for all ongoing written assignments would end (uniform regulations were decided in the case of study programmes offered by multiple departments). The date at which the extension of deadlines ends must be set no earlier than two weeks after the departments have announced their decision. The new submission deadline will be calculated by taking this date and adding the number of days remaining on the old deadline. Teaching staff have been asked to take any ongoing restrictions into account when assessing these papers.

We would like to explain how the new deadline works using two test cases for a term paper that a student was given four weeks (28 days) to complete.

Case 1: The paper completion period began before 15 March (the day the library closed).

This means the student’s new deadline is calculated by extending the date set by the Examination Board (StPA) by the number of days of the completion period that were left over on 15 March (28 days minus the number of days that had already been used up by this time). If the department sets a date of 15 June, then it must actively inform students of this decision by 1 June. If, for example, the paper completion period began on 10 March and was set to last 28 days, then the new deadline would be calculated as follows:
The remaining paper completion period is now 23 days (28 days minus the 5 days that had been “used up” from 10-14 March). If the deadline is calculated from 15 June then the new deadline is 7 July (23 days after 15 June).

Case 2: The term paper was assigned on or after 15 March.

The entire paper completion period of 28 days starts on the date set by the Examination Board (StPA). If, for example the department sets a date of 15 June, then it must actively inform students of this decision by 1 June. The student must submit the term paper by 13 July (28 days after 15 June).

If there is a justified request for an additional extension of the deadline, please submit your request for extension to your Examination Board Study programme (in case of final theses: to the Central Examination Office). During the conditional on-site operations, we recommend that you email the request, fully completed and including the corresponding documentation, as a scanned pdf file.

Please note: The respective examination boards will contact you as soon as possible. Although work at the university is limited, the Central Examination Office will make every effort to process such requests as quickly as possible.

If you would like to submit your thesis during conditional on-site operations, please email PDF files of your thesis along with the required documents (declaration of independent work, certificate of enrolment) to your contact person in the Central Examination Office. Please submit the number of bound thesis copies determined in the examination regulations to your contact person in the Central Examination Office immediately after you have sent him/her the corresponding PDF file. The copies can be sent to the Central Examination Office via the Central Post Room on level A5 (or the mailbox outside the building at the main entrance) or by mailing them to the following address (to the attention of your contact person):

University of Konstanz
Abteilung Studium und Lehre
Zentrales Prüfungsamt / Fach 70
Universitaetsstrasse 10, 78464 Konstanz
GERMANY

Exception: Final theses in the Department of Economics study programme listed below have to be sent as PDF files along with the required documents (declaration of independent work, certificate of enrolment) via email to the Department of Economics. This is the case fore:

BSc Economics, the MSc programme Economics, the MSc programme Business and Economics Education, the MSc programme Political Economy and the MSc programme Social and Economic Data Science.

For the BSc and MSc programmes Mathematical Finance: please submit the thesis depending on your specialization either to the Department of Economics or the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

In the Department of Economics, bound copies of theses must be submitted by mail (on the postmark date).

The postal address for submitting the printed thesis copies is: Fachbereich Wirtschaftswissenschaften, Geschaeftsstelle, Fach 137, 78457 Konstanz, GERMANY.

Generally speaking, you will need to submit performance assessments as originally required for the respective courses (by email, via ILIAS, in person, etc.). If academic performance assessments are submitted via email or ILIAS, the time the university receives the assessment is decisive. If you have arranged to turn in your work in person, you can naturally only do so after the university ends its conditional on-site operations).

Please submit the number of bound thesis copies determined in the examination regulations to your contact person in the Central Examination Office immediately after you have sent him/her the corresponding PDF file. The copies can be sent to the Central Examination Office via the Central Post Room on level A5 (or, if this is not possible, via the mailbox outside the building at the main entrance) or by mailing them to the following address (to the attention of your contact person):

University of Konstanz
Abteilung Studium und Lehre
Zentrales Pruefungsamt / Fach 70
Universitaetsstrasse 10
78464 Konstanz
GERMANY

Our Writing Tutoring Service is still available should you need help with writing your paper or thesis. You can get an individual appointment for an online advice session, or you can simply send an email to schreibberatung@uni-konstanz.de if you only have a few short questions.

The Writing Centre also provides working material and other services online. Current services

You can contact the Writing Centre at schreibzentrum@uni-konstanz.de.

The university tries to minimize the disadvantages and trouble you might have. New dates will be set as soon as possible during the summer semester for previously postponed exams. We will make every effort to make it possible for you to complete your studies despite the coronavirus pandemic.

To ease the particular hardships that students may experience as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the individual standard period of study was extended by law once-only for all students in Baden-Württemberg who are enrolled and not on leave in the summer semester 2020 (on 24 June 2020). This decision is particularly important for BAföG recipients who might lose their funding as a result of the delay.

A recent change in the state education law (LHG) provides for a one-off extension of the standard period of study by one semester in the summer semester 2020 to address any coronavirus-related delays. Since the maximum period of BAföG funding is tied to the standard period of study as per the state education law, the maximum BAföG funding period will also be extended by one semester.

The change in the law also means that all deadlines for submitting semester coursework and performance assessments will be extended by one semester for all students enrolled in the summer semester 2020. In addition to the maximum period of study potentially specified in the relevant examination regulations, the deadlines in relation to orientation tests, for instance, will also be extended.

Please contact your departmental student advisory service if you have any questions.

The Landesrektorenkonferenz (LRK) (rectors’ conference) for Baden-Württemberg has stated that it is possible to continue or start internships that are carried out outside the university, such as professional/industry internships. However, that is for the internship provider to decide.

Visit your department’s website or the website of your department’s internship coordinator for updated information about internships:

– History

– Literature

– Philosophy

– Politics and Public Administration

– Psychology

– Sociology

– Linguistics

– Economics

A listing of internship opportunities is posted in the Career Service internship and job portal in ZEuS. Check out the Career Service’s eLearning Tool as you prepare for and complete an internship. Get valuable tips and support with every step along the way: from getting your orientation to finding and completing an internship. Further information on finding and applying for jobs during the coronavirus pandemic is available on the Career Service website “FAQs on finding and applying for jobs during the corona crisis”.

Due to the closure of schools in Baden-Württemberg on 17 March 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic, individual teacher education students were not able to start/finish their three-week orientation internship (OP). If you completed two thirds of your orientation internship (10 days), you will not have to do the missing days later. Your internship will be recognized as successfully completed. If you did not start your internship or could not complete two thirds, please contact the student advisor of BiSE, Frank Maurer via email: orientierungspraktikum@uni-konstanz.de. We will try to find a good solution for you.

Please note that we currently cannot make any reliable predictions as to when schools will operate normally again and internships can take place. We will update you regularly in the weeks ahead.

Please also visit the FAQ website of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports(in German).

Don’t forget to regularly check theBiSE website (in German) for the updates. BiSE will inform you on this website as well as via email about current developments.

Students who have a lab course in buildings L, M, ML, P, PZ, Z: your course instructors will let you into the corresponding building (decentrally). Please note that you have to keep the minimum distance when waiting outside and do not form any groups. The course instructors have to decentrally register all participants who are present. The attendance lists must be kept by the respective departments and must be available the next calendar day. Appropriate regulations are taken within Faculty 1.

The University of Konstanz knows very well that currently it is not always possible to balance family responsibilities and university study. The Rectorate and other units have developed options to support you, as you care for children or other family members. Please also read the Letter from our Kanzler , and Family Affairs Representative of our university, Jens Apitz, sent on 1 April 2020 to all staff members with family responsibilities.

As a support measure, the University of Konstanz has set up a fund to subsidize costs for private childcare as childcare facilities are closed due to the corona pandemic. This option is also open to students who are completing online courses while caring for small children. Application form

The Studi Ticket is now available as an App. The reason is that the points-of-sale for bus tickets and semester tickets are either closed or open only to a very limited extent. To make the Studi Ticket more easily available, you can buy it via the “Mein Konstanz” App. You can find video instructions (in German) on how to register for the “Mein Konstanz” App and information about the digital Studi Ticket on the website of Stadtwerke Konstanz and the corresponding FAQs.

Please inform the Student Service Centre (SSZ) that your UniCard is missing by using the contact form and clicking on the topic “Formalities during your studies”. It will cost you € 10 to get a replacement UniCard. Please transfer this amount to the “Universitätskasse Konstanz” using the “Verwendungszweck” (payment reference) “Verlust Studierendenausweis UniCard” (lost UniCard). The IBAN is DE92600501017486501274. After your payment has been received, we will produce and mail you your replacement UniCard to the address you listed in ZEuS. Please note that this may take some time.

You will meet the deadline (until the end of the current semester) if you send your request, via post, to the Student Service Centre (SSZ) in time. During conditional on-site operations, we recommend that you send us all the required documentation in a single scanned pdf file using our contact form, topic “Formalities during your studies”.

This summer semester, the university’s Career Service will offer all its 2020 information events online on the topics of finding and applying for a job as well as getting information on the current job market. Online workshops and professional qualification programmes are also being planned. For an overview of all the available services and events, visit the Career Service’s event calendar.

The Career Service has posted information FAQs about the current situation in the job market to its “Career and Corona” website. This page will be updated regularly. If you have questions about applying for a job, finding an internship and getting your career started, you can get advice from the Career Service either by telephone or email.

The state of Baden-Württemberg is launching an emergency fund in the amount of one million euros for students who have lost their side jobs due to the corona pandemic and are experiencing financial hardship as a result. If you are a student in need and can provide sufficient evidence, you can obtain an interest-free loan in the amount of up to 450 euros for the months of April and May (totalling up to 900 euros). These loans are handled by the respective student services (“Studierendenwerk”). Further information is available from the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts Baden-Württemberg (MWK) website.

How can I apply for support from the BW emergency fund?
You can find the grade printout required for the application in ZEuS (My studies > Performance assessments). In the lower part of the page, under “Reports” you can download the grade printout (60002 and 60004) and get a verification code as well as a link to the ZEuS verification page, which can be used to prove the document’s authenticity. If your performance assessments are still listed in StudIS, then it is not possible to get this verification code. In this case, please contact the responsible examination office.

The project "Studis mit Studis" (students hand-in-hand) continues throughout the digital summer semester 2020.

It offers advice and support to students who are suffering from or have recovered from a mental disorder, chronic illness or mobility impairment.

The digital semester has a profound impact on previous study routines. This can give rise to additional challenges.

University of Konstanz students offer individual assistance and support – including online support – on the following topics:

- managing your daily routine
- planning your semester
- implementing learning and working techniques
- managing stress and examination anxiety
- contacting teaching staff and support services
- borrowing literature
- catching up on missed courses

You can research the students who coordinate the programme by sending an email to sms@uni.kn.

Advice on the topic of studying with disabilities and chronic illnesses is available from christiane.harmsen@uni-konstanz.de

More information

If you wish to receive detailed information on the topic of diversity in the future, you are very welcome to subscribe to our mailing list.

The university will also provide as much online teaching as possible in the winter semester 2020/2021, although we expect more face-to-face classes to be possible. On-campus teaching will be made possible where it is required for teaching the content (e.g. student lab courses, practical sports courses and other formats). Hybrid forms are also possible, in which face-to-face classes are supplemented by large portions of online teaching. Special care will be taken to enable as many students as possible to study on campus, especially first-semester students.