Summer semester 2020 takes place

Statement of CAU's University Board:

"We will begin the summer semester as planned on Monday, April 6. Our thanks go to all those who make this possible. In the coming days, the state's universities and the Ministry of Science will clarify how the current summer semester and the coming winter semester will be organized. Information will follow here as soon as it is available."

A resolution of the Conference of Ministers of Culture from April 3

The federal states have agreed on a joint approach to the design of the 2020 summer semester due to the spread of the coronavirus. The summer semester 2020 will be an unusual one, but it should not be a lost semester. The aim is to create the necessary framework conditions for the universities to ensure that teaching and research operations run as smoothly as possible in the 2020 summer semester.

Clear guidelines should allow as much flexibility as possible in the design of the semester, but also reliability and planning security while avoiding disadvantages for students.

Students who are unable to provide any or all of the planned services due to the consequences of the Covid 19 pandemic and the resulting limited range of courses should not, in principle, suffer any disadvantages with regard to regulations which, for example, take up the standard periods of study. The federal states will lobby the federal government to ensure that flexible regulations are found, for example in the areas of BAföG, child benefit or health insurance, which take into account the realities of student life in times of the Covid 19 pandemic.

In the event that current developments require more far-reaching decisions on the design of the 2020 summer semester and the scheduling of the application and admissions procedure for the 2020/2021 winter semester, these decisions should be made taking into account the following key points:

• The semester dates for the summer semester 2020 will not be postponed.
• The lecture times for the summer semester 2020 can be arranged flexibly.
• The dates for the application and admission procedure for undergraduate programmes for the winter semester 2020/2021 will be adjusted.
• Lectures at universities and universities of applied sciences in the winter semester 2020/2021 are to begin uniformly on 01.11.2020.

The opening of the application portals at the Foundation for University Admissions for the winter semester 2020/2021 will be postponed. The opening should take place on 01.07.2020 at the earliest. The application deadlines will be specified within the next two weeks.

The effects of the Covid 19 pandemic pose new challenges for universities and students. Their involvement in coping is as diverse as it is considerable. The federal states want to support them as best they can. They would like to thank the universities for their efforts to ensure that teaching and research can continue to operate in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic, in particular by providing digital teaching and learning formats.