Corona Update: Regulations until January 31

The aim of the state government's current measures is to further restrict contact in all areas of life in order to minimise infection risks and prevent infection with the coronavirus. Even at the "university workplace", contact opportunities between members of the university are to be reduced to a minimum. Where activities and technical conditions correspond with the requirements, work should continue to be done primarily in the home office. This always requires the consent of the supervisor.

The presence in the institutes, facilities and administrative units is to be limited to those activities that can only be done on site and organised in such a way that operations can be maintained even in the event of an infection. This applies in particular to critical business processes and infrastructures.

Supervisors should make full use of all organisational measures that enable employees to deliver their standard working hours. The instruments of working time flexibility (staggered work, shift work, home office, reorganisation, etc.) are to be exhausted accordingly, taking into account the hygiene and distance regulations. The working time framework shall continue to be extended to the period from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. The existing regulations for persons who belong to a risk groupdue to pre-existing conditions shall continue to apply unchanged.

Employees who are affected by the closure of day-care facilities and schools should, in consultation with their superiors, continue to give priority to using the possibilities of flexible working hours and, above all, mobile working. The University Board is aware that due to the often difficult childcare situation, full work performance cannot always be achieved and this additional workload cannot always be fully compensated for in the private sphere. At this point, the University Board appeals to all superiors to take the current exceptional situation into account appropriately and to find individual solutions adapted to the respective care situation together with the employees. The respective personnel administrators in the Human Resources Division provide support in agreeing on such solutions with regard to the actual possible working hours in time recording or, exceptionally, leave of absence or time off to care for one or more children. Further information can be found on the Corona website.

Unfortunately, the extended possibilities of the so-called children's sickness benefit announced by the federal and state governments cannot be used at present, as a legal basis must first be created by the government. We will inform you as soon as these regulations are available.

Students with childcare responsibilities still have the option of applying for disadvantage compensation if they are unable or only able to a limited extent to attend a course that requires attendance due to a lack of childcare. It is also possible to apply for an extension of the processing time for homework, theses or similar. Further information is available on the Corona website for students.

As of 11 January 2021, teaching will continue to take place in digital form. However, on the basis of the Higher Education Corona Ordinance, the practical courses initially suspended from December 16 can be resumed in presence. The minimum distance of 1.5m must be maintained at all times during the event. In addition, a mask must be worn during the entire duration of the course, practical sports courses are excepted. Please enquire with the respective lecturer whether your practical course will be continued in attendance on site again from January 11.

Up to and including January 31, examinations are only held on site in absolutely exceptional cases. They have been almost completely transferred to digital formats.

The following aspects are currently still being clarified or are very dependent on further pandemic situation, so that no definitive statement can be made at this time:

• Conduct of examinations on site in the period February 15 to March 16. (Should examinations take place on site in this period, they will NOT take place in an examination tent, but in the fixed premises of the CAU.)
• Possible postponement of the summer semester 2021
• Extension of the deadline for provisional Master's enrolment.

We will provide you with comprehensive information on these and other questions in a timely manner. You can also find information at any time on the CAU's Corona website, which is constantly updated. Here you will also find up-to-date information on the extension of deadlines for homework/theses and on the special needs of students with children.

The services of the CAU libraries will also remain restricted. The University Library will maintain the following services:

• Lending of amaximum of 3 books per day. Opening hours for lending: Mon-Fri 9.00-6.30 h and Sat 11.00-4.30 h
• Return during the opening hours for borrowing or via the letterbox at the Central Library
• Individual workstations and working cabins canbe used by students in cases of hardship for the preparation of final theses and term papers to be completed during their studies. A case of hardship exists, for example, if no suitable private workplace is available. In addition, the workstations can be used by members of the CAU for the preparation of research work, including dissertations and post-doctoral theses, and for the preparation of courses by lecturers. In any case, prior online reservation is required.
• The service counter is still open Mon-Fri 9.00-18.30 and Sat 11.00-16.30.

For information on the restricted services of the subject libraries, please visit their websites.

The regulations already made in November 2020 to restrict contacts in university operations and to minimise infection risks will be extended until January 31, 2021:

• All university members must consistently observe the distance requirement and the known hygiene rules throughout the campus.
• The mask requirement continues to apply outside and inside all buildings until the student reaches the workplace, as well as in face-to-face teaching sessions.
• Internal meetings, meetings with external guests, meetings of working groups, meetings, job interviews and committee meetings should not be held in person until further notice. Digital formats or telephone conferences should be used instead.
• Business trips shall continue to be undertaken only if absolutely necessary for the completion of the work task. Business trips to risk areas abroad and regions with high infection rates within Germany (high incidence areas) should not be approved. Exceptions require the approval of the Executive Board in individual cases.
• Closure of facilities: The university's museums, the university sports centre (except for courses) and the student union refectories will continue to be closed.

The counselling centres are available to you digitally or by telephone. Information at Openings & Closings

Detailed information on all subject areas can be found here on the CAU's Coronawebsite.

For the contact data collection for the courses on site, there are corresponding notices in the rooms of the CAU (with a QR code or a web address) for registering and providing your contact data in/via OLAT. This is necessary in order to enable the Health Office to make the all-important quick contact directly in the event that contact tracing is required. Please be sure to remember to complete the mandatory registration.

By using the Corona warning app, it is also possible to contribute outside of the university so that necessary information about a risk encounter with or one's own involvement in a laboratory-confirmed corona infection can be exchanged between other users of the Corona warning app anonymously and in a timely manner in accordance with data protection regulations. This helps to contain the pandemic.

If you have any questions, please contact corona@uni-kiel.de.

Students are welcome to contact Sandra Elstner at selstner@uv.uni-kiel.de with general questions about studying in times of Corona as well as challenges in this regard.

The corona pandemic will continue to have a very significant impact on university life in the coming weeks and months. Months of restrictions and social deprivation are wearing on our nerves. And yet we must continue to face this pandemic resolutely as the "CAU community". Because only as a community and by looking out for each other can we successfully manage this situation. Above all, this means understanding that each individual is affected by the pandemic and the measures in very different ways, whether as a member of a risk group, through worries about family and friends, the lack of social contacts in the home office, or currently through the considerable burdens that the closure of day-care centres and schools brings for students and employees with children. Together, we have to recognise these burdens and take into account in professional interaction that working and studying under corona conditions is subject to limitations despite the considerable efforts of each individual.

Thank you for your understanding.

Yours sincerely,
Claudia Ricarda Meyer, Chancellor
- for CAU‘s University Board -