Leibniz University Hannover University News & Events
Message from university management to LUH students

Message from university management to LUH students

Online teaching activities in summer semester 2020

Dear students,

The drastic measures implemented to contain the coronavirus pandemic will be in place for a prolonged period of time. Most likely, "regular" teaching activities including face-to face lectures will not take place in summer semester 2020, which starts on 20 April 2020. The Presidential Board has therefore decided that teaching activities in summer semester 2020 will take place online.

Facilitating online teaching and learning will be a significant challenge - both for the university and for students. Not all face-to-face lectures can be replaced by online formats. Due to the closure of libraries, accessing literature will be difficult for students and members of teaching staff. Students will be required to develop new learning strategies outside of the classroom; the precarious financial and spatial situation as well as challenges with regard to caring for children or other family members complicate matters even further.

However, we will make the best of the summer semester and provide great opportunities for learning. Enabling students to continue or complete their studies without negative consequences due the current situation is of utmost importance to us.

The Presidential Board fully supports the position of the German Rectors' Conference (HRK) and aims to ensure that examinations and degrees can be completed with as little disruptions as possible.

One thing is certain: Transferring teaching activities in the summer semester to online formats will be a new experience for all of us and requires students and teaching staff to develop new learning processes. We must strive to be open-minded, curious, creative, innovative - and above all, we must show solidarity and leniency if something does not run smoothly.

A website has been created with information on online teaching formats for summer semester 2020 (https://www.uni-hannover.de/de/universitaet/aktuelles/corona/). The website presents the various tools and teaching formats and aims to support teaching staff with preparing and developing online content. A corresponding information page will be available for you shortly. Should you encounter any issues with particular aspects of participating in an online course (e.g. technical difficulties), please do not hesitate to contact the relevant teaching staff to establish a solution to the matter.

The relevant departments are constantly working together to ensure that students experience as little disadvantage as possible. Much information has already been communicated via various channels, for example in respect to extensions for term papers and theses or documents needed for BAföG.

Due to the dynamic development process of the summer semester, the following shall apply as usual for coursework and assessments for winter semester 2019/2020: It will not be possible to bindingly resolve certain organisational and legal aspects, concerning examinations for example, until the coming weeks. Thank you for your patience in this matter!

In the meantime, you can stay up to date by visiting www.uni-hannover.de/corona where many questions are answered in the FAQ.

We, the Presidential Board, wish to extend our thanks for your patience, solidarity and team spirit in such difficult times!

Kind regards,

Prof. Dr. Volker EppingPresident