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On this website, we will continuously update the information on the consequences of the corona crisis on studies and teaching at the University of Potsdam. The provisions detailed on this website will be modified depending on the situation. Please check this website regularly.
General information from the University of Potsdam
Consequences of the corona crisis regarding German Federal Training Assistance Act (BAföG) funding | FAQs of the German National Association for Student Affairs - DSW
Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences
Center for Languages and Key Competences - Zessko
Until further notice, personal office hours at the Student Affairs Division will be suspended. Some office hours will continue to take place via telephone. Please refer to the website of the respective services for further information. If possible, we kindly ask you to send your questions via e-mail. All questions and requests will continue to be answered by us as quickly as possible. Please make sure to include your student ID number and use your university e-mail account!
Please make use of the letterboxes of the Division to submit all documents. They will be emptied several times a day. In everyone’s interest, please refrain from making any unnecessary personal inquiries.
In general, it is still required to hand in documents in a written format. We would like to point out that stamps can also be purchased electronically, so that it is not absolutely necessary to visit a post office. If you have access to special e-mail technology that meets the legal requirements of the German De-Mail-Act, you may use this method of sending documents if you attach the signed document.
If you are unable to send documents in a letter for exceptional reasons (e.g. illness, quarantine, avoidance of social contacts due to contact with infected persons, membership of a risk group), please send the signed document as an attachment in advance via regular e-mail. Please use this e-mail to explain why it is not possible for you to send the application in a letter. If these reasons are accepted as sufficient, we will inform you and ask you to send the original documents as soon as it is possible for you to do so. Requests that do not need to be implemented immediately will not be processed until the subsequent submission of the original document, but will be considered to be within the deadline. The date of receipt of the document will be the date it was received electronically.
There will be no more on-site courses taking place at the University of Potsdam up to and including April 19, 2020. This also applies to excursions and, for example, orientation events organized by the departmental student representative committees. The affected events will be postponed until after April 19, 2020. Events already in progress will be cancelled. Please consider offering alternative dates at a later time or using online formats. As future developments will remain unforeseeable, there is a possibility that an increasing number of courses will continue to take place in a digital format, even after the official first day of classes. You will be informed about this potential issue on this website.
The libraries and computer labs at the University of Potsdam will remain closed from March 15, 2020, until further notice.
The registration, enrollment, and withdrawal period for courses has changed. You can find the current periods on this page.
The following information only applies to students whose examination administration is linked to the Examination Office of the Student Affairs Division. Students at the Digital Engineering Faculty and the Law Faculty as well as students in a continuing education Master’s program are asked to refer to the relevant bodies.
Written examinations
Updated: March 21, 2020
From March 24, 2020 until April 19, 2020, no examinations will take place due to the implementation of emergency on-site operations at the University of Potsdam.
Updated: March 16, 2020
Written examinations with a maximum of 50 persons in the rooms of the University of Potsdam will be carried out as far as possible, taking into account the special standards of hygiene and the availability of additional room capacity. This procedure requires mutual agreement. Agreement is to be assumed as given if the examination takes place and the student participates. If the required standards cannot be met, the examination will not take place.
Oral examinations
Updated: March 21, 2020
In the case of oral exams, which should still be carried out by mutual agreement, the examiners are required to find individual solutions, in particular to examine the use of alternative communication channels.
Updated: March 16, 2020
Oral examinations/thesis defenses can inherently meet hygiene standards and will therefore take place as scheduled.
Yes, the non-binding examination option for the first semester will remain valid. Please contact the Examination Office after the examination.
For examinations taking place after March 16, 2020, the following applies: Non-attendance will be considered a withdrawal from the examination. No documents need to be handed in as proof. The examination will not receive a 5.0 grade.
No, we urgently ask you to refrain from participating in an examination under these circumstances. Please not that people who have returned from risk areas or regions are banned from entering university premises for 14 days.
In the majority of cases, topic assignemnt forms for your final thesis will not be processed due to the closure of all libraries. As soon as the libraries re-open, the forms will be processed and you will be informed of your final deadline as usual. Should you wish to begin work on your final thesis despite the current situation, please contact the Examination Office via e-mail for approval or expressly indicate your wish on the application form. If approval is granted, the usual submission deadlines apply. The responsible examining board will decide on possible extensions of the submission deadline due to corona-related restrictions upon request. An extension of up to two months may also be considered here, depending on the individual case.
In some justified cases, it will be possible to withdraw from the topic assigned to you even after a third of your time before the submission deadline has passed. Please contact the Examination Office and state your reasons for the delayed withdrawal.
Yes, instead of handing in three bound copies of your final thesis, you can send them as a PDF file via e-mail to pruefungsamtuni-potsdamde. It is also possible to give the Examination Office access to the file via Box.UP. The PDF file will be forwarded to your referees exclusively by the Examination Office. If it is not possible to send the file via e-mail, please check the attachment size and try to reduce it if possible. Once the situation has gone back to normal, you will be asked by the Examination Office to hand in a bound copy of your thesis in order to comply with the five-year obligation to preserve records. When submitting your thesis, please also include the required statement on the originality of your work in a digital format. In case of a digital submission, a wet signature of the document will not be necessary for the time being. However, a wet signature with reference to the date of the digital submission must be added when you hand in the printed copy of your thesis, which must correspond to the digital version.
Applications to enroll are being processed and enrollments will be carried out. However, substantial delays in processing are to be expected at the moment due to the emergency on-site operations.
Students who have already newly enrolled for the summer semester 2020 and now decide against studying at the University of Potsdam have the possibility to withdraw their enrollment until April 30, 2020. The withdrawal application is to be addressed to Division 2, Office of Student Affairs. Please also attach your student ID card (PUCK) to your written request. You can find the application forms to withdraw your enrollment here. The University of Potsdam will refund the paid semester fees as a single payment. Please provide your bank details (IBAN, BIC) with your application form.
If your application to enroll has been submitted without delay to the Office of Student Affairs at the University of Potsdam by March 15, 2020, you can file any missing documents by April 30, 2020 (cut-off date).
Until further notice, validation is only possible at the campus Neues Palais, Building 8, in the lobby of the ZIM service offices. The validation station is accessible from Monday to Friday between 7 AM and 7 PM. We would currently advise against a validation on site and point out the accommodating arrangements described below.
Unfortunately, charging stations for the PUCK are currently not available. Washing machines and dryers in the student dormitories now cost only 0.01 euros per load. Please keep yourself informed about further measures on site at the dormitories.
VBB semester tickets for the winter semester 2019/2020, which expire on March 31, 2020, will still be accepted as a ticket for the use of public transportation. The regulation is valid until April 30, 2020, provided that a certificate of enrollment for the summer semester 2020 (Printout of the digital certificate on white paper in its original size) can be presented at the same time.
It is currently not possible to issue a replacement PUCK. Therefore, we must point out that if you lose your PUCK, you must buy a ticket before you start your journey on public transport. There are no plans at present to refund these purchased tickets. Certificates of enrollment alone will not be accepted as replacement tickets.
The International Office urges all program and exchange students not to travel to Potsdam for the summer semester 2020. All scheduled arrival and welcome events in April 2020 have to be cancelled.
Students who have already newly enrolled for the summer semester 2020 and now decide against studying at the University of Potsdam have the possibility to withdraw their enrollment until April 30, 2020. The withdrawal application is to be addressed to Division 2, Office of Student Affairs. Please also attach your student ID card (PUCK) to your written request. You can find the application forms to withdraw your enrollment here. The University of Potsdam will refund the paid semester fees as a single payment. Please provide your bank details (IBAN, BIC) with your application form.
At the end of April 2020 at the earliest, the International Office will be able to inform you whether or not the University of Potsdam will accept nominations for the winter semester 2020/2021.
Teaching staff may send the examination results of program students to the International Office preferably by e-mail instead of using a paper "Schein"/certificate. Teaching staff must use their university e-mail address (@uni-potsdam.de) and the e-mail should contain the following information:
Send to: transcript-incominguni-potsdamde
Subject: name of the student
The respective student may be cc’d, so that he/she also receives the examination results. For data protection resons, please do not send the results of several students in one e-mail with students cc’d.
If you are currently studying abroad or had plans to go study abroad but are unable to travel, you can continue your studies at the University of Potsdam. A leave of absence already approved for the summer semester 2020 can be withdrawn upon written request. The deadline for such a withdrawal of the leave of absence for the summer semester 2020 is April 15, 2020. The withdrawal application is to be addressed in writing to Division 2, Office of Student Affairs.
Online applications for the master’s degree programs will be opened on April 1, 2020 for the winter semester. If any changes are planned or approved, they will immediately be published on our websites.
If you have been admitted for the summer semester 2020 but do not enroll, your admission notification will become void. If you should wish to start studying at the University of Potsdam in the next winter semester, you will have to apply again. It is not possible to consider your admission for the summer semester valid for an enrollment in the winter semester. Please note that a leave of absence cannot be granted for the first semester.
Applications to enroll are being processed and enrollments will be carried out. However, delays in processing are to be expected at the moment due to the emergency on-site operations. In light of more borders closing within the European Union, we would understand if you wanted to withdraw your enrollment and consider returning to your home country. We would advise you to contact your embassy on the matter. Please note that public life and working conditions in Germany are currently under strict restrictions. If you are reliant on finding a job to earn a living, this could prove extremely difficult in the coming months.
If a letter with your application for enrollment in a Master's program is received by the Office of Student Affairs of the University of Potsdam by the deadline of April 15, 2020, you can submit the missing documents by April 30, 2020 (cut-off period) at the latest, also via regular mail. Documents sent by e-mail can only be considered as having been received in time for enrollment. The enrollment can only be finalized when the documents are received in the regular mail. Please note that in order to successfully enroll, you will need to provide all necessary documentation, including the appropriate health insurance.
When deciding whether to enroll for the summer semester or not, please consider the following: Enrollment will only be finalized when all documents have been received by the university by regular mail within the deadline. Up to one week after enrollment, you will receive an e-mail with the payment details for the semester fees. You will then have to transfer the semester fees to the university. When the fees have been received in full, the login data for registering for the courses will be sent to you by regular mail (not by e-mail!) to the postal address you have provided. Only then can you register for the online courses of the summer semester. Deadline for registration for the courses is May 10.
We therefore ask you to decide for yourself how realistic it is that you will receive your login data to your postal address in time. These data cannot be sent by mail! If you are not yet in Germany, please judge for yourself how reliable the postal service in your home country currently works.
In light of the dynamic developments, we are currently unable to predict how things will work in the upcoming summer semester 2020. The University of Potsdam is actively doing everything in its power to offer digital teaching formats. The starting date for all courses has been postponed to April 20, 2020. We understand if you decide against studying here under the circumstances. You have the possibility to withdraw your enrollment until April 30, 2020.
Should you decide to take up your studies: Please note that regardless of whether or not you will be entering Germany for the summer semester, you will have to bear the full costs of enrollment and health insurance, even in an online semester! These costs will not be reimbursed if you do not enter Germany until the winter semester 2020/2021 or if you will not enter Germany at all for other reasons.
For information on health insurance, please click here and if you have any questions, please contact the International Office.
Please also note the information about registration for the courses (see the previous point).
Yes. Students who have already newly enrolled for the summer semester 2020 and now decide against studying at the University of Potsdam have the possibility to withdraw their enrollment until April 30, 2020. The withdrawal application is to be addressed in writing to Division 2, Office of Student Affairs. Please also attach your student ID card (PUCK) to your request, if you have already received one. The withdrawal application (“Antrag auf Widerruf der Immatrikulation”) can be found here.
Yes. For this purpose, please submit an enrollment withdrawal application (“Antrag auf Widerruf der Immatrikulation” to be found here). Please submit your bank details (IBAN, BIC) with the application.
In this case, please contact the German embassy and explain the situation to them. The embassy can discuss your case with the respective foreign national’s office and issue an entry visa for you.
Unfortunately, we cannot yet provide you with any concrete information on that matter. The university is working very hard to make online courses available. The starting date for all courses of the summer semester has been postponed to April 20, 2020. That way, you could participate in the online courses even if you are abroad. As soon as we have more information on this matter, we will inform you on this website.
Please refer to the team of the International Office exclusively with any questions. Please refrain from contacting any other e-mail accounts than the ones indicated on the International Office website. Your questions will be forwarded by them if necessary.
Applications to enroll are being processed and enrollments will be carried out. However, substantial delays in processing are to be expected at the moment due to the emergency on-site operations.
Students who have already newly enrolled for the summer semester 2020 and now decide against studying at the University of Potsdam have the possibility to withdraw their enrollment until April 30, 2020. The withdrawal application is to be addressed to Division 2, Office of Student Affairs. Please also attach your student ID card (PUCK) to your written request. You can find the application forms to withdraw your enrollment here. The University of Potsdam will refund the paid semester fees as a single payment. Please provide your bank details (IBAN, BIC) with your application form.
We will keep you informed about current developments on this website. In due time, you will also find further information on the websites of the respective entrance examinations.
We will keep you informed of any new developments on this website.
For any questions pertaining to the consequences of the corona crisis, please use one of the following e-mail addresses. We coordinate the answering of all questions internally:
E-Mail: corona-studiumuni-potsdamde | corona-studierendeuni-potsdamde
Please make sure to provide your student registration number and use your university e-mail account.
If you have been verifiably diagnosed with the coronavirus, please follow the instructions of the doctors and authorities and also report your infection to the Student Affairs Division using the e-mail address dez2uni-potsdamde.
Program administration and examining board members must also report any findings they have using the e-mail address dez2uni-potsdamde.
Update: April 01, 2020
University of Potsdam
Division of Student Affairs
Am Neuen Palais 10
14469 Potsdam
Fax: +49 331 977-1065
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