By the winter semester at the latest, the University of Business and Society wants to spread its arms wide and bring students back to campus
At its last meeting on June 2, 2021, the University Senate approved a concept that will enable as many courses and lectures as possible to be held in person on campus. Depending on the Department and degree program, up to four days of attendance per week are planned for each student. "All of us, students and lecturers alike, have made a conscious decision in favor of an on-campus university. Good education also thrives on personal interaction. Our opening concept is an early message from HWG LU to its students and all other university members, which simultaneously combines planning security with openness for creativity and sends out a signal of hope and welcome," says University President Prof. Dr. Peter Mudra. "Face-to-face teaching is not just a question of didactics. For students, it is the basis of student life, because it brings young people together. This is the only way to get to know new people and actually experience studying as a positive stage of life," adds Dean Prof. Dr. Klaus Blettner, under whose leadership the concept was developed.
Semester planning usually begins around five months before the start of lectures. A long process in times of the pandemic. Many questions arise: Who will all be vaccinated by the end of September? Who among the teaching staff? How many of the students? Will a test still be required to be on site? Will the social distancing rules still apply? The last question in particular is central to the planning, as the distancing rules will considerably reduce the already scarce room capacities. A specially established working group, in which numerous students in particular, but of course also lecturers, administrative staff and the staff council were involved, has developed an innovative solution under the title "Reboot". Each Department has prioritized access to the rooms on the main campus on one day of the week. This ensures that students see their entire semester group every week if possible. The other attendance days are planned with the capacities as if no more distance rules applied. If these still apply at the beginning of the semester, the reduced attendance places will be available for students to book online each week. Students who are unable to be on site will also be able to participate in all courses in the winter semester online via Zoom. The library and other study spaces will probably be made accessible to students again this semester. Here, too, places can then be reserved online.
In view of the diversity of degree programs, decisions on the extent to which a return to in-person teaching in the winter semester can take place will be made on a decentralized basis. In the fields of nursing and social work in particular, the special requirements arising from the professional environment must be taken into account.
The response from students to the "reboot" plans has been very positive: "All student senate members are behind the concept. It's good to see how much the interests of students are always taken into account in the university's decisions, especially during the pandemic," says Bachelor's student Anika Werner, who herself worked on the concept for restarting on-campus teaching.
On behalf of the entire management of the university, I would like to say that we have taken a responsible approach since the beginning of the pandemic, but always in the interests of our students and employees," emphasizes Mudra. "With this clear perspective on the visible return to in-person studies in Ludwigshafen, HWG LU is once again sending a clear and important signal for the university landscape," he says, convinced of the significance of the early decision.
You can view the concept here.
