Update (13 March)

If you are affected by the closure of a school or kindergarten and are unable to ensure the care of your child in any other way, please inform your supervisor and the human resources department. In this case, we would ask you to consult with your supervisors to determine whether mobile working from home is possible. In this context, the Staff Council and the university management will agree on a possible extension of the marginal hours of flextime. If mobile working from home is not feasible or appropriate, we ask you to apply for special leave with continued payment of remuneration or leave of absence from work with continued payment of remuneration from the human resources department. You will find further information in our FAQs at www.leuphana.de/coronavirus-info.

Advice for prospective students and current students as well as consultation hours between professors/lecturers and students should remain unchanged, but also be carried out by telephone or online as far as possible. We will provide further information and working aids at the beginning of the coming week.

International students at Leuphana as well as Leuphana students abroad are continuously informed by the International Office and can also contact the International Office if they need further advice (international@leuphana.de).

Subject to further decisions, the operation of the library will be maintained until further notice. The reading room will be closed. According to the current agreement, the lending of media and books will still be possible, but in a restricted way. Around 50% of books and 95% of journals in the library's holdings are available online. The management team of the MIZ will provide more detailed information on further regulations in the upcoming days.

Research operations are to be continued without restrictions as far as possible.

The university administration shall, as far as possible, maintain its operations without restriction.

An extended service agreement has been agreed with the Staff Council on work alternatives during the period of externally imposed restrictions, which you can access on the intranet. The service agreement stipulates that supervisors can give their individual consent to mobile working from home. The prerequisite for this is that the content of the respective colleague's work allows him/her to work from home and that the necessary work equipment is available. Please coordinate applications for mobile working with your supervisors. The use of private computers is possible as an exception, if necessary. In this context, the MIZ is currently preparing solutions for extended access to university IT systems. If necessary, please contact your directors for further information.

All university sports courses, beginning from Monday, March 16 will be suspended until April 19 and will not take place. Subject to further decisions, the fitness studio Studio 21 will remain open until further notice. The management team of University Sports will provide more detailed information on further regulations.

Starting on Monday, March 16, we will discontinue all classroom teaching events, as for now until April 19, as a precautionary measure. This will only affect courses with on-campus attendance. Courses held online or in any other virtual form are not affected.

The courses planned for the summer semester from April 6 onwards will nevertheless take place in form of alternative teaching formats. We expect that the discontinuation of classroom teaching may take longer than April 20, depending on the further spread of the coronavirus, and that we may have to organize larger parts of the summer semester in form of alternative formats. In order to organize teaching in the summer semester, we have therefore agreed with the deans, deans of studies and the directors of our schools, that we will organize courses – as far as possible – in virtual form - i.e. via video conference, telephone conference, in other online formats or through structured self-study formats. The Presidential Board therefore asks all professors and lecturers to prepare for these alternative formats beginning as early as next week. The timetable published in mystudy will continue to apply to online events that are held in a live format. Supplementary detailed information, instructions and working aids both for the use of technical platforms and for the didactic preparation of the courses are currently being prepared by a team consisting of MIZ, teaching service and professional school and will be available at the beginning of next week. We will provide more detailed information about this at the beginning of the upcoming week.

In order to provide the best possible support for professors and lecturers, we will set up a support team consisting of Leuphana staff with special expertise in digital formats. At the same time, after consultation with the deans and deans of studies, if required, there will be the possibility to organize courses in the first weeks of the semester in a structured self-study format (i.e a reading and preparation phase), in order to gain time for professors and lecturers to prepare online courses or courses in other alternative formats.

The Presidential Board asks you not to hold any further events on the Leuphana campus – regardless of the number of participants – until April 20, but to either postpone the event or let it take place virtually (video conference, telephone conference or other virtual format). Instructions and working aids will also be made available at the beginning of next week. If you need advice on handling planned events, please contact our Occupational Safety Department (arbeitssicherheit@leuphana.de) for individual assessment.

The examination dates for written examinations (Klausuren) in the second examination phase, which were previously scheduled between 16 March and 20 April, will not take place. The planned examinations are to be held alternatively either on an alternative date yet to be defined or in an alternative examination form that does not require presence on campus. Decisions in this regard are generally the responsibility of the examination boards. In the coming days, the Presidential Board will coordinate in detail with the deans and deans of studies, the examination boards and the student representatives. As soon as this coordination has taken place, we will provide more detailed information.

The deadlines for written examinations (Hausarbeiten) remain unchanged. It will be possible to submit papers digitally in order to avoid printouts.

For oral examinations that are due at short notice, please arrange individual solutions between students and examiners (professors/lecturers) until further notice. If necessary, we will also provide more information separately in the upcoming days.

The university will be closed to external visitors and guests with immediate effect and remains open only to members of the university, to service providers commissioned by the university and to visitors with explicit appointments.

Furthermore, all regulations communicated on www.leuphana.de/coronavirus-info continue to apply.

If you have any further questions or comments, please contact , which is now set up. However, if your questions relate to the topics already mentioned here, I would like to ask you to wait for upcoming further information, if applicable, which we will provide step by step until the beginning of next week.

Under current circumstances, I ask for your understanding for the measures taken. We are all aware that these measures restrict the operation of the university and require additional efforts from all of us. We all trust in the close cooperation and joint efforts to maintain the operation of the university as far as possible and at the same time to prevent the further spread of the novel coronavirus.

We will continue to keep you informed about new developments and information.

With kind regards

Christian Brei
Executive Vice President

Unless personal presence is mandatory due to necessary resolutions and votes, the university management recommends that all university members also hold meetings of working groups, committees or commissions virtually (telephone conferences, video conferences) as far as possible until further notice. We will provide further information and working aids at the beginning of the coming week. If a personal presence is required, please observe distances and hygiene rules.