Information for students: Studying in the winter semester 2021/22

For your emotional endurance, for your attachment to your studies and to the university even under difficult conditions, for your active participation in the digitally conducted courses and for your ongoing commitment to initiatives and projects also in digital mode during the last semesters, we would first like to thank you once again explicitly and very sincerely. We know that studying in a time of crisis has not been and will continue to not be easy, especially for those of you who had to start your studies largely online last year. We would like to take advantage of all the experience we have gained in the last few semesters to be able to use and further develop innovative digital teaching/learning formats even after you have returned to face-to-face teaching. Digital teaching/learning formats cannot and should not replace face-to-face teaching on campus, but rather supplement it in a meaningful way without limiting the personal encounter and interaction on campus that is so important for Leuphana.

In view of the legal framework conditions, face-to-face teaching in the upcoming winter semester will take place in the so-called "3G mode". We made the necessary decisions after extensive coordination processes, also with the participation of the General Student Council (AStA), which represented the student interests broadly and in all different aspects. We have intensively discussed and weighed up the various wishes for presence and university life, the requirements for secure university operations, but also the additional burdens and restrictions that presence in 3G mode entails.

We want to implement this path together with you and in mutual trust. In doing so, we need to know that there are university members who prefer the most comprehensive security possible, as well as university members who follow other motivations and risk assessments. Against this background, we are concerned with a good balancing of sometimes conflicting interests and with seeking and finding solutions for a pragmatic university operation in presence that is supported by as many people as possible - even under conditions that may still change in the course of the semester. We realize that the return to presence under the conditions of a pandemic that has not yet come to an end is in some respects more complex than the conversion to online teaching at the beginning of the pandemic. We hope that many things will settle down and that next spring – from the summer semester 2022 on – all the usual freedoms of study will be fully possible again.

Against this background, we greatly appreciate your willingness to once again adapt to changed conditions in the coming winter semester – and, if necessary, to again accept additional efforts in order to achieve good studies for yourself as well as for your fellow students. This is a good basis for the further development of the university, and we thank you very much for it.

With this in mind, please understand and observe the following detailed organizational instructions for participation in courses in the coming winter semester:

1. COURSES AND EXAMINATIONS IN PRESENCE
   In principle, all courses in the winter semester 2021/22 will take place in presence on the campus of the university in a regular mode, i.e. usually as a weekly course or as a block course. This means that you as a student will basically study in presence on campus as usual. The same applies to exams.
   
   If you are one of those students who a) cannot be vaccinated against the coronavirus for proven medical reasons or b) belong to a group of people for whom the RKI does not (yet) recommend vaccination or has recently recommended vaccination - and therefore do not want to expose themselves to contact with persons who may be infectious despite vaccination or negative tests, despite the 3G rule -, or c) regularly stay abroad and can credibly demonstrate that they cannot travel to Germany due to the pandemic, please contact your professors or lecturers to find an individual solution and, in individual cases, to reach an agreement on how you can learn the content of your course as an alternative. An appropriate solution could be, for example, individual support by your teachers (e.g. literature study with individual feedback possibilities, Moodle assignments, reading logs in connection with office hours or similar). The prerequisite is that you credibly demonstrate the above-mentioned requirements to your instructors, in the case of medical reasons by submitting a medical certificate.
    
2. 3G MODE
   Due to legal requirements and health protection, a 3G mode will generally apply within all buildings of Leuphana University of Lüneburg in the winter semester 2021/22 in consideration of the various concerns and legal interests. Access to and stay in buildings is therefore only possible for students – as well as for lecturers, employees and visitors of the university – if they are fully vaccinated, recovered or tested on a daily basis (antigen test: valid for 24 hours, PCR test: valid for 48 hours).
   
   You must be able to provide proof that you have been vaccinated, recovered or tested on a daily basis at all times in order to attend courses and to stay in university buildings (e.g. in the library). A Covid19-Test must be confirmed by a recognized testing center; self-tests are not acceptable.
   
   In order to provide transitional support, especially for younger students whose full vaccination has not yet been completed due to the late vaccination recommendation for 12 to 17 year olds, Leuphana will continue to cover the cost of Covid19 tests at the on-campus testing center (located in the Central Building cafeteria) during commencement week and during the first week of the semester (October 11-22). Upon presentation of your student ID, this will allow you to take Covid19 tests at no charge until October 22. Unfortunately, as things stand, it will not be possible to cover the costs of tests taken at other test centers or after October 22. The university is thus following the principles politically negotiated by the federal and state governments for dealing with Covid19 tests.
   
   If you are one of those students who cannot be vaccinated against the coronavirus for documented medical reasons, you may continue to have Covid19 tests at all testing sites at no charge.
   
   If you are one of those students who have been vaccinated abroad with a vaccine that is not approved in Germany, we recommend that you obtain information regarding re-vaccination with a vaccine that is approved in Germany and, if necessary, take advantage of the vaccination services offered by your primary care physicians or at the vaccination appointments offered on the Leuphana campus. As long as you are not fully vaccinated with an approved vaccine, you are required to provide proof of a valid Covid19 test to enter university buildings.
    
3. ADMISSION CONTROLS IN LECTURE HALLS
   For all courses with large numbers of students that take place in the auditorium (in conjunction with the forum, if applicable) or in lecture halls 1-4, a 3G check will be performed at the entrance by an external service provider. Containers will be set up for this purpose in the access area to the lecture halls; the controls for the auditorium will be located in the foyer of the central building. All checks will be carried out digitally using the Cov Pass check app developed for checking European corona certificates. To avoid delays due to the checks, please arrive 15-30 minutes before the start of the event if possible; you will need a vaccination, convalescent or test certificate with a digital or printed QR code and an ID document to gain access. 3G checks in lecture halls will be conducted in full for all attendees regardless of incidence level or presence of a warning level in Lunenburg County.
    
4. ADMISSION CONTROLS IN SEMINAR ROOMS
   For all courses held in course rooms other than the auditorium or lecture halls 1-4, 3G checks will be conducted directly by instructors at the entrance or in the seminar room prior to the start of your course.
   
   In case there is no warning level according to the Lower Saxony Corona Ordinance for the district of Lüneburg and the weekly incidence per 100,000 inhabitants is below 50, lecturers are asked to check your 3G proof and your proof of identity in random samples. However, if you wish to have a full 3G check due to your individual security needs, all students have the right to request that your instructors conduct a full 3G check. In this case, please contact your instructors by email some time before the start of the course, if possible.
   
   In the case that either warning level 1 according to the Lower Saxony Corona Ordinance or a weekly incidence per 100,000 inhabitants* of more than 50 would be determined for the district of Lüneburg, an area-wide control of the 3G status of the students becomes obligatory and necessary. In this case, the implementation of random checks would no longer be sufficient according to the Lower Saxony Corona Ordinance. However, this case is fortunately not present at the moment.
   
   Your instructors are asked to pay attention to the required confidentiality during 3G checks. Teachers have the possibility to use the support of other staff members or student assistants for the check if necessary.
   
   We provide the following further organizational advice for carrying out the checks:
   a) You can provide your 3G proof both digitally via the Corona warning app or the CovPass app and analogously via a paper printout (with QR code).
   b) The check of your proof will be done either via the "CovPass Check" app of the Robert Koch Institute or analog. When scanning the digital certificates, the app will check and confirm the validity of your certificate. There is no storage or forwarding of data.
   c) If you cannot provide 3G proof, you will not be allowed to enter the lecture rooms. Teachers are authorized and obliged to use their domiciliary rights and to exclude students from a course and to expel them from the room if they resist the control or cannot provide a valid 3G certificate.
    
5. DISTANCE RULES, MASK REQUIREMENT AND VENTILATION
   Based on available room capacity and room sizes, Leuphana's lecture rooms will return to regular capacity and seating for the winter semester. However, whenever room capacity permits, a minimum distance of 1.5 meters shall continue to be maintained. We ask that you continue to ensure that this minimum distance is maintained whenever possible.
   
   In general, the requirement to wear a medical respirator continues to apply in all University buildings. At a seat in lectures, the mask may be removed, provided that a minimum distance of 1.5 meters from other persons can be maintained. Instructors may also remove the mask in the course of their professional duties, provided that a minimum distance of 1.5 meters from other persons can be maintained.
   
   If your lecture room does not have a ventilation system, please help us to ventilate the room regularly at 20-minute intervals for a period of at least 3 to 10 minutes by fully opening the windows. Alternatively, you can ventilate the room continuously by opening one third of the window area. Ventilation systems are operated at full capacity by building management, and additional ventilation is not usually necessary in these rooms.
    
6. CONTACT TRACING
   The University is required to provide contact tracing of all participants in (teaching) events in the event of an infection for quick and accurate assistance to health departments. In the winter semester, unlike in previous semesters, contact tracking will no longer be done via myStudy, but via a QR code-based system originally developed at Ostfalia University in Lower Saxony and adapted to Leuphana's needs. For the use of this system we give you the following organizational hints:
   a) All participants in courses are required to register with their contact details or to log in before the start of the course.
   b) For registration, you will find a QR code at the entrances of all seminar rooms and lecture halls. You are required to scan this QR code with your cell phone, tablet or notebook camera before the start of your first course in order to get to a mobile website where a one-time registration of your personal contact data takes place. Subsequently, registration in further rooms is usually possible directly and without the renewed collection of contact data, as this information is stored in a cookie and reused.
   c) On each subsequent visit to the room, scanning the QR code leads directly to registration in the respective room ("Come").
   d) When leaving the room, you must scan the code again to log out. If the website is still open on the mobile device, direct logout is also possible ("Leave").
   e) Logging in and out is also possible directly via the website https://qr.leuphana.de using the PIN displayed in the room.
   f) All data is processed on Leuphana servers in accordance with data protection regulations and deleted after the period required by the health authorities.
   g) If you are unable to register and deregister digitally via a smartphone, tablet or laptop, contact tracking forms are available in the seminar rooms; these can also be downloaded at https://www.leuphana.de/portale/coronavirus/studierende.html.
   h) However, registration via QR code is always preferable, as contact tracking is much easier this way than via the analog forms, if required.
   i) Please give the completed forms to your instructors after each course, who will keep them confidential for a period of three weeks for the purpose of tracking possible chains of infection and then destroy them in accordance with data protection regulations.
   j) Instructions for using contact tracking can also be found here: https://anleitungen.leuphana.de/doku.php/kontaktverfolgung
    
7. CONDUCT OF LARGE TEACHING EVENTS
   After intensive consideration, the Presidential Board has decided that courses in the large lecture halls (auditorium, lecture halls 1-4) will be held in presence and in principle without limitation of the number of participants, but that these courses should also be broadcast online.
   
   This decision is based on the following considerations: On the one hand, students as well as lecturers express the wish for courses in presence as well as the wish for courses in security. On the other hand, holding the large courses purely online would lead to a logistical problem for all those students who have to attend courses in presence afterwards. The lectures in the large lecture halls should therefore take place in presence, but also be transmitted online, in order to make it possible for both those students who do not feel safe in large lecture halls with many fellow students and at the same time for those students who subsequently attend another course in presence to study. In this way, we expect to be able to achieve a division of participation numbers between on-site presence and online at home, so that a safe presence operation and at the same time a stable online operation can be achieved without bottlenecks in workstations and WLAN connections on campus.
   
   If you want to participate in the major courses in the auditorium or in lecture halls 1-4 online from home or, if applicable, in learning groups close to campus, you will receive the link to the course via myStudy as usual from previous semesters. Alternatively, you can also participate on campus in the respective lecture hall.
   
   To further increase the level of safety in the lecture halls, we will divide the seating in our lecture halls into zones so that any remaining infection risks can be mitigated. The zones each have separate QR codes for contact tracing, so that in the event of infection, contact tracing can be simplified and the risk of quarantine measures can be reduced.
    
8. WIFI COVERAGE
   Due to the large increase in the use of videoconferencing and the remaining percentage of classes conducted online or hybrid, we anticipate a very large increase in the use of the University's WLAN network during the winter semester. Unfortunately, it can be assumed that the supply of the rooms with WLAN will not be sufficient for the expected demand and that there may be restrictions, at least during peak loads. We therefore ask you to use alternatives to WLAN (mobile data) whenever possible.
    
9. MENSA
   After the cafeteria was originally supposed to remain open in the winter semester in to-go mode, the Studentenwerk Nordostniedersachsen has since informed us about its plans to open the cafeteria in the winter semester. During the current start week, the Mensa will not only offer a to-go service, but will also open the dining hall for the first time in a long time; access to the dining hall will only be possible in 2G mode (vaccinated or recovered). Between October 18 and October 22, only a to-go offering will be available due to the Studentenwerk’s staffing situation. The Studentenwerk plans to then reopen the Mensa on a regular basis, probably starting on October 25; use of the dining hall should also be possible again on a regular basis then. For entering the dining hall you will need proof of 2G (vaccinated or recovered) for entry; entry with tests only will not be possible. In addition, by the end of the year, additional food trucks will supplement the food offerings on campus.
    
10. STUDENT WORKPLACES
    Workplaces are generally available to you as students in various locations on campus, including the library reading room, all seminar rooms not used for classes (except labs), the Central Building, and Building 14. It is anticipated that workplaces will also be available in the dining hall outside of meal periods. You are also required to sign in at these locations with your contact information to ensure contact tracking in the event of infection. We ask that you be conscientious about this registration.
     
11. OPENING OF UNIVERSITY BUILDINGS
    All university buildings will be open again for the winter semester on a regular basis. Access is available to all employees, faculty, students, and visitors to the university if they have 3G credentials.
     
12. FURTHER INFORMATION
    For more information, please visit https://www.leuphana.de/portale/coronavirus.html.
    In addition, if you have any further questions or comments, please continue to contact cv-info@leuphana.de.

We all understand the sensitivity that a return to face-to-face operations on campus requires. With this in mind, we would like to thank you all for your ongoing commitment to your studies at Leuphana and for your continued understanding of the challenges that are often difficult in individual cases. Together with you, we are at the same time looking forward to a content-rich winter semester at Leuphana – again in presence, again with personal encounters, again with ideas and exchange on site, again on a lively and vibrant campus.