Information for all university members on the adaptation of the regulations for the operation of teaching and studies

2021-11-25

Dear university members,
Dear professors and lecturers, dear students,

against the background of the state government's declared goal of ensuring that attendance at universities continues to be guaranteed in the coming weeks and that it is carried out under the safest possible conditions, the universities of the state of Lower Saxony have coordinated yesterday and today with the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture, after consultation also with the Lower Saxony State Chancellery, on the interpretation of the state's new Corona regulation. The Ministry has informed that for higher education institutions, based on the area of vocational training, continuing education and further education, exceptions from the otherwise state-wide Corona regulations apply, and higher education institutions can initially continue to organize study and teaching according to the so-called 3G model until December 21, also within the framework of the new Lower Saxony Corona Ordinance.

Against the background of this explicit agreement with the state government and all universities in Lower Saxony, Leuphana's Presidential Board today decided on the following adjustments to the university's regulations on teaching and study in the coming weeks:

1) Leuphana University of Lüneburg is and will remain open for teaching, studying and research in the winter semester without any restrictions in principle.

2) All courses will continue to be held in person until further notice. All teachers are obliged to continue to hold their courses in attendance, unless there are medically justified and approved by the Dean of Studies exceptional situations.

3) The Presidential Board asks all professors and lecturers to stream all courses held in presence from Monday, November 29, additionally by combined video and audio recording via the video/audio systems installed in the lecture rooms using Zoom online if required (or also via video/audio systems of your laptop if other equipment is not available). Possible reasons for this include illness, quarantine, or personal risk situations of students; students do not have to explain the individual reasons to instructors in each case. In this case, however, instructors only have to allow passive or listening participation; you are not obliged to actively involve students participating online in your course. Of course, you can enable active participation to ensure the quality of the course for digital participants as well. Students present on site should only be visible on the video after briefly asking for their consent.

4) The Presidential Board will allow all instructors, as of Monday 29.11.2021, to hold courses with more than 100 registered participants or courses that take place in lecture halls 1-4 or in the auditorium completely online instead of in presence. The condition is the simultaneous installation of a transmission of the online course to the course rooms originally intended for the course or to lecture halls 1-4 ("public viewing"). We ask the lecturers to organize this transmission independently via beamer and zoom, if necessary with the support of your institute, student assistants or - in case of technical difficulties - the Media and Information Center. The transmission is intended to enable smooth study for those students who have to switch between face-to-face and online courses in a short period of time and for whom otherwise no workstations or sufficient WLAN capacities would be available on campus.

5) Access to courses is still only possible for students as well as for lecturers with 3G proof (vaccinated, recovered, tested). With the exception of lecture halls 1-4 and the auditorium, checks on students are basically carried out by lecturers as before. 3G verification must be consistent and preferably using the CovPassCheck app and in combination with an identification document. The controls of lecturers are carried out within the framework of the 3G control of employees of the university - information to all employees of the university on this will follow shortly.

6) All participants in courses are obliged to comply with the hygiene concept adopted by the university. If a minimum distance of 1.5 meters to other persons cannot be maintained, it is no longer permitted to eat in lectures and to remove the mouth-nose covering for this purpose. For drinking, the mouth-nose covering can be removed for a short time. Otherwise, please continue to observe the mandatory requirement to wear medical mouth-nose covering (preferably FFP2/KN 95) in all university buildings and the regular ventilation of the event rooms. Please also maintain a minimum distance of 1.5 meters whenever limited space allows, especially in seminar rooms, as well as, if possible, at all other moments of gathering on campus.

7) In order to create additional workstations for students on campus, Building Management will immediately set up additional workstations for students in the Foyer and Forum and in Room 40.110 of the Central Building on all days when there are no events in the Central Building. In addition, the University is currently working to ensure that the Studentenwerk OstNiedersachsen will allow Leuphana students to use the refectory after 3 pm. Information on this will follow as soon as possible.

We will continue to monitor developments closely and, if necessary, make further adjustments to the regulations for teaching and studying at Leuphana. At present, however, we can continue to give a reassuring signal – also in view of the sharp rise in infection figures throughout Germany: It is still the case that very few infections are reported to the university. In the current week, despite the overall increase in the number of infections in Lüneburg, we have only become aware of two further cases of infection - among them still no case in which we have to assume a transmission in the context of the university. To the best of our knowledge and belief, we therefore currently continue to assume that the university's hygiene concept, in conjunction with the high vaccination rates of university members of presumably 90% or more, is effective and ensures a high level of protection and safety for the conduct of research, teaching and studies at Leuphana.

Further information and all regulations currently in force can also be found on a daily basis on the University's Corona Portal at www.leuphana.de/portale/coronavirus; if you have any questions or require further information, please contact cv-info@leuphana.de. Please continue to contact the University at cv-kontaktnachverfolgung@leuphana.de if you have a confirmed Corona infection. Last but not least: Please take advantage of the immunization opportunities in the Central Building cafeteria for first, second and third vaccinations. The next appointments will be on Nov. 30 and Dec. 7, 14 and 21; no appointment is necessary.

With warm regards

Sascha Spoun
President

Christian Brei
Executive Vice President

Erich Hörl
Vice President College

Simone Abels
Vice President Graduate School

Jörg Terhechte
Vice President Professional School

Susanne Leeb
Vice President Research