Frankfurt / Darmstadt / Kassel (dpa / lhe) – After one and a half years of mostly digital teaching, more normality should return to Hesse’s universities. At the start of the winter semester, the universities are again offering significantly more face-to-face events.
Hesse’s largest university, the Goethe University in FRANKFURT, finally wants to give its students a “real” course of study again, “which lives off the cooperation between fellow students and teachers”. It also says: “After three Corona semesters with mainly virtual courses, we are now again offering the majority of our lectures and seminars directly on campus”.
75 to 85 percent of all events are to take place on campus at the start of lectures across Hesse on October 18. That was recently said by the President of Goethe University, Enrico Schleiff. “In some departments it is 100 percent.” Science lives from communication and encounter. The past year and a half have shown: “Knowledge transfer works digitally – but the scientific discourse suffers in the long run.”
The Technical University (TU) in DARMSTADT continues to focus on digital teaching in addition to face-to-face events. “There is an equivalent digital offer for all events that take place in attendance,” said the TU spokesman, Jörg Feuck. There should also be a central celebration for freshmen, which on October 18, up to 200 students can take part after registering.
According to the spokesman for the student union, Detlef Gollasch, it is not yet clear how many freshmen in Darmstadt begin a course of study at the university or the TU. One reckons, however, with a high of around 41,000 students. Despite the completion of two new systems, the situation when looking for an apartment is still tense: “There is no longer any trace of the pandemic-induced respite.” For rooms of the Studierendenwerk alone, there are well over 1,000 applicants on the lists.
Finally sniff the campus air – that will please those students who were only able to experience their first semesters digitally because of the pandemic. Campus tours are currently offered at the University of GIESSEN, where not only new students are welcome, but also higher semesters that have not yet been able to get to know the university on site. The “long-awaited steps towards a university normality” are only possible with continued great caution, according to the university management.
Accordingly, there are of course still restrictions in the Hessian lecture halls or in the university libraries. According to the Ministry of Science in Wiesbaden, the credo is: “If you carefully observe the corona infection, the following applies: as much normality in university life as possible and responsible.” 3G is effective in most areas. Access is only given to those who have been vaccinated, who have been tested or who have recovered. The 2G regulation (vaccinated or recovered) applies to the buildings of the university hospital on the Niederrad campus in Frankfurt. And the mask is also part of university life.
At the start of the fourth Corona semester, the GIESSEN University says: “The comprehensive 3G regulation allows us to reduce the utilization of the classrooms – despite the beginning of the cold season and the unforeseeable future course of the fourth Corona wave – to 50 percent of the increase normal capacity and offer significantly more on-site events. “
The neighboring University of MARBURG also uses the 3G rule. In consultation with the health department, the university has also drawn up staggered occupancy plans for the seminar rooms and lecture halls, depending on the size, as a spokeswoman explained. “This means that around 80 percent of the events will again be able to take place with a greater proportion of presence; laboratories, practical exercises, seminars and most of the exercises in full presence.”
At the University of KASSEL, too, a considerable part is taught on site. “There are also hybrid and digital offers. The latter are also and especially aimed at anyone who cannot or do not want to take part in classroom teaching,” explained spokesman Sebastian Mense.
“In general, we recently noticed the strong desire among students and teachers to return to their presence and enable exchange and encounters,” said the spokesman. The university received a reflection that, under the given circumstances, it had made a good digital offer in the past semesters. “Nevertheless, there are formats such as internships, laboratory courses and discursive and artistic teaching formats that are not digitally possible, or only with great restrictions.” In the future, it will be important to cleverly combine classroom teaching with digital offers and thus to offer modern university teaching.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 211014-99-589311 / 2
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