After a primarily digital summer semester, the goal of the winter semester is to offer as many in-person options as possible. At the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, we see ourselves as an attendance-based university and will be bringing students back into lecture halls, seminar rooms and workshops in the upcoming semester as far as the risk of infection allows and while of course observing distancing regulations.

The planning for this »somewhat unusual« semester is already well underway; plans are being put together in the individual faculties and study programmes to determine which courses can be held on-campus, how many students will be allowed to attend, which courses need restructuring and which courses can be held digitally. The capacity of university rooms is also being readdressed in accordance with distancing regulations and the safety of all university members remains our highest priority. The bigger lectures will be taking place digitally during the winter semester and alternative formats with small groups will be established.

Generally speaking, we are able to consider a move towards more in-person teaching in Weimar under the current conditions. The total number of students is manageable; many courses typically take place in small groups anyway and lectures with hundreds are students are not something found in Weimar. 

»In contrast to the major universities, we are in a position to demonstrate our strength in project work and individual advising in small groups, flexibility and creative solutions«, says Prof. Dr. Winfried Speitkamp, President of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, confidently. The goal is to make a certain amount of classroom teaching possible for most courses and supplement it with digital content, allowing direct exchange between instructors and students.

The message to instructors and students is clear: we should all be ready to study, teach, and work on campus in the upcoming winter semester. First-year students will be offered the opportunity to begin their programmes on campus with professional support. In order to properly prepare for this semester, the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar has been in close contact with the mayor of Weimar as well as the City of Weimar, in particular the Health Department, so that the planning of courses can be directly coordinated with the infection risk in the city and can be adjusted on a daily basis.

Further information and updates on the 2020/2021 winter semester can be found here: www.uni-weimar.de/wintersemester2020