Explanation of the rectorate to the decision of 06.12.2021

The amendment statutes for the framework examination regulations provide in §§ 1a para. 8 RPO-Ba/Ma and RPO-LA the possibility to determine for all students and all examinations that failed examinations are considered as not taken. The prerequisite for this decision is that university operations and examinations are significantly impaired due to force majeure and that disadvantages for students resulting from this are to be avoided.

The Rectorate considers the prerequisites for this decision to be the necessary measures to ensure health protection and the resulting significant impairment of studies, including the taking of examinations, due to the following reasons:

•  A majority of the courses were planned and started in face-to-face format, but had to be converted to online formats during the semester. In many areas, this entails didactic limitations in teaching the learning and qualification objectives, leading to poorer preparation for exams among students.
• For some students, the use of virtual offerings is only possible to a limited extent due to technical problems or a lack of network connection or network congestion, or also due to necessary support services, such as during periods of lockdown with closures of daycare centers and schools, which leads to inequality of opportunity.
• Inequality of opportunity is further exacerbated for students who are not immunized or recovering due to extended restrictions.
• Restrictions on social contact and thus use of study groups and the like negatively impact learning outcomes.
• Internships or practical parts can often not be carried out or only in alternative forms with restrictions, so that corresponding competencies can possibly only be partially acquired.
• The use of the library and PC pools or other learning spaces is restricted, which causes problems for some students in terms of undisturbed work opportunities and use of resources and, in particular, exam preparation. At the same time, this creates further inequality of opportunity, especially for students who do not meet 2G status and whose studies are further complicated by limited availability of test offerings.

In general, it can be stated that the learning and qualification goals defined in the study program-specific examination and study regulations can be achieved, albeit with some considerable impairments. However, the listed restrictions are considered by the rectorate to be significant for the learning success and the successful completion of examinations. This also applies to repeat examinations. Even if it is not always absolutely necessary to take the courses again and the associated restrictions do not apply, the limited possibilities of using the library and other infrastructure facilities can also have an adverse effect on learning success.

The restrictions listed as a whole also lead to greater uncertainty on the part of students with regard to their chances of successfully passing an examination. At the same time, students should be encouraged to take exams in order to avoid delays in their studies. This is especially true for students who are close to graduation or who may only have one last attempt at an exam. These students should be given the opportunity to take exams without the negative consequence of failing them in order to counteract further delays in study time.

Some students or student groups are more affected by these impairments than others due to structural or individual obstacles and limitations. The Rectorate therefore sees the regulation that failed examinations are considered as not having been taken as an adequate and appropriate means of avoiding a disadvantage for these students and of counteracting an extension of the study period, which would entail even greater disadvantages, above all in financial terms, and possibly a discontinuation of studies. Against the background of the need for a uniform regulation for the entire university, the Rectorate also assesses the need for such a regulation for some faculties/subject cultures as more significant than the additional effort for those faculties/subject cultures that may not see the need for such a regulation.

In addition, absence of a general regulation on how to deal with failed examinations leads to individual applications that have to be decided in the decentralized examination committees, which in turn entails a risk of unequal treatment. For this reason, a uniform regulation for the entire university is encouraged.

For students who, due to the significant impairments, fear that they will achieve worse examination results than without the restrictions caused by the health protection, this regulation on § 1a paragraph 8 is also of use. If you find that the requirement level of the examination is so high that you cannot fulfill this in the quality as without the impairments due to the impairments of this semester, you can decide to take the examination in such a way that it is evaluated as not passed and subsequently not undertaken. In this case, they may take the exam again at a later date with a chance for a better grade. Otherwise, you have the option to take the exam, in which case no grade improvement is possible outside of regular free attempts on the regular exam date.

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