COVID19: Teaching and examinations at the Faculty of Computer Science

All lecturers have been asked to offer exam review dates for all students who have taken an exam in winter semester 2019/20 and to put information about the dates and the registration system on the websites. Therefore please inform yourself on the websites of the professorships!

Announcement

The following is announced for the implementation of the so-called complex examinations in the master's degree programs in computer science and media computer science as well as in the main study period of the diploma program in computer science in the summer semester 2020:

In the summer semester 2020, the module examinations

• of the basic and advanced modules INF-BAS-xy and INF-VERT-xy of the master and diploma program in computer science
• of the modules INF-VMI-xy, INF-BI-xy, INF-E-xy and INF-BAS-8 of the master's course in media computer science 

are possible to take in the form of separate examinations (partial examinations) of the classes selected by the students according to the catalogue. The module grade is calculated as a weighted average of the individual grades, whereby the SWS indicated in the course catalogue correspond to the weight of the courses. 

ATTENTION: This regulation for splitting the module examination into partial examinations for the above mentioned modules is only valid for the summer semester 2020 and therefore the corresponding module examination must be completed by 30 September 2020! As of winter semester 2020/2021, the regulations of the module descriptions apply again, according to which only one (complex) examination must be taken in the corresponding module. 
In particular, this means that partial examinations (i.e., examinations of individual classes) taken in the summer semester 2020 will NOT be credited for the module examinations of the above-mentioned modules as of the winter semester 2020/2021. This also applies to re-examinations and in the event that all partial examinations have been taken and the weighted average of the individual grades is worse than 4.0 (i.e. the module examination has not been passed). In the latter case, we recommend that students make use of the "Corona-related complimentary attempt rule" adopted by the Senate and do not accept the examination result.

Background to this notice 

On the basis of the Rectorate's stipulations of 27 April 2020, the examiners may deviate from the regulations of the study documents in the summer semester 2020 and determine alternative examination formats. In particular, this means that the complex examinations in the above-mentioned modules may be broken down in the summer semester 2020. The large number of enquiries addressed to the Deans of Studies and Examination Committee Chairmen made it clear that this was often desired. This announcement serves the purpose of clarification. 

The registration procedure described below is intended to simplify the handling for all parties involved by enabling them to arrange separate examination dates with the respective examiners. The possibility of following the regular procedure, according to which the student first submits a request to all examiners involved in the module examination (complex examination), whereupon the respective examiner consortium jointly determines the examination format and - if the examiner consortium decides to split the module examination into partial examination performances - allocates individual examination dates and finally transmits the overall mark resulting from the partial examinations together with the usual forms signed by all examiners to the Examinations Office, remains unaffected by this announcement.

Deadlines

All examiners are requested to assign an examination date in the summer semester 2020 for all examination requests in the above modules received by July 10, 2020. Examination requests can also be made after this date, but students run the risk of not being able to get an examination date in the summer semester 2020.

The application form must be submitted at least 10 days before the first partial examination. Students who have already taken partial examinations or have arranged examination dates up to and including 10 July 2020 must submit the form by 10 July at the latest.

Registration procedure and conduct of the partial examinations

• The student contacts all examiners of the partial examinations in a module or their secretariats and arranges appointments for conducting the partial examinations. The examiner informs the student of the type and duration of the examination. The examination to be arranged may not be shorter or longer than the duration specified for the examination form in the corresponding examination regulations!
• The student 
  • downloads the registration form for the module "zur Prüfungsleistung während Covid19-Semester" from the website of the examination office,
  • enters his/her personal data in the registration form for the corresponding module examination, 
  • lists all classes as well as the SWS indicated in the course catalogue for which partial examinations are to be taken in the module, and 
  • indicates for each partial examination the name of the examiner, his/her e-mail address or the examiner's secretary's office and the examination date agreed with the respective examiner when registering the corresponding partial examination.
    If a partial examination has already taken place before this announcement, the examination date on which the partial examination took place must be entered.

• The student sends the signed registration form (signature either by digital signature or handwritten and scanned) to the examination office of the Faculty of Computer Science (exam-registration.inf@tu-dresden.de).

• The Examinations Office checks the correctness of the composition of the partial examinations in the module on the basis of the course catalogue, the completeness of the assigned SWS and the examiner's appointment for the corresponding module.

• After determining the correctness of the composition of the partial examinations for the module examination, the Examinations Office sends the examination registration including the prepared forms for the examination protocols to the examiners and their secretariats, thus confirming to the examiners the feasibility of the respective partial examination. The examinations office also informs the student.

• The course of the partial examination must be documented on the examination protocol. In the cases that

  • the student has not appeared for the examination,

  • the student has withdrawn from the examination within the time limit, or

  • the exam was cancelled by the examiner,
    
    the examiner must note this accordingly on the examination protocol. Please observe the regulations in these cases (see Regulations for non-executed examinations)!

• After the partial examination has been completed or, in the above-mentioned cases, the non-exam, the examiner sends the completed examination protocol of the partial examination to the Examination Office. 
• The examination office calculates the module grade based on the examination protocol and enters it into jExam.

Regulations for non-executed examinations

• Cancellation without stating reasons until the usual cancellation deadline (3 working days in writing, 2 weeks for oral and all other forms of examination) is possible in principle, but the student bears the risk that the module examination cannot be taken in the summer semester 2020. Should the student wish to take the module examination in question unchanged in the summer semester 2020, he/she must, however, restart the registration procedure under point 1. For this purpose, the student can ask the same examiner to set a new examination date in the summer semester 2020. If the examiner is unable to do so, the student can try another examiner combination. Otherwise, the module examination cannot be taken in the summer semester 2020. 
• The Examination Office and the examiners must be notified immediately by means of an certificate of incapacity for work of any withdrawal due to illness after expiry of the withdrawal period. The examiners are requested to offer the student a new examination date in the summer semester 2020. 
• Cancellation of the examination by the examiner: in this case, the examiners are requested to offer the student a new examination date in the summer semester 2020 (i.e. by 30.9.2020). 

Exception: In the case of 02 and 03 (cancellation of the examination through no fault of the student), an examination date until 30 October 2020 is also possible in exceptional cases if the examiner cannot offer a date in the summer semester 2020.

Written examinations will take place to a limited extent in the summer semester 2020 in compliance with the hygiene regulations. Please check the website of the Office of Student Affairs and the Examination Office to keep up to date with the regulations regarding any changes in examination forms, dates and rooms. 

Text of the decision of the Chairmen of the Examination Boards of 7 May 2020:

"The Chairpersons of the Examination Boards of the Faculty of Computer Science decide to admit oral examinations, defences, colloquia and other immaterial examinations in virtual form as of May 4, 2020. This presupposes that all requirements and recommendations of the Prorector for Education and International Affairs are complied with. In particular, this means that the smooth course of the examination must be ensured. In case of technical problems, the examination must be aborted ex officio. An extension of the examination is not permitted. A video conferencing system recommended by ZIH for examinations must be used. At present, this is only BigBlueButton for oral examinations. Electronic recordings are also not permitted. The examiners are free to offer online-based presence examinations in which the person to be examined is provided with a video conferencing facility in a suitable room at the TU Dresden, or to reject this in general.
Further details can be found in the 'Regulations for the Performance of Examination Services at the TU Dresden during the Corona Pandemic valid from May 4, 2020' by the Vice Rector for Education and International Affairs. All examiners are obliged to inform themselves regularly about the current status of these regulations and to adapt the procedure for the virtual performance of immaterial examinations after further updates of these regulations.
This resolution shall apply until regular attendance examinations are permitted again. The resolution of 18.3.2020 on the mandatory postponement of oral examinations is hereby revoked."

Accordingly, the following sequence of the examination procedure is determined:

• Students fill out the form "Declaration of consent to an alternative form of performance of a immaterial examination".

• The student fills out the form "Registration and Proof of Examination Performance".

• The student sends both forms to the examiner or the secretariat of the main examiner. The forms must be signed either with a digital signature or with a signature slip (signature-pdf patched in with Acrobat Reader)).

• The appointment for the examination is made as usual.

• After the examination, the examiner sends the examination protocol as well as the signed declaration of consent to an alternative form of performance of a immaterial examination performance" electronically signed by the student to the examination office or Service Center for International Students (SCIS).

In accordance with the University-wide Regulations for Study Programmes and Examination Procedures Adopted by the Senate on 29 April 2020 to Cushion the Legal Uncertainties Caused by the Corona Crisis, Basic Resolutions of the Senate for the Summer Semester 2020, the following specifications have been adopted with regard to deadlines in examination procedures:

• All repetition periods for the performance of examinations are interrupted for one semester and do not continue.

• Current repetition deadlines are automatically extended by the current semester (summer semester 2020).

• Notifications of repetition deadlines are not issued for the current semester.

In accordance with Senate Resolution No. IV of 29 April 2020, students can decide for themselves whether or not to accept individual examination results obtained in the summer semester 2020. In the event that an examination result is rejected, students declare this to the Examination Office or to the Service Center for International Students (SCIS):

• The declaration of non-acceptance of an examination result must be made before re-registering for the examination in question, but no later than the end of the following semester.
• The declaration of non-acceptance of an examination result is made using the appropriate form:
  • Rejection of a result of an examination or a preliminary examination (being part of a module examination): de / en 
  • Rejection of an examination result for a bachelor, diploma or master thesis (scientific thesis):de / en 
  • Rejection of an examination result for a colloquium or a defense on a scientific thesis: de / en 

In this case, the examination performance can be taken again in the same examination attempt, whereby the later evaluation counts.

Admission to and registration of theses
Extension of final theses
Defences/colloquia of final papers/theses
Submission of final papers/theses

Admission and registration of theses (updated: 27.03.2020)

• Please check the admission requirements, if any, for the beginning of the final thesis of your course and submit the corresponding application to the Examination Office (either with a digital signature or with a signature (signature pdf patched in with Acrobat Reader):
  • Master Informatik
  • Master Computational Science and Engineering (CSE)

  • Diplom Informatik

• The registration of theses with the examination board is done by the supervisor or the supervising university teacher!

Extension of final theses (updated: 27.03.2020)

The modalities for extenting  the deadlines of theses (valid for all courses of study except teaching) are as follows:

• To apply for an extension of the deadline of your thesis, students use the form provided for your degree programme. The following wording may be used to justify the extension: "As a result of the Corona pandemic, the processing of the thesis is taking place under more difficult working conditions. The emergency operation of the TU Dresden infrastructure forced the university to set up a new home office. At present, it is not possible to conduct laboratory-based studies."
• Students send the application form, duly completed in full and correctly, to their supervisor (signed with a digital signature or with a signature string (signature pdf patched in with Acrobat Reader)).
• The supervisor confirms her or  agreement to the extension with her or his signature and forwards the application to the Examination Office or the SCIS.
• After the examination board has processed the application for extension, the Examination Office or the SCIS will inform the students and the supervisor or the supervising university teacher by e-mail about the decision.

Defences/colloquia of final papers/theses (update: 08.05.2020):

Defences/colloquia on final papers can be arranged under the conditions specified in the section "Examinations: Oral examinations, seminar lectures, defences, colloquia and other immaterial examinations".

Submission of final papers/theses (updated on 27.03.2020):

The modalities for the electronic submission of final papers/theses (valid for all study programmes except teaching profession) are as follows:

• These regulations refer to the period from 21.03.2020 until further notice.
• Students send the following documents in due time exclusively by e-mail to the functional address theses.inf@tu-dresden.de: 
  • the PDF of the thesis including the declaration of independent work which must either have a digital signature or a signature string (signature pdf patched in with Acrobat Reader).
  • [concerns only diploma computer science students:] completely filled out application for defence (signed by digital signature or with a signature string (signature pdf patched in with Acrobat Reader))
  • this submission e-mail must contain the following information:
    • Subject: "Submission of [Bachelor|Master|Diploma]thesis [Computer Science|Media Informatics|CSE|DSE|EMCL|MCL|CMS]".
    • Mail content:
      • Full name (last name, first name)
      • Registration number
      • Course of studies and type of thesis (Bachelor, Master, Diplom)
      • Title of the work
      • Reviewer, supervisor (name, first name, e-mail address)
  • If attachments to the thesis are to be submitted which are larger than 20MB, they must be saved in the TUD CloudStore and a link to the uploaded file(s) on the CloudStore must be included in the submission e-mail.
• As soon as the submission e-mail has arrived in the mailbox, the student will receive a confirmation e-mail. 
• Students will also send the thesis and, if applicable, the link to the CloudStore file(s) by e-mail to the reviewers and the supervisor of their thesis!
• The examination office 
  • sends the form of the defense/colloquium transcript to the reviewers as soon as the mailbox is processed;
  • sends a confirmation of the file note to students as well as to the supervisor.
• Due to the emergency operation of the TU Dresden, delays in the confirmation of the file note must be expected (possibly several weeks).
• We will inform you in due course about the decision whether the bound printed copies required by the respective examination regulations have to be submitted subsequently after the emergency operation has been cancelled.

• The Examination Office and the SCIS do not have office hours at present and cannot be reached by telephone.
• Please send applications the examination boards and all other enquiries by e-mail to
  • German degree programmes: pruefungsamt.inf@tu-dresden.de
  • Master Distributed Systems Engineering: infscis.dse@mailbox.tu-dresden.de
  • (European) Master Computational Logic: infscis.cl@mailbox.tu-dresden.de
  • Master Computational Modeling and Simulation: cms-examoffice@mailbox.tu-dresden.de
  • Exchange Students: infscis.fes@mailbox.tu-dresden.de
  • Students of teacher training programmes are referred to the COVID10 information page of the ZLSB.
• Due to the large number of enquiries and personnel bottlenecks, processing times can unfortunately be considerably longer than usual.

The modalities for the electronic submission of credit applications (applies only to the Bachelor, Diplom and Master programs in Computer Science!) are as follows:

• These regulations refer to the period from 31.03.2020 to presumably 03.05.2020.
• Students send the completed application form for the recognition of study and examination achievements as a PDF file exclusively by e-mail to the functional address anrechnung-studienleistungen-informatik-studiengaenge@tu-dresden.de; this application e-mail must contain the following information:
  • Subject: "Application for recognition of study acievements -  [Bachelor|Master|Diplom] Computer Science"
  • Mail content:
    • Full name (last name, first name) 
    • Matrikel number 
    • Study programme and type of degree (Bachelor, Master, Diplom)
  • Attachments:
    • Completely and correctly filled out and signed application form 
    • Scanned transcript of records (authenticity must be credible)
    • Module/course descriptions
  • The application must be either digitally signed or with a signature (signature pdf patched in with Acrobat Reader).
  • If attachments to the thesis are to be submitted which are larger than 20MB, they must be saved in the TUD CloudStore and a link to the uploaded file(s) on the CloudStore must be included in the application e-mail.
• As soon as the application e-mail has arrived in the mailbox, the student will receive an automatic confirmation e-mail.
• After processing the application: The examination office
  • informs students about the result of the application for recognition by e-mail
• After returning to normal operation of the TUD:
  • The examination board signs the official decision of the requested recognitions;
  • The Examination Office informs students about picking up the documents of recognition.
• Due to the emergency operation of the TU Dresden, delays in the processing of applications are to be expected.

Performance records § 48 Abs. 1 BAFöG (updated: 07.04.2020)

• With reference to the stipulations of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BmBF) regarding the continuation of the payment of BAFöG (here especially point 6. Proof of performance according to § 48 Abs. 1 BAFöG), the Faculty of Computer Science informs
  • Currently, no BAFöG performance certificates according to § 48 Abs. 1 BAföG can be issued until the emergency operation of the Technische Universität Dresden is over.
  • All written and oral examinations have been cancelled since 16.03.2020 and postponed to the summer semester 2020.
• Please submit your BAFöG application with reference to the information published here in accordance with the regulations of the Federal Ministry.

• The summer semester 2020 will start as scheduled on April 6th.
• You must register for courses for which registration (e.g. via jExam or selma) is required.
• Classroom teaching starts on May 4th. Please refer to the websites of the chairs offering the courses in order to find out in which form the teaching will be carried out (most probably, OPAL will be used).
• A few cancellations or postponements of courses, especially of seminars, are to be expected. Further information can be found on the websites of the professorships.
• Important information on special courses:
  • Hardware Internship: (updated on 25.03.2020)
    • The courses in the practical course will start on 04. May, according to current planning. 
    • Registration for the course will be done via the OPAL course from April 01. This ensures that all students will be informed by e-mail about news concerning the internship.