Announcement concerning regulations for the Winter Semester 2020-21 amid Covid.

29.09.2020

The beginning of the winter semester is imminent. Therefore, the Director of Studies (SPL) wishes to inform you about some measures which detail the general regulations of the Rectorate, in particular concerning our Directorate of Studies (SPL-15).

To download the official announcement, click on the followinfg link.

  • In general, the aim of the university is that lessons that require on-site teaching for didactic reasons should actually be conducted in this way. Everything that can be taught digitally should be taught digitally. For our SPL, language teaching requires on-site teaching. In particular, first-year students should be introduced to the university through on-site language instruction. All other courses do not require on-site teaching.
  • We ask all students who are taught on-site to wait in front of the entrance of Korean Studies (Entry 5.4, Hof 5), Japanese Studies (Entry 2.4, Hof 2) or Sinology (Entry 2.3, Hof 2) for the course instructor who will open the door in time for class. The location is determined according to the program of study and not by the location of the lecture classroom. Therefore, EcoS students must meet at the entrance to Sinology. Please be punctual! After classes begin, no one will open the door for you.
  • Students will be called by name by the lecturer and their presence will be recorded on the attendance list. Anyone who is not on the attendance list is not allowed to attend, as we want to keep contact among students at the university to a minimum and, above all, to be traceable. This is the only way to keep any quarantine measures to a minimum.
  • Students are requested to enter the building and to disinfect their hands at the disinfectant dispenser in accordance with the distance rule. All students and all teachers must wear a mask in this situation. After entering the building, the entrance door will be locked again. Students are not allowed to enter the institute building except to attend classes or after making a special appointment.
  • Students must enter the classroom in compliance with the distance rule and disinfect the chair and the table at which they sit with their own disinfectant and cloth (microfiber cloths that can be reused and washed several times are recommended). There is one place per table, which is marked by a blue triangle.
  • During the lessons, students must wear a mask. If anyone performs at the front and keeps more than 2m distance from the other students and the teachers, the mask may be taken off. If a person is asked to read a text or two people are dialoguing with each other in language lessons, the students concerned may briefly remove their masks. The same applies to tests and examination situations.
  • Ventilating the room is of great importance. It would be best if the windows remained open during the entire lesson, as well as the door to the classroom, if necessary. If it is too cold to keep the windows open all the time, the room must be ventilated for five minutes every twenty minutes. Be aware of the unusual room temperatures when choosing your clothing.
  • If you have cold symptoms, we strongly recommend that you do not attend on-site classes. In such a case, please contact the course’s instruction and reach an agreement with them regarding your absence. You will then be excused and, if your state of health allows it, you should attend the lessons digitally. Such an excused absence will not be counted towards your quota of missed hours. If you are ill, you must present a doctor's certificate. In such a case, the absence is, of course, also excused.
  • The university has asked each student to keep a contact diary. In addition to this, your attendance will be checked exactly for each course. We do not require your signature because the risk of infection is increased if several people touch the signature sheet.
  • If attendance is mandatory for courses with continuous assessment, according to the Course Directory entry, students must also document their attendance in hybrid or digital formats. Digital students are therefore requested to register by name in the course’s chat for this purpose.
  • If you belong to the risk group (doctor's certificate required) or are in quarantine (notification not required), you must still be given the opportunity to complete the course with a positive result. In this case, hybrid solutions are possible (the majority of the students are taught on site, the risk students or those in quarantine are connected online). It is also possible that during the quarantine you will receive substitute tasks from the course’s instructor.
  • Students who are abroad or who cannot travel to Vienna due to the imposition of regional lockdowns can attend classes online.

We are aware that compliance with these rules will demand a lot from you in the coming semester. However, our common goal is to avoid a lockdown at our institute by implementing these measures and to maintain the option of on-site teaching for as long as possible. Therefore, we would like to ask you to adhere to the points mentioned above. For further information from the Rectorate, visit the following link.

We hope that the winter semester, due to the preparations we have all been able to make in the meantime, will not be as strenuous for you as the previous semester, in which we had to switch so suddenly to pure online teaching.

Finally, please allow me to say goodbye to you at the time of my retirement. I would like to thank all students for their willingness to cooperate and the trust they have placed in me. I wish my successor in the office of the Directorate of Studies, Ina Hein, and my successor in my responsibility for Sinology and ECOS, Agnes Schick-Chen, all the best for the next two years. Under their leadership I will now get to know the university from the perspective of the external lecturers.

We wish everyone a good start into the new semester.

With kind regards,

Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik and Ina Hein