Jakob Voigt had imagined the time after graduating from high school to be beautiful. Travel for a year, Sicily, Japan, see the world. But then came the lockdown, the doors to the world: closed. So the Berliner enrolled in business psychology at the university in Hof. Last autumn, the 19-year-old drove from Steglitz to Upper Franconia with bags and bags. Introductory days, shared flat for two. But after two weeks it was over. With the winter lockdown, he followed the exodus into the home nest. But now, after three online semesters, things should really start with real studies. “It will be a completely different experience,” he says.
At least according to the will of the Ministry of Science. With the return to the universities, Minister Bernd Sibler (CSU) recently announced a 180 degree turn in the pandemic policy at the universities. Accordingly, they should plan with face-to-face teaching from the coming winter semester. In return, the rule of 1.5 meters does not apply – provided that the incidence in the area is below 100. That is what the cabinet decided at the end of July. The argument: What applies to schools must also apply to universities.
These now have to align curricula with all scenarios and bring the students back to campus. Because in many places many like Jakob Voigt had returned to their hometown. “I had all my friends in Berlin,” he says. In Hof, however, he hardly had a chance to get to know his fellow students. Because many did it like him, many campuses were like ghost towns.
The situation became a particular challenge at the practically oriented universities. For example in Dirk Jacob’s laboratory. Normally, three students stood around a robot in the training room of the professor of electrical engineering, who is also Vice President of the Kempten University of Applied Sciences. How can it be operated, how can it be programmed? How does he move? But then it was only possible individually. Jacob pushed overtime so that everyone could get on. Many students also did simulations. He welcomes the fact that people are now back on presence: “Reality is harder than any simulation,” he says.
In order to cope with reality, many colleges and universities had a vaccination bus pulled up before the summer. This is also the case at the Technical University of Munich. About a thousand students accepted the offer, reports spokesman Ulrich Meyer. Sibler and Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) initiated the vaccination campaign – knowing that the vaccination quota could save classroom instruction if more than just incidence counts in the near future.
But that does not mean that all solutions from the Corona period will now be thrown out the window. Larger lectures in particular will often continue to take place in front of the laptop in Bavaria, for example at the Munich Technical University. “Videos have the advantage that students can watch them again,” said spokesman Meyer. There will probably be fewer hybrid events in which one part sits in the lecture hall and another at home in front of the laptop. “That is difficult to solve didactically,” says Jacob in Kempten.
How much logistics is behind maintaining operations can be observed at the University of Regensburg. Battle plans have been forged there for various scenarios: for example, if a positive Corona case is reported in a course or an attendance test. But the uncertainty persists in many places. Because the universities are still waiting for concrete guidelines from politics regarding the examination of those tested, vaccinated and recovered. “We cannot monitor every entrance here,” says Dirk Jacob in Kempten. Many universities hope for sample solutions.
Jakob Voigt from Berlin only met most of his fellow students after the final exams in the summer. Even in his third semester, he will probably only know the legendary boom student party for freshmen from hearsay. To this end, he will organize quiz and cocktail evenings as part of the student union, maybe in person, maybe online, depending on the situation. He already has a new apartment with his roommate, with whom he has only lived for a few weeks. And he has even registered for a semester abroad in Nice. If all goes well, he will fly to the south of France in the fourth semester.