Coronavirus: FAQ for Students

All operations on the two campuses, in the Forest Botanical Garden and in the University Library have been discontinued. The dining halls on the city and forest campus have also been closed until further notice.  We kindly ask you to clarify any questions by phone or e-mail. There are no personal office hours at present. The current office hours and telephone numbers of the service facilities can be found on their websites. The university library is no longer open. Please use the online service here.

Relevant information on EMMA+

Information on the various databases

E-Book Central

If you have not yet validated your Greencard, you are welcome to send it by post to the Student Services & International Office for validation. We will validate the card for you and send it back as soon as possible. If you have lost your greencard or it was stolen, please use the bank details listed in the application to transfer the fee and send the application by post to the Student Services & International Office or by e-mail to studieren@hnee.de. Once the fee has been received, the new Greencard will be sent to you. Here ​​​​​​​you can access the application forms.

The start of the attendance courses has been postponed to at least Mai 4, 2020 for the time being. The university management will inform you in time about further changes in this connection in coordination with the Ministry of Science, Research and Culture (MWFK). Everything depends on the further development of the corona pandemic. All other semester dates (e.g. examination periods, start of the lecture-free period) will remain unchanged until further notice.

In order to avoid disadvantages for students due to necessary measures, the universities should guarantee the possibilities for the provision of study services and use their discretionary powers. Oral final examinations of HNEE students are still possible on site for the time being under the following conditions: A maximum of three persons (examinee, supervisor*in, assessor*in) may be involved in the Old Forestry Academy (House 4) on the city campus in a sufficiently large room, and the hygiene precautions necessary in the current situation must be maintained. A prerequisite for the implementation is the voluntary participation of all participants. The organisation, in particular ensuring access on the examination date, will be carried out by HNEE's Property and Environmental Management Department, Mr Mike Schwarz.

The absence of students on examination dates in the period from 16.03.2020 until the end of the suspension of the attendance phase due to the corona pandemic will not be assessed as "insufficient" in the sense of § 17 (1) of the HNEE framework study and framework examination regulations. The respective student is considered to be excused, a notification of inability to sit the exam is not required. All teachers of the HNEE are requested to check whether alternative forms of examination (e.g. papers) can be offered in a given module in the summer semester 2020. The examination boards can approve these changes at short notice.

The HNEE is currently examining the possibility of offering oral examinations online. A corresponding handbook is currently being prepared and will then be coordinated with the examination boards.

The submission deadline for all Bachelor and Master theses registered by 19 March 2020 will be extended by 2 months. Currently, the HNEE is also investigating the possibility of offering online examinations for the acceptance of final theses. The submission of two print copies is suspended for the time being until after the emergency attendance period. We therefore ask you to refrain from sending paper copies and CDs. If a paper copy is required at a later date, you will be asked to do so.

Due to the fact that the university is not open to the public, the submission of papers must be done by post and/or electronically via e-mail. At present, confirmation of receipt can only be sent digitally in response to submission by e-mail. If the submission of a written paper requires the submission of an affidavit in lieu of an oath, this should be signed and submitted as a pdf document with the paper by e-mail. The submission of the written work in digital form also allows for an earlier assessment. If it is no longer possible to send the paper by post, the printed version can be submitted subsequently. Dispatch by e-mail must be on time. Please ask the contact person responsible for your degree programme about the respective procedure.

Please contact the dean's office and arrange the respective procedure.

Upon completion of your studies, please send us an e-mail to noten@hnee.de so that we can send you a current certificate of achievement in EMMA at short notice. If required, we can also send this to you by post with a stamp and signature. If you urgently need your certificate now, we will prepare it and send it to you when we receive the completed routing slip and a stamped envelope. If you have not yet submitted the completed routing slip to us, we can circulate it for you. As this can take some time in the current situation, we are currently accepting an affidavit (dated and signed) in advance as an alternative to the circulation of the routing slip, stating that you no longer have any "outstanding debts" at the HNEE (e.g. outstanding reminder fees in the library, keys or equipment still on loan). Please send this declaration by mail to the Student Service & International Office of the HNEE.

The university library of the HNEE makes a large number of publications available online. Other platforms also make scientific publications freely available on the internet. Please use these sources for examinations and theses. If you are a member of other libraries, please also use their online services. If you find that publications that are essential for your exam or thesis are not accessible, please contact your examiner* and clarify how to proceed. Helpful information can be found on the website of the university library.

• Until 30 June 2020, the eJournals of the ESV journals including archive access are available to you free of charge. Further information is available here.
• The Nomos eLibrary enables all libraries to access all contents (books, textbooks, journals, etc.) free of charge for 14 days. Status: March 26, 2020
• Due to library closures, the Espresso Tutorials publishing house is currently offering an extended test access to the "Digital SAP Library". The test access is activated until May 31, 2020 and can be accessed with the following access data: Access via http://et.training using the user name GASCO@espresso-tutorials.com and the password SAP2020.

The internship officers of the departments are in contact with internship offices and interns. Should problems with the internship arise, the internship coordinator should be contacted immediately in order to work out an individual solution as soon as possible. Scholarship holders*, e.g. via ERASMUS+, must also inform the scholarship providers promptly in the event of a planned break-off or interruption. Here, too, initial solutions have been formulated by the funding providers to prevent (financial) disadvantages from arising and to reimburse the additional costs, e.g. for the unscheduled return flight due to the corona pandemic.

According to the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), BAfÖG funding will continue to be paid to the same extent as before. Students will continue to receive BAfÖG even if universities are closed or entry to other countries is blocked. We would like to point out that participation in online courses is obligatory in terms of the conditions for funding.

Please continue to use the extensive information offered by the Deutsches Studentenwerk. On the website, valuable FAQ Study and Corona have been provided. There you will find numerous important answers to current questions about the topics: Studying, BAföG, possible insolvency, holiday semester, short-time work allowance for student*jobs and much more.

The Studentenwerk Frankfurt (Oder) strongly recommends that students whose standard period of study expires in the summer semester of 2020 and who have not yet been able to complete their studies due to the Corona Pandemic and who have received benefits under BAföG (Federal Training Assistance Act) must submit a follow-up application for BAföG. The background is the announced (and hopefully coming) suspension of the standard period of study for the past semester in Brandenburg. In order to be able to claim the full entitlement for the current winter semester in this case, you have to submit the application in September! For more information please click here.

The counselling service is still available every Wednesday. In addition, in consultation with Ms. Timm, appointments can be made on other weekdays, and in emergencies also on weekends. The Studentenwerk has assured that there is currently no limit to the number of counselling appointments; theoretically, several appointments per day could also be offered.

• If necessary, please contact us at service@swffo.de or by phone at 0335 56509 - 90 and ask for an appointment with Ms. Timm.
• The service telephone in Frankfurt (Oder) is available during the following office hours: Mon, Wed & Thu 9 to 15 o'clock and Tue & Fri 9 to 16 o'clock
• A personal consultation by Mrs. Timm can take place in the Sonnenvilla, taking into account the precautionary and hygiene measures. But of course you can also receive advice exclusively by telephone. Please note that counselling services are limited to five consultations per semester and student.

If you require an English-speaking psychological-social counselling service, please also contact the above-mentioned telephone number. The Studentenwerk Frankfurt (Oder) will then promptly provide you with a corresponding contact person* and an appointment for a counseling interview.

On recommendation of international students we have collected useful tips and links for meaningful activities during this pandemic crisis in a PDF document.
If you have any other recommendations, please let us know! We would be happy to include them.

Since all events of the Welcome Centre for international students planned for the summer semester are cancelled until further notice, we have set up a virtual event programme in our Facebook group "International Students HNEE". There we invite you to virtual meetings, cooking and film evenings, give you tips for trips or present offerings in the region.
If you have become curious, you are welcome to join the Facebook group.