What does the student repres­ent­at­ives stand for?

The Student Repres­ent­at­ives for Physics and Meteor­o­logy are the elected repres­ent­at­ives of the students of our faculty. What does that mean? We are part of the commit­tees that officially shape the studies. We organ­ise events to bring students togeth­er. We support third party projects finan­cially. We help with problems during your studies. And we are happy if you want to become part of this excit­ing work.

You can find us in room 219 at Linnéstraße 5, right next to the study office.

What study programs do we repres­ent in our faculty?

We repres­ent students of the German and English-language study programmes in physics (physics, IPSP, teach­ing physics) as well as the study programmes in meteorology.

How can I join you?

We meet once a week in our office to discuss current issues and problems and to plan events. You are welcome to drop by and join in. To contrib­ute to a varied student life at the faculty and the univer­sity, we also organ­ise various events for physics and meteor­o­logy students every year. If you would like to take part in one of these events, please get in touch with us. Or visit us at our weekly meeting. There are many things to organ­ise and every­one can get involved.

I have a sugges­tion for an event?

If you have an idea or a wish for an event, just come to a meeting or send us an email (fsr [a] faraphy.de).

What is the differ­ence between Elfer­rat and Student Representatives?

The Elfer­räte (e.g. Physics and Geosciences, Chemistry) are tradi­tion­al carni­val clubs. They organ­ise various enter­tain­ment events to comple­ment every­day univer­sity life.
The student repres­ent­at­ives is a statutory insti­tu­tion of the faculty (more precisely: the student body of the faculty). Our work deals with students’ problems, helping to shape their studies in commit­tees and organ­ising study-related events, but these also include network­ing events such as the semester kick-off party and the Christ­mas party.
In partic­u­lar, we coordin­ate the events for first-year students togeth­er. You can easily distin­guish us by our orange (Elfer­rat) and blue (Fachschaft­s­rat) clothing.

How do I find the websites of the departments?

You can find an overview of all insti­tutes and depart­ments on the faculty website.

Physics and meteor­o­logy premises

Main build­ing in Linnéstraße5:
-Peter Debye Insti­tute for Soft Matter Physics
-Felix Bloch Insti­tute for Solid State Physics
-Semin­ar rooms
-Lecture rooms
-Aula
-Study Office
-Student Repres­ent­at­ives

Brüder­straße 16:
-Insti­tute for Theor­et­ic­al Physics

Stephan­straße 3:
-Leipzig Insti­tute for Meteorology

Prager Straße / Vor dem Hospit­al­tore:
-Physics Lab Cours
-Physics didactics
-Meteor­o­logy Working Group “Clouds and Global Climate”

What are the opening hours of the faculty?

Based on exper­i­ence, the faculty should be open on weekdays (also during the lecture-free period) from approx. 7 am to 7 pm. However, opening hours may vary if necessary.

Study Office

The study office is the central contact for all study and examin­a­tion matters of the study programmes offered by our faculty. The tasks include:
-answer­ing questions about the study process,
-the creation of certi­fic­ates, grade reports, transcripts of records,
-the coordin­a­tion of module regis­tra­tions and deregis­tra­tions,
-the admin­is­tra­tion of examin­a­tion dates and results and the regis­tra­tion of project, Bachel­or and Master theses and
-provid­ing admin­is­trat­ive support to the examin­a­tion boards (includ­ing receiv­ing applications).

Person­al counselling is possible with or without regis­tra­tion during office hours; altern­at­ively, the study office team can be reached by telephone or by e-mail (using the univer­sity e-mail address) (please always state your matric­u­la­tion number and study programme).

Linnéstraße 5, Rooms 222/223
E-Mail: service-fpg [a] uni-leipzig.de

Office hours:
Tuesday: 9 – 12 Uhr und 13 – 15:30 Uhr
Thursday: 9 – 12 Uhr

Examin­a­tion board

The Examin­a­tion Board:

-responds to applic­a­tions from students in compli­ance with the examin­a­tion and study regula­tions,
-usually meets once a month,
-votes e.g. on second retake examin­a­tions and
-advises, among other things, on the accept­ance and credit­ing of degrees and modules completed or other study achieve­ments acquired at other univer­sit­ies and abroad.

An applic­a­tion to the Examin­a­tion Board is to be sent inform­ally and submit­ted either as an e-mail or in printed form togeth­er with all neces­sary documents to the Office of Student Affairs.
Two members of the examin­a­tion board are nomin­ated by the student repres­ent­at­ives. They are also happy to help you with problems with the examin­a­tion board or with writing appeals. Just send an email to pa [a] faraphy.de. All emails will be treated anonymously.

Study Commis­sion

The Study Commis­sion consists of three student members and three lectur­ers. As the only truly equal body, the Study Commis­sion is one of the instances in which we students have the most say.
Topics such as the gener­al struc­ture and sequence of the study programme as well as module contents etc. are covered.

Study and examin­a­tion regulations

The legal basis of your studies and there­fore worth reading are the respect­ive study regula­tions (SO) and examin­a­tion regula­tions (PO). You can find these documents on the univer­sity website and also on the website of the faculty.

While the examin­a­tion regula­tions determ­ine what you have to achieve (in the form of examin­a­tions), the study regula­tions regulate the content and struc­ture of the study programme.

These regula­tions are binding for both sides. This means that as a student you are obliged to study accord­ing to the SO/PO if you want to gradu­ate. However, this also means that no addition­al examin­a­tions or achieve­ments not listed in the regula­tions may be required of you. In partic­u­lar, there is no compuls­ory attend­ance at the Univer­sity of Leipzig, only in very special cases such as labor­at­ory practic­als. However, if a profess­or or teach­er deviates from the SO/PO to your disad­vant­age, talk to him/her, talk to the study office and/or contact us.

How do leave semesters work?

Every­one is entitled to two semesters of leave. During the duration of the semester of leave, the number of semesters is frozen, which can be decis­ive for BAföG, for example. You cannot register for exams during the leave of absence. Repeat examin­a­tions can still be taken, however. You can find more inform­a­tion on the univer­sity website.

Stand­ard period of study

The stand­ard period of study is the time you need for your studies if you study accord­ing to the recom­men­ded study plan. This means that you complete modules with a total of 30 credit points (LP, also: credit points or ECTS points) per semester.

Long-term tuition fees are charged for all students who exceed their stand­ard period of study in the current study programme by at least four semesters. A separ­ate stand­ard period of study applies for a subsequent Master’s degree programme.

Further­more, a Bachelor’s thesis that has not been taken within four semesters after comple­tion of the stand­ard period of study is deemed to have been failed once. A failed Bachel­or thesis can be repeated once within one year.

Module regis­tra­tion

 IPSP (Honours), the teach­er study program, as well as key quali­fic­a­tions use TOOL for module enrol­ments. Other study programs at our faculty gener­ally use Almaweb. Even before the official regis­tra­tion deadline, you can find inform­a­tion about the modules offered in the course catalogue on Almaweb.

You can find inform­a­tion on module enrol­ment on the faculty website at the begin­ning of each semester.

Module regis­tra­tion is also regis­tra­tion for the corres­pond­ing examination.

Prepar­at­ory assess­ment for the examination

In some modules there are prepar­at­ory assess­ments that you must pass in order to be admit­ted to the examin­a­tion. The most common prerequis­ite is the achieve­ment of 50% of the weekly exercises.

The examin­a­tion regula­tions state wheth­er modules have prepar­at­ory assess­ments for the examin­a­tion (and which ones). You will also find out at the first meeting of the module.

Completed examin­a­tions remain valid and can NOT be taken again.

If you do not achieve the required number of points, you will automat­ic­ally be deregistered from the module as if you had never taken it. After that, it is only possible to repeat the module after one year. If you have only just missed the number of points in the weekly exercises, you have the right to complete anoth­er series of exercises in order to collect addition­al points.

Exam regis­tra­tion and deregistration

Examin­a­tion regis­tra­tion takes place automat­ic­ally with the module regis­tra­tion in the Almaweb. A deregis­tra­tion can be made in the Almaweb up to a certain deadline (published by the Office of Student Affairs). If you withdraw from the module by the deadline, all examin­a­tions already taken in the module are deemed not to have been taken. In such a case, please inform the study office beforehand.

Examin­a­tion dates are usually commu­nic­ated via the Almaweb and by the module super­visor in the course. Oral examin­a­tion dates are arranged by agree­ment, usually in an examin­a­tion period determ­ined by the module supervisor.

As soon as you are registered for the examin­a­tion, you must also appear there. Failure to appear will result in a grade of 5.0 (failed). In case of illness, a medic­al certi­fic­ate must be submit­ted to the study office on the 3rd working day at the latest. You can also use the corres­pond­ing letter­box for this purpose.

Please note that in principle you have the option of withdraw­ing from an examin­a­tion or re-examin­a­tion in advance at the study office and taking the examin­a­tion at a later date. However, it is advis­able to take exams at the sched­uled time. If you postpone exams, you will have a heavier study load in the next semester.

If you fail the first exam, you will automat­ic­ally be registered for the retake exam in the same semester. You can deregister from this exam up to 2 weeks before­hand at the study office. Please note, however, that a failed module examin­a­tion must be retaken within one year of the comple­tion of the first examin­a­tion attempt.

A second retake of the examin­a­tion can only be carried out on applic­a­tion to the respect­ive examin­a­tion board for the next possible examin­a­tion date. You can find the applic­a­tion on the faculty’s website. Please note, that a failed module examin­a­tion must be repeated within one year after comple­tion of the second examin­a­tion attempt.

If you have to take a second retake exam but are preven­ted from doing so due to illness, a official medic­al certi­fic­ate (amtsärzt­lich) must be submit­ted to the study office. A normal certi­fic­ate is not sufficient.

Examin­a­tions and module grade

Most modules are completed with a grade, a few only require a pass. Examin­a­tions are often written, sometimes also oral, in the case of seminars usually in the form of a present­a­tion and a paper.

Examin­a­tion results and re-examinations

The exam results are usually published on the Almaweb. If you fail an exam, you are automat­ic­ally registered for the next re-examin­a­tion date. If you also fail the re-examin­a­tion, things get uncom­fort­able – then you should apply for a second re-examin­a­tion at the study office. If you also fail the second re-examin­a­tion, the module is considered to have been defin­it­ively failed. If it is an elect­ive module, you can take anoth­er module instead and compensate for the failure. However, if it is a compuls­ory module, you will be exmatric­u­lated from the degree programme.

Do I have a right to inspect the exam correction?

Of course. Within one year after the end of the examin­a­tion proced­ure, you can inspect your written examin­a­tion, the grading or the examin­a­tion proto­cols (oral examin­a­tion). This right is regulated in the examin­a­tion regula­tions. In some cases, the lectur­ers offer an appoint­ment for this purpose. However, you can also write to the lecturer by e-mail at any time.

Is attend­ance at lectures or seminars compulsory?

No, attend­ance is not compuls­ory. Labor­at­ory practic­als, for example, are excep­tions. Absence from seminars or lectures must not affect your grade. If you should ever be disad­vant­aged due to absence, please let us know immediately!

Can I also take other modules from the univer­sity offer?

Theor­et­ic­ally, you can attend every lecture of a module. Wheth­er you can officially register must be clari­fied in case of doubt by the relev­ant study office. By default, only the modules that belong to your degree programme are avail­able on Almaweb.
Wheth­er you are study­ing for a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree, you can take 10 credits across all subjects in the elect­ive area of physics. These can be, for example, key quali­fic­a­tions (SQ) or any other module grade that you have achieved outside the faculty or in a previ­ous degree programme.

Modules that are inten­ded for the Master’s programme can also be taken during the Bachelor’s programme. To take such a module, please contact the study office. As a prerequis­ite, in addition to the module-specif­ic parti­cip­a­tion require­ment, at least 90 credit points must have been earned in the Bachelor’s degree programme.

Re-Enrol­ment

One import­ant thing you always have to do at the end of a semester is re-enrol. This only means that you have to trans­fer the current semester fee (includ­ing the semester ticket) for the new semester in order to remain enrolled. You can either trans­fer the money as usual or give the univer­sity a one-time direct debit order to have the amount debited from your account (or your parents’ account, for example). This works via AlmaWeb. You can find the current re-enrol­ment deadlines on the univer­sity website.

Overview of deadlines

Applic­a­tion for a study programme
You can find current inform­a­tion on applic­a­tion deadlines on the website of the univer­sity and faculty. In gener­al, an online applic­a­tion must be submit­ted by 15 Septem­ber (winter semester) or 15 March (summer semester). Subsequently, the signed applic­a­tion documents and required certi­fic­ates must be submit­ted to the Student Secret­ari­at by 30 Septem­ber or 30 March.
Irrespect­ive of this, the follow­ing documents must be submit­ted in writing or by e-mail (dekan [a] physik.uni-leipzig.de) to the Dean of the Faculty by 01.09. or 01.02. in order to be considered for admis­sion to the Master’s degree programme “Physics”:
-Applic­a­tion for the verific­a­tion of the admis­sion
-Transcript of records / certi­fic­ate of a first profes­sion­al quali­fic­a­tion
short CV
-Proof of knowledge of the English language at level B2 of the Common European Frame­work of Refer­ence for Languages (or equivalent).

Re-Enrol­ment
-Re-enrol­ment deadline for the winter semester: 01.06. – 15.08.
-Re-enrol­ment deadline for the sommer semester: 01.12. – 15.02.

Module regis­tra­tion
-You can find the current range of modules and courses in the course catalogue on Almaweb.
-Module regis­tra­tion usually takes place about 2 weeks before the start of the courses. Please check the faculty website in advance to find out about possible changes.

Module deregis­tra­tion
-Deregis­tra­tion from a module and the associ­ated deregis­tra­tion from the module examin­a­tion can be made at the latest four weeks before the end of the lecture period via Almaweb or, if applic­able, via the study office.

Semester fee and semester ticket

The semester fee is made up of four parts: Studen­ten­werk, student council, mobil­ity fund and the MDV full ticket.
The amount of the contri­bu­tion can vary. It can there­fore also be assumed that the contri­bu­tion will increase annually.

With the MDV semester ticket, students can use the services (S-Bahn, bus, region­al and tram) of all trans­port compan­ies in the area of the MDV full ticket (except MDV North). The valid student ID with the MDV imprint in conjunc­tion with an official photo ID is also a ticket for the entire MDV area. Here, all means of local trans­port, includ­ing the LVB lines in Leipzig and the suburb­an trains, can be used around the clock and through­out the entire semester.

Fresh­ers can already use public trans­port one month before the start of the semester. The valid student ID card with the MDV imprint in combin­a­tion with an official identity document with photo is valid as a ticket.

Students with a valid student ID (and the imprint “MDV”) can take their bicycle free of charge on the city buses and trams of the Leipzi­ger Verkehrs­be­triebe every day (includ­ing weekends and public holidays) from 7pm to 5am, space permit­ting. During the day between 5 a.m. and 7 p.m., an extra ticket is required to take a bicycle with you.

With the MDV semester ticket, you can take your bike on local trains (Deutsche Bahn) free of charge at any time of day in the entire MDV area.

If your destin­a­tion is outside the MDV area, the connect­ing ticket must already have been purchased and valid­ated before you start your journey. To do this, you must buy a ticket start­ing at the last station in the network area that is also served by the respect­ive train.

If the imprint on the student ID card is not legible when the ticket is checked and the ticket inspect­or there­fore rejects it as inval­id, the increased trans­port fee is due accord­ing to the gener­al trans­port condi­tions of the MDV. Students then have the option of present­ing a legible student ID as a valid ticket at the service point of the respect­ive trans­port company within one week, in which case they will not be charged the full increased trans­port fee of 60 euros, but still the reduced increased trans­port fee of 7 euros.

With “Leipzig mobil”, students with a valid MDV semester ticket can also use the car and bike sharing services of the Leipzi­ger Verkehrs­be­triebe. Special condi­tions apply: no basic fee, 10 hours of bikeshar­ing per month included.

Quelle: Studen­ten­werk Leipzig

Further offers

–Career Service: Workshops and person­al counselling for career entry
–Free bicycle self-help shops
–Academ­ic Lab: Workshops on methods and academ­ic writing
–IT train­ing courses of the Univer­sity Computer Centre (URZ)

Physics-related intern­ships and job opportunities

Region­al compan­ies and insti­tutes that offer job oppor­tun­it­ies for future physi­cists:
–Univer­sity of Leipzig (SHK/WHK)
–WAVELABS Solar Metro­logy Systems
–intel­li­gent fluids
–Max Planck Insti­tute for Human Cognit­ive and Brain Sciences
–Max-Planck-Insti­tute for Mathem­at­ics in the Sciences
–Leibn­iz Insti­tute of Surface Engin­eer­ing (IOM)
–Helmholtz-Centre for Envir­on­ment­al Research
–Leibn­iz Insti­tute for Tropo­spher­ic Research (TROPOS)