Coronavirus: Current Measures and Recommendations

As at: 22 March 2020, 7:30 p.m.

Dear Students, dear Colleagues, dear Staff Members,

Due to the rapidly growing number of new coronavirus infections, as of March 21, 2020, the state government has tightened its measures pursuant to the Ordinance of the State Government on Infection Protection Measures against the Spread of the SARS-Cov-2 Virus (Corona Ordinance - “CoronaVO”, current version). A further ordinance has been enacted on March 22, 2020. In view of the current crisis, the University of Mannheim is also further restricting its operations as of Monday, March 23, 2020, 6 p.m.

The following measures will become effective:

1. All employees of the university – with the exception of so-called “systemically important persons” (see no. 2), especially those responsible for security and IT operations – shall work exclusively from their home offices, after prior consultation with their superiors even already from Monday, March 23, 2020, 0:00 a.m. Unless there are important reasons to the contrary, such as childcare, they must be available by telephone during their regular office hours and check their official e-mails several times a day, but at least once. This also applies, when you received a leave of absence. This is the only way we can ensure that all employees receive all necessary information on the current developments.

2. Access to all university buildings will be restricted to the above-mentioned “systemically important persons” – and prohibited to all others.  “Systemically important persons” are those persons whose presence is essential to keep (emergency) operations going. This group of persons was mainly defined by the task force in cooperation with the affected institutions. The respective persons have been informed accordingly and will receive a permit from the President’s Office in order to be able to identify themselves towards third parties by showing it in conjunction with an official photo ID. As of March 23, 2020, 6 p.m., persons who do not hold a valid permit are no longer permitted to enter the university buildings; violation of this order is considered trespassing.

3. Additional permits for “systemically important persons” will be issued by the President's Office exclusively. If you need a permit for compelling reasons, please send your request to rektor(at)uni-mannheim.de, stating your reasons; the request should be made via the relevant institution and include a statement by your superior. Permits are issued very restrictively and, if necessary, subject to conditions; as a matter of principle, they are only issued for a limited period and/or subject to withdrawal. Please pay attention to any further tightening of mobility restrictions by the responsible authorities in accordance with the German Act on Infection Protection [Infektionsschutzgesetz, IfSG] and the police, from which even holders of the university permit may not be exempted.

4. With immediate effect, personal appointments with employees of the university can no longer take place face to face. In case of concrete questions or need for advice, please contact your advisor via e-mail. Of course, you can agree on other ways of communication such as telephone or video conference.

5. In the few cases where working from home is not an option, we ask the responsible superiors to grant their employees a paid leave of absence for the period of emergency operations. The extent of the leave of absence must then be documented. For more information, please see the website of the human resources division: http://dezv.uni-mannheim.de/intranet/Aktuelles%20zum%20Corona-Virus/Freistellung/

At present, it is not possible to predict how long these measures will be necessary. However, we will inform you in good time by e-mail or via our website (https://www.uni-mannheim.de/corona) about the further procedure.

We would like to thank you once again for your constructive cooperation and your extraordinary commitment – many of us are working (almost) “twenty-four seven”. We thank you for your flexibility, your consideration for each other, your sense of responsibility, and your willingness to make sacrifices. At present, regardless of the virus, it is the university's central duty to enable all students, not least our international students, to complete the semester successfully - “contact-free” and “digitally”. This poses a huge challenge for all teachers as well as for University IT, the University Library, the administration and many other units and divisions. However, examples from numerous universities, especially those abroad, have shown that we can succeed in our efforts. Each one of us is required to give their highest commitment. At the University of Mannheim, too, we are on the right track and will emerge from the crisis stronger than before.

Kind regards,
Barbara Windscheid                                                                     
Executive Vice President   

Prof. Dr. Thomas Puhl
President                                                        

1. The lecture period of the spring semester 2020 remains suspended until and including April 19, 2020. Until then, all those responsible in the President's Office, the schools and the administrative and infrastructural units are urgently working on reducing the risks for students, teaching personnel and other staff members as far as possible by developing digital teaching concepts and further measures. Details will be communicated shortly.

2. On-campus classes, also those that have started already, are being canceled or, if possible, continued in digital form. This applies to classes for students as well as for other types of courses such as training for teaching personnel and staff members, choir and orchestra practices, and the sports program of the university. Mandatory internships, such as in the industry, that are not taking place at the university, can be continued. However, the continuation of the internship depends on the respective employer of the intern. 

3. Conferences, congresses and other public events with participants from outside the university are canceled during the suspension of teaching operations. 

4. Restricted operation of the University Library: The subject libraries, the InfoCenter and the Central Lending Library are closed until April 19. Access to the digital media and services will continue. Find more information on the library's website. 

5. The university administration, institutions responsible for infrastructure and other units remain operational. Studying, research and teaching activities are to be continued as far as possible in order to avoid hardship for the persons affected. However, personal appointments with employees of the university can no longer take place face to face. In case of concrete questions or need for advice, please contact your advisor via e-mail. Of course, you can agree on other ways of communication such as telephone or video conference.
   
   All employees of the university – with the exception of so-called “systemically important persons” (see no. 8), especially those responsible for security and IT operations – shall work exclusively from their home offices, after prior consultation with their superiors even already from Monday, 23 March 2020, 0:00 a.m. Unless there are important reasons to the contrary, such as childcare, they must be available by telephone during their regular office hours and check their official e-mails several times a day, but at least once. This also applies, when you received a leave of absence. This is the only way we can ensure that all employees receive all necessary information on the current developments.
   
   In the few cases where working from home is not an option, we ask the responsible superiors to grant their employees a paid leave of absence for the period of emergency operations. The extent of the leave of absence must then be documented. For more information, please see the website of the human resources division: http://dezv.uni-mannheim.de/intranet/Aktuelles%20zum%20Corona-Virus/Freistellung/
   
   Employees who belong to the at-risk group are to work from home exclusively. If this is not possible, employees are to reduce their accrued overtime before they receive a paid leave. 
   
   Due to the exceptional situation, working from home can be approved by your superior alone and, until further notice, does not need additional approval from the human resources department. The approval may be recalled by your superior at any time. 
   
   Moreover, employees need to be reachable in their home offices. Office phones can be forwarded to private lines. During this exceptional period, work from home may be completed in the hours from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.

6. As it is in the interest of the students, the university will hold planned examinations under consideration of the current risks as far as possible. As far as state examinations are concerned, the ministry is currently discussing the challenges with the respective examination authorities (Landesprüfungsämter). For examinations given by the university, the following procedures apply: 
   
   Written on-campus examinations of the coming weeks will be postponed. In the next few days, we will work on finding solutions to hold the examinations under the new circumstances. We will inform you in due time about this. 
   
   Oral examinations are also canceled until the end of April 19.
   
   All deadlines for final theses or term papers will be extended by the time of the library closing. Currently, that is by five weeks.
   
   The university is striving to find accommodating solutions regarding de-registrations and re-sit options for all on-campus examinations. A de-registration from an exam, however, needs to be requested before the examination. Students do not need to indicate reasons or provide a medical certificate. 
   
   It is the goal of the university, that all students of the spring semester 2020 can complete their examinations and that no student is at a disadvantage due to the current situation.

7. In order to contain the coronavirus, the Land Baden-Württemberg has prohibited all events and gatherings of more than five people (in non-public spaces) for at least to weeks (for public spaces there is a limit of two people). At the University of Mannheim, meetings with more than five attendees are also prohibited with immediate effect. Meetings of the university bodies will not take place until further notice. The respective chairs of the meetings will decide whether the current agenda requires immediate decisions or if the meeting can be postponed. If decisions cannot be postponed, the chair is to make use of the option to decide via e-mail or, in very urgent matters, make use of their right to decide alone. Please note, that certain types of decisions are excluded from the right to make urgent decisions by the rules of order. Telephone or video conferences are an option to consider for meetings.

8. Access to all university buildings will be restricted to so-called “systemically important persons” – and prohibited to all others. “Systemically important persons” are those persons whose presence is essential to keep (emergency) operations going. This group of persons was mainly defined by the task force in cooperation with the affected institutions. The respective persons have been informed accordingly and will receive a permit from the President’s Office in order to be able to identify themselves towards third parties by showing it in conjunction with an official photo ID. As of 23 March 2020, 6 p.m., persons who do not hold a valid permit are no longer permitted to enter the university buildings; violation of this order is considered trespassing.

9. Business trips to COVID risk areas are not approved until further notice. Earlier approvals for business trips to risk areas are hereby revoked. Moreover, we urgently request that all other business trips be temporarily suspended until April 19, 2020. Teaching personnel, students and researchers who have returned to the university from risk areas as defined by the Robert Koch Institute have to observe a two-week self-quarantine. 

10. Please note that we are currently unable to guarantee a timely rescue by professionals in case of an emergency with the elevators. Therefore, effective immediately, persons are prohibited from using the elevators in all of the buildings. The transport of goods is still permitted.

11. All members of the university are asked to observe the recommendations of the Federal Centre for Health Education (BZgA) for educational institutions. (https://www.infektionsschutz.de/fileadmin/infektionsschutz.de/Downloads/Merkblatt-Bildungseinrichtungen-Coronavirus.pdf, in German ).

12. The university is updating its measures and plans continuously and informs its members and the public comprehensively at short notice. We urgently ask all members of the university to check the website www.uni-mannheim.de/corona and their e-mail at least once a day in order to receive new information.

13. The Studierendenwerk Mannheim adapts individual measures and communicates them individually. Further information can be found on: www.stw-ma.de 

(as at March 22, 2020)

Dear Colleagues and Staff Members,

Our current situation is constantly changing. Almost every day, we are faced with new measures and recommendations to contain the coronavirus at national, state and communal level. In order to implement these changes, but at the same time keep our university operating as well as possible, we too are frequently adapting our measures to the present circumstances.

Particularly in order to guarantee that our units are still able to communicate and function, the President's Office has now decided to take further measures, which are listed below. These measures take immediate effect.

1. Check e-mails several times a day
   In this exceptional situation, it is crucial that we keep communicating with all our staff members. This also applies to those among you who are currently working at home or have taken leave of absence. This is the only way to ensure that important information and new necessary measures can be communicated to all employees in due time and can be followed accordingly. Therefore, all staff members are required to check their e-mails at least once, but preferably several times a day. They must also ensure that they can be reached by telephone during the usual office hours.

2. Deactivate external call forwarding
   In response to our e-mail from 16 March, many of you have kindly set up your office phones to forward calls to your private home office numbers. Unfortunately, this has led to a high number of redirected calls and external calls that regularly exceed the capacity of our telephone system. At such times, calls to external numbers can no longer go through and callers will only receive a busy signal. As a result, this might mean that staff members currently working at the university offices can no longer be reached in urgent cases. The President’s Office has therefore decided that office phones may no longer be set to automatic call forwarding to external numbers. Please ask callers via answering machines and in your e-mail messages to contact you via e-mail and/or forward your calls internally to colleagues who work at their offices, if this is still possible.

3. Taking home materials from your office
   Due to the current developments and in light of the measures that were taken in other countries to contain the coronavirus, we kindly ask you to consider which personal things or work materials you need to take home in case you won’t be able to return to your office for some time. Documents containing personal data and original documents need to remain at the university. Please make sure to return any working materials to the university, once you come back after this crisis is behind us.

4. Restricted use of the elevators
   Please note, that we are currently unable to guarantee a timely rescue by professionals in case of an emergency with the elevators. Therefore, effective immediately, persons are prohibited from using the elevators in all of the buildings. The transport of goods is still permitted.

Your dedication to the university is needed more than ever, though in a different form. We thank you for you commitment. Please make sure that you and your families stay healthy.

Kind regards, your

Barbara Windscheid
Executive Vice President

Prof. Dr. Thomas Puhl
President

For current information on risk areas, please refer to the websites of the Robert Koch Institute (in German).

In order to prevent possible further transmission,

• please pay attention to proper hand hygiene and
• cough and sneeze etiquette (cover your mouth with your bent elbow or tissue when coughing/sneezing),
• avoid shaking hands,
• avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth, and
• keep your distance from sick persons (1-2 meters), and
• regularly air rooms.

Additional tips on hygiene measures can be found on the websites of the Federal Centre for Health Education, BZgA (in German).

Moreover, please stay up-to-date on the situation and inform yourself on the websites of the Robert Koch Institute regularly and consider the current information and recommendations.

Is the suspension of classroom teaching related to the confirmed corona cases at the University of Mannheim?

Suspending teaching operations is a preventive measure of the Land of Baden-Württemberg in order to prevent further transmission of the novel coronavirus. The measure affects all universities and higher education institutions in Baden-Württemberg and is in no way related to the two confirmed cases at the University of Mannheim. The coronavirus patients who are students of the University of Mannheim are at home in self-quarantine, all close contacts were identified, contacted and are currently guided by the local health authority, Gesundheitsamt Mannheim, during their respective self-quarantines. To date, further tests are negative.

Who are the infected persons at the University of Mannheim?

Please respect that we cannot reveal the identities of the affected persons. The Gesundheitsamt Mannheim has, together with the respective authorities of the Land of Baden-Württemberg, carefully assessed the situation and the risks and has ordered self-quarantine for the few individuals who were in direct, prolonged contact with the patient. The people concerned have been informed and were contacted directly by the Gesundheitsamt.

The discontinuation of teaching is a preventive measure ordered by the state of Baden-Württemberg.

The subject libraries, the InfoCenter and the Central Lending Library are closed until April 19. Access to the digital media and services will continue. Find more information on the library's website.

Elevators
Persons are prohibited to use any elevators in buildings of the university because, due to the currently restricted personnel capacities in the administration and with external companies, an evacuation of persons can no longer be guaranteed. Transport of goods is still permitted.

Janitor
For the protection of the employees, there is only one janitor in each district in alternating emergency service.
The best way to contact them in case of problems is via the hotline of the Reception Desk.
Phone: 181-1110.

Reception Desk
The Reception Desk at the main entrance remains staffed by 2 persons (24 hours / 7 days a week).
In case of any questions or problems, the hotline of the Reception Desk is available under: 181-1110.

In addition, throughout the day, patrols are conducted at irregular intervals in all buildings.

Drinking water supply
Drinking water supply remains unaffected.

Ventilation systems
The ventilation systems will remain in operation with reduced power.

Heating systems
The heating systems remain in operation.

Power supply
Power and emergency power supply remain in operation.

Lighting/electrical appliances
Corridor and office lighting remain in operation.
Please disconnect electrical appliances that are not in use from the mains.

Fire alarm systems
All fire alarm systems remain in operation for safety reasons.

Employees who have returned from one of the above-listed risk areas in the last few days are asked to stay home until 14 days have passed since they left the risk area - regardless of whether or not they experience flu-like symptoms. This applies in particular to Madrid, the US-states Washington, California, and New York, and Egypt, which have only recently been declared areas of risk. Please contact your superior via e-mail or telephone to inform them of the situation. 

In case you are returning from a risk area or were in contact with a person infected with the coronavirus and you are experiencing flu-like symptoms, please contact your physician and/or the local health authorities immediately.

In case you do have any symptoms of an infection, please discuss with your superior whether you are able to work from home or need to take a leave of absence. Should you take a leave of absence, you will continue to receive your remuneration. Superiors are asked to report all returnees from risk areas to the human resources division via e-mail rueckkehrer(at)uni-mannheim.de.

We urgently request that business trips be temporarily suspended until April 19, 2020. Business trips to risk areas are prohibited. Cancellation fees for business trips already booked during this period may be reimbursed without further justification or proof. If you have any further questions regarding business travel, please contact the Travel Expenses Team of the Personnel Department via email: http://dezv.uni-mannheim.de/kontakt/beschaeftigte_des_dez_v/#Genehmigungen_Abrechnungen_Dienstreisen.

In order to break the chain of virus transmission and to allow parents who are affected by the closure of schools and day care facilities, all employees of the university – with the exception of so-called “systemically important persons” (see circular from March 23, 2020), especially those responsible for security and IT operations – shall work exclusively from their home offices from March 23, 2020, onwards. 

In the few cases where working from home is not an option, we ask the responsible superiors to grant their employees a paid leave of absence for the period of emergency operations. The extent of the leave of absence must then be documented. For more information, please see the website of the human resources division: http://dezv.uni-mannheim.de/intranet/Aktuelles%20zum%20Corona-Virus/Freistellung/

Due to the exceptional situation, working from home can be approved by your superior alone and, until further notice, does not need additional approval from the human resources department. The approval may be recalled by your superior at any time.

Moreover, employees need to be reachable in their home offices.

During this exceptional period, work from home may be completed in the hours from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Personal appointments with employees of the university can no longer take place face to face. In case of concrete questions or need for advice, please contact your advisor via e-mail. Of course, you can agree on other ways of communication such as telephone or video conference.
 

Employees who belong to the at-risk group are to work from home exclusively. If this is not possible, employees are to reduce their accrued overtime before they receive a paid leave.

On-campus classes
On-campus classes, also those that have started already, are being canceled or, if possible, continued in digital form. This applies to classes for students as well as for other types of courses such as training for teaching personnel and staff members, choir and orchestra practices, and the sports program of the university. Mandatory internships, such as in the industry, that are not taking place at the university, can be continued. However, the continuation of the internship depends on the respective employer of the intern.

Planned Examinations
As it is in the interest of the students, the university will hold planned examinations under consideration of the current risks as far as possible. As far as state examinations are concerned, the ministry is currently discussing the challenges with the respective examination authorities (Landesprüfungsämter). For examinations given by the university, the following procedures apply:

Written on-campus examinations of the coming weeks will be postponed. In the next few days, we will work on finding solutions to hold the examinations under the new circumstances. We will inform you in due time about this.

All on-campus oral examinations are canceled until the end of April 19. Only oral examinations already agreed upon can take place until Friday, March 20, provided they are held via Skype or another form of video conference and all those taking part in the examination agree.

Final thesis and term papers
All deadlines for final theses or term papers will be extended by the time of the library closing. Currently, that is by five weeks.

De-registrations and re-sit options
he university is striving to find accommodating solutions regarding de-registrations and re-sit options for all on-campus examinations. A de-registration from an exam, however, needs to be requested before the examination. Students do not need to indicate reasons or provide a medical certificate.

It is the goal of the university, that all students of the spring semester 2020 can complete their examinations and that no student is at a disadvantage due to the current situation.

In order to contain the coronavirus, the Land Baden-Württemberg has prohibited all events and gatherings of more than five people (in non-public spaces) for at least to weeks; in public spaces, there is a limit of two people. At the University of Mannheim,meetings with more than five attendees are also prohibited with immediate effect. 

From March 23, 2020 onwards, access to all university buildings will be restricted to so-called “systemically important persons” of the University of Mannheim – and prohibited to all others. 

Meetings with more than five attendees
In order to contain the coronavirus, the Land Baden-Württemberg has prohibited all events and gatherings of more than five people (in non-public spaces) for at least to weeks; in public spaces, there is a limit of two people. At the University of Mannheim, meetings with more than five attendees are also prohibited with immediate effect. 

Meetings with fewer than five attendees
Meetings with fewer than five attendees are to be avoided. If meetings are held with fewer than five attendees, attendees are to observe the applicable hygiene measures, keep their distance from one another (1-2 meters) and make sure meeting rooms are properly ventilated with fresh air.

University bodies
Meetings of the university bodies will not take place until further notice. The respective chairs of the meetings will decide whether the current agenda requires immediate decisions or if the meeting can be postponed. If decisions cannot be postponed, the chair is to make use of the option to decide via e-mail or, in very urgent matters, make use of their right to decide alone. Please note, that certain types of decisions are excluded from the right to make urgent decisions by the rules of order. Telephone or video conferences are an option to consider for meetings.

Classes at the graduate school GESS
As classes at the graduate school GESS are considered study programs, all teaching operations that are listed in the course catalog are suspended. As far as possible, the planned classes will be taught in digital form.

In order to break the chain of virus transmission and to allow parents who are affected by the closure of schools and day care facilities, all employees of the university – with the exception of so-called “systemically important persons” (see circular from March 23, 2020), especially those responsible for security and IT operations – shall work exclusively from their home offices. Unless there are important reasons to the contrary, such as childcare, they must be available by telephone during their regular office hours and check their official e-mails several times a day, but at least once. This also applies, when you received a leave of absence. This is the only way we can ensure that all employees receive all necessary information on the current developments.

In order keep the university operational, a minimum of employees needs to be present on its premises. This particularly applies to the administration, the university IT and the library, but also to the dean's offices and the head offices of central research institutions and all other required units. Access to all university buildings will be restricted to these so-called “systemically important persons” – and prohibited to all others. “Systemically important persons” are those persons whose presence is essential to keep (emergency) operations going. This group of persons was mainly defined by the task force in cooperation with the affected institutions. The respective persons have been informed accordingly and will receive a permit from the President’s Office in order to be able to identify themselves towards third parties by showing it in conjunction with an official photo ID. As of 23 March 2020, 6 p.m., persons who do not hold a valid permit are no longer permitted to enter the university buildings; violation of this order is considered trespassing.

Paid leave
In the few cases where working from home is not an option, we ask the responsible superiors to grant their employees a paid leave of absence for the period of emergency operations. The extent of the leave of absence must then be documented. For more information, please see the website of the human resources division: http://dezv.uni-mannheim.de/intranet/Aktuelles%20zum%20Corona-Virus/Freistellung/

Employees who belong to the at-risk group
Employees who belong to the at-risk group are to work from home exclusively. If this is not possible, employees are to reduce their accrued overtime before they receive a paid leave. 

Home office regulations
Due to the exceptional situation, working from home can be approved by your superior alone and, until further notice, does not need additional approval from the human resources department. The approval may be recalled by your superior at any time. 

Moreover, employees need to be reachable in their home offices. Office phones can be forwarded to private lines. During this exceptional period, work from home may be completed in the hours from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Taking home materials from your office
Due to the current developments and in light of the measures that were taken in other countries to contain the coronavirus, we kindly ask you to consider which personal things or work materials you need to work from home and to pick them up and them home with you by March 23, 6 p.m. Documents containing personal data and original documents need to remain at the university. Please make sure to return any working materials to the university, once you come back after this crisis is behind us.

Contact staff per e-mail
All employees of the university – with the exception of so-called “systemically important persons” (for definition, see circular from March 22, 2020)  – will be working exclusively from their home offices from March 23, 2020, 6 p.m., onwards. As a consequence, they can't be reliably reached by phone. Please contact staff as much as possible via e-mail. 

Check e-mails several times a day

In this exceptional situation, it is crucial that we keep communicating with all our staff members. This also applies to those among you who are currently working at home or have taken leave of absence. This is the only way to ensure that important information and new necessary measures can be communicated to all employees in due time and can be followed accordingly. Therefore, all staff members are required to check their e-mails at least once, but preferably several times a day. They must also ensure that they can be reached by telephone during the usual office hours.

In response to our e-mail from 16 March, many of you have kindly set up your office phones to forward calls to your private home office numbers. Unfortunately, this has led to a high number of redirected calls and external calls that regularly exceed the capacity of our telephone system. At such times, calls to external numbers can no longer go through and callers will only receive a busy signal. As a result, this might mean that staff members currently working at the university offices can no longer be reached in urgent cases. The President’s Office has therefore decided that office phones may no longer be set to automatic call forwarding to external numbers. Please ask callers via answering machines and in your e-mail messages to contact you via e-mail and/or forward your calls internally to colleagues who work at their offices, if this is still possible

The closure of the entrances of building L 1, 1 as of March 23, 2020, 6:00 p.m., also affects access to the Post Office. It is requested that the university facilities coordinate with each other regarding the collection of mail and contact the Post Office shortly before arriving at entrance B, building L 1, 1, by telephone (-1120) for mail delivery.  Even in the case of incoming or outgoing mail that requires special treatment, please contact the Post Office in advance.

Until March 27, 2020, the Post Office will be available as follows: Mon to Fri from 6:30 a.m. to noon and from 12:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. (exception: Friday until 2:00 p.m.).   These arrangements may be changed at short notice.

In case of any questions, please contact the occupational medical service of the University of Mannheim. Please direct concrete medical questions via e-mail to amd(at)uni-mannheim.de. In case you would like a phone appointment with the physician of the occupational medical service, please send an e-mail with the subject “coronavirus” to bgm(at)verwaltung.uni-mannheim.de.

Students who have returned from one of the above-listed risk areas in the last few days are also asked to stay home until 14 days have passed since they left the risk area, and contact their physician or the health authorities in case of flu-like symptoms. This applies in particular to Madrid, the US states Washington, California, and New York, and Egypt, which have only recently been declared areas of risk.

If there are any (partial) examinations during this time, please contact your teacher directly. The university is eager to find solutions that do not put students at a disadvantage due to the current situation. In case you would like to take an academic leave of absence, please contact your advisor at the Student Services office.

We recommend that students do not travel to risk areas. In case you are traveling to non-risk areas, we advise you to cancel your trip unless absolutely necessary.

On-campus classes
On-campus classes, also those that have started already, are being canceled or, if possible, continued in digital form. This applies to classes for students as well as for other types of courses such as training for teaching personnel and staff members, choir and orchestra practices, and the sports program of the university. Mandatory internships, such as in the industry, that are not taking place at the university, can be continued. However, the continuation of the internship depends on the respective employer of the intern.

Planned Examinations
As it is in the interest of the students, the university will hold planned examinations under consideration of the current risks as far as possible. As far as state examinations are concerned, the ministry is currently discussing the challenges with the respective examination authorities (Landesprüfungsämter). For examinations given by the university, the following procedures apply:

Written on-campus examinations of the coming weeks will be postponed. In the next few days, we will work on finding solutions to hold the examinations under the new circumstances. We will inform you in due time about this.

All on-campus oral examinations are canceled until the end of April 19. Only oral examinations already agreed upon can take place until Friday, March 20, provided they are held via Skype or another form of video conference and all those taking part in the examination agree.

Final thesis and term papers
All deadlines for final theses or term papers will be extended by the time of the library closing. Currently, that is by five weeks.

De-registrations and re-sit options
he university is striving to find accommodating solutions regarding de-registrations and re-sit options for all on-campus examinations. A de-registration from an exam, however, needs to be requested before the examination. Students do not need to indicate reasons or provide a medical certificate.

It is the goal of the university, that all students of the spring semester 2020 can complete their examinations and that no student is at a disadvantage due to the current situation.

Information offered by the International Office
The International Office of the University has set up a website where you can find answers to frequently asked questions, including questions on departure, credits and examinations.

News on the current situation in English
The translation agency lengoo translates the live blog of the Tagesschau on the coronavirus into English in its own live blog. Its aim is to provide the many people living in Germany whose native language is not German with reliable information on the current situation.

Information offered by the International Office
The International Office of the University has set up a website where you can find answers to frequently asked questions, including questions on residence permits and job opportunities.

News on the current situation in English
The translation agency lengoo translates the live blog of the Tagesschau on the coronavirus into English in its own live blog. Its aim is to provide the many people living in Germany whose native language is not German with reliable information on the current situation.

In order to contain the coronavirus, the Land Baden-Württemberg has prohibited all events and gatherings of more than five people (non-public spaces) for at least to weeks. At the University of Mannheim, meetings with more than five attendees are also prohibited with immediate effect. Planned public events at the University of Mannheim will not take place up until April 19, 2020.

Until further notice, access to all university buildings will be restricted to so-called “systemically important persons” of the University of Mannheim – and prohibited to all others.

Events which have been canceled or postponed:

• Mannheim Forum from March 19-21: canceled
• Career Fair from March 31-April 2: postponed to September 27-29, 2020
• Q-Summit from April 15-16: canceled
• University Day on May 6: canceled, possibly postponed

No garantuee can be given for the completeness of this list. If in doubt, please contact the respective event host.