Categories: FAQ for current students Tags: general organization
Index
Important remarks for your start of studies
- Our program requires attendance, punctuality and active participation in all obligatory classes, scientific skills courses und excursions.
In our soft skills courses, lecturers can and will withhold certificates if students show up late. - Please be on time for lectures, meeting points at field trips etc.
- Make sure to be present for the first lectures.
Check campo for time and location in the first week. - Make sure to refer to the MAP Office staff and not to senior students for organizational details and questions on examinations. Several regulations have changed during the past years.
Take your chance to give fair feedback on lectures and thereby to improve MAP: electronic evaluations will be conducted at the end of each semester. -
We highly recommend you joining the LinkedIn MAP alumni group (https://www.linkedin.com/groups/5051053/) already at this stage to exchange on career paths and to identify internship opportunities.
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We highly recommend a private liability insurance policy. It covers many claims for unintended damages that you might cause other people or their properties (e.g. results of minor bicycle accidents, possible loss of apartment keys, but not results of car accidents!)
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First steps – information for international students aims to introduce you to life in Germany and answer some of the most important questions you may have when you first arrive. Further information about the online services of the FAU are also explained in this news article.
Email etiquette
Use only your official @fau.de email address for all communications related to your studies. Emails from other providers are sometimes directly sorted as spam or treated as such from professors who often get more than 100 emails per day.
Writing to a professor (or any other uni staff member)
- Watch out for colloquial expressions which might be misinterpreted
- Don‘t be submissive – Professors here prefer proud, communicative students
- Remember that professors and university staff receive huge numbers of emails! Help them and make a good impression by being polite, systematic and concise
- In German there is not an equivalent for „Sir“, „Madam“ „Ma‘am“ etc. – do not use these expressions!
- Never start an email with „I am <xy>“ etc. The reader can read your name at the bottom of the email!
Germans use names:
- First names if you are on „Du“ terms
- Surnames (preceded by Herr oder Frau) if you are on „Sie“ terms (the default for you with respect to university professors and staff).
- The safest option is to use this rule in English: Most younger (<50 yrs) professors in Erlangen seem to apply the Anglo-American „standard“ (if they address you in English with your first name and sign off with their first name, you should address them with their first name)
Emails to someone whose name you know
Starting
- NOT OK: Hello, Hi, good day, good morning, Respected Sir, Dear Sir, Dear Madam, Dear (on its own!)
- OK: Dear Frau Will, Dear Dr. Will, Dear Prof. Vogel
Ending
- NOT OK: Tschüss, Bye, Goodbye, Auf Wiedersehen, see you, cu, thanking you, yours, yours truly, take care
- OK: Best regards, Kind regards, Regards, Bests, Best, yours sincerely (a bit formal)
Emails to someone whose name you don‘t know
- Start with Dear Sir/Madam
- End with Yours faithfully, Best regards, Best wishes, etc.
Good example
- “Dear Prof. Klupp Taylor,
Unfortunately, due to illness I will not be able to attend your particle technology lecture tomorrow. Please could you send me the lecture notes. Thanks in advance.
Best regards,
<your name>, MAP 1st Semester Student“
Recording of Lectures
In Germany, it is not allowed to record any lecturer (voice or video) without his or her explicit consent. Germany is a two-party consent state, meaning “call recording without the consent of both or, when applicable, more participants, is a criminal offense”. (German Crimecode –Section 201)
Students, staff and external parties have rights regarding their work, participation and content for any lecture or event.
The easiest way to deal with laws against secret live recordings of lectures is to avoid them completely. If you would like to record a professor’s lecture, you can ask for his or her permission and for that of all the other participants.
Students, staff and external parties have rights regarding their work, participation and content for any lecture or event.
The easiest way to deal with laws against secret live recordings of lectures is to avoid them completely. If you would like to record a professor’s lecture, you can ask for his or her permission and for that of all the other participants.