Information on the Coronavirus

• On-site exams take place. Please look them up in TUCaN.
• Should you not be able to participate in an on-site exam (e.g. a written exam) that is offered by the Materials Science Department, you may request a change of format (e.g. oral exam as video conference). The corresponding form with instructions is available for download at the Bachelor and Master documents. In order to change an oral on-site exam into an oral video-based exam this form is not needed. Please arrange such a change by contacting the examiner.
• Teaching will be offered face-to-face. Lectures from the materials science master programme will partly also be offered online.
• Please check for your courses in TUCaN and in Moodle. There the instructors provide material, in particular lecture movies and pdf lecture notes as well as information about live events such as exercise groups or question and answer chats.
• Pease register to all courses in TUCaN that you plan to attend, in particular to labs.
• Please inform yourself about courses of other departments on their web pages and, if applicable, in TUCaN and in Moodle.
• We advise you to remain flexible, as all plans are necessarily uncertain due to possible new developments.

In order to fix a unique procedure at the Department of Materials and Geo Sciences, the departmental administration would like to point out to you the decision of the executive committee of TU Darmstadt that video conferences are admissible for oral exams and doctoral exams, if the following conditions are met:

• All involved parties agree with this format. The candidate has to agree that he or she is taking an exam as a video conference and that data are being sent by email.
• No possibility of a legal claim for such a format exists.
• The video conference is organized and administrated by the candidate resp. the thesis advisor.
• Participants of such a conference are: the candidate, all examiners and, if applicable, assessors and/or transcript writer, and public participants, if applicable. Public participants are to be muted.
• When conducting a video conference for the purpose of an exam (oral exam or doctoral exam), the candidate’s identity may be verified by a video picture and showing the official identity card and student identity card.
• The candidate has to assure that he or she is alone in the room and that he/she has no non-admissible resources at his or her disposal. For doctoral exams in departmental rooms (e.g. in room L2|01/77), staff of the dean’s office for technical support and/or one or more members of the examination commission may be present in the room. The Corona rules have to be observed.
• Exams by phone call alone are not allowed.
• If an exam has to be aborted for technical reasons, the exam counts as not having been conducted. This is decided by the examiner resp. the chair of the examination commission.
• The minutes of the exam have to be prepared according to the usual rules. A video or audio recording is not allowed.
• The deliberation about the grade is conducted without the candidate.
• The notification and explanation of the grade to the candidate is carried out in the video conference.
• If the candidate receives a “fail” in a B.Sc. or M.Sc. exam, he or she confirms orally in the video conference that he received an explanation of this assessment.
• The protocol may either be shown in the video conference or sent by email.

Notice about the public access of doctoral exams:

The public access of doctoral exams persists. The link to the video conference is sent by email with the invitation to the usual distribution list. The upcoming doctoral exams are announced on the departmental doctoral web pages in due time. Interested parties are requested to send their intention to attend to dekanat@matgeo.tu-…. They will receive access data to the video conference in due time. The chair of the doctoral exam is responsible for the correct procedure of the exam and points out to the participants the necessity to observe the above framework, in particular the ban of video and audio recordings.

• The buildings of TU Darmstadt are open again for the public. Access is only allowed with a medical mask.
• Continue to make use of electronic ways of communication (e.g. email, skype, phone) if, for example, you need to talk to your thesis advisor.
• The Materials Science office of student affairs is closed to the public until further notice.
• Please send time-critical documents (e.g. issuance of thesis subject, application for an extension of thesis processing time etc.) as a scan by email to studienbuero@mawi.tu-….
• All documents that are not time-critical (e.g. lab reports, dockets, seminar passes, etc.) may be turned in later. Please clarify with the recipient, if an electronic version (a file, e.g. a scan) is acceptable.
• Theses need to be uploaded to TUbama, as usual. The text in the uploaded PDF/A file needs to be searchable. There is no need to deliver a paper copy. This rule will permanently apply, even after the pandemic is over. There is also no need to hand it in later. The office of student affairs will make the thesis file available to the referees. At the same time, please email a signed and scanned copy of your declaration of originality for your final thesis to studienbuero@mawi.tu-….
• The issuance of documents, e.g. transcripts or final documents, needs to be agreed upon on an individual basis, e.g. as email or as a registered letter by regular mail. Please turn by email tostudienbuero@mawi.tu-….
• For all other questions and processes, please also contact the office of student affairs at studienbuero@mawi.tu-….
• Please continue to check the TU web page and this web page for the situation at TU Darmstadt and check your emails and TUCaN messages.