Interdisziplinäre Lehre: Meeting Global Challenges
FAQ
International FAQ
Most of our courses are offered in German, as the majority of the University’s courses only have German as immatriculation requirement and we can therefore not expect the majority of the students to be confident in engaging in a debate in English.
We do try to offer some English-only courses, but if there is no explicit mention of a course being English on the pages of the respective course, the course will predominantly be in German. Note that lecture notes and further reading might still be in English.
In principle this is not necessary and we always try to find individual solutions for student who would rather hand in an assignment in English. Please write the contact person for your course of choice at the beginning of the term (and especially before handing in an assignment), if you wish to do so. If you neglect to do so, we might not grade your assignment and give you a default fail.
Please note that we require the same level of accurate and grammatically correct language in English, as we would in German. Your writing still has to be appropriate for an academic context.
Please write the contact person for your course of choice at the beginning of the term and inform them, if you need a certificate in English.
Enrolment
Participation is open to students of all courses of study at RWTH Aachen University, but registration via RWTHonline is a mandatory requirement.
Students of the RWTH International Academy gGmbH and persons associated with the RWTH (scientific and non-scientific staff, JARA members, cooperation partners, senior students, etc.) can participate as “other participants” without having to take exams. Students of other universities (especially the FH Aachen) can participate via small cross registration, a big cross registration allows regular participation.
In principle, “Leonardo” events are only accessible to registered students, but some events are public. These are announced via Facebook and Instagram.
On the respective course website, you can find contact persons to whom you can turn with all questions regarding the corresponding course.
You can register before the beginning of the semester via RWTHonline. You indicate your preferences, and the courses are allocated after the end of the registration phase. You will find the dates on the homepage, usually in September/March. You will continue to be informed about the offer by means of an info mail sent to all students.
In the first month of the semester, if places are still available, a move-up procedure will be offered. You will find information about this on the website, usually in October/April.
If you would like to participate as an “additional participant”, please contact the responsible course supervisor by e-mail. Please note that participation is only possible in cases where there are still capacities available after the regular registration (this also applies to online events, since here too only a maximum number of participants is possible!)
In seminars, participation as “Further participants” is generally not possible.
For each semester, you can only participate in one course to get a certificate. Participation in further courses as “other participant” is possible, provided that there are remaining places available. Seminars are generally excluded.
The enrollment is carried out via RWTHonline by drawing lots. Students of the RWTH Aachen University are generally preferred when places are allocated. If you have indicated preferences when registering, we will do our best to consider them.
For students in the RWTH-FH cooperative study program Civil Engineering with orientation semester (BIOS) we guarantee a place in the courses you have chosen as compulsory subjects, provided that you have done a small cross registration in due time.
Signing off/change of enrollment
Please send an e-mail to the responsible contact person, who will take care of everything else. If, contrary to expectation, you are unable to participate in a course, we would be pleased if you were to make use of this opportunity, especially in cases where the corresponding courses are fully booked. This gives other students on the waiting list a chance to participate.
This is only possible if there is still space available in the course of your choice. We try to consider your highest preference when registering. If this is not possible due to overbooking, we will book you into a course with a lower preference.
The problem is known to us. Please contact Ms. Yildirim (sibel.yildirim[at]ipw.rwth-aachen.de) at the IPW directly, stating your matriculation number and the course concerned.
Examination
Students of all the RWTH’s courses of study as well as students with big cross-registration can take exams. In principle, you can take one type of examination of your choice per module. Further information on registration and deadlines will be provided at the beginning of the semester in the respective courses.
You can find the offered types of examination (e.g. coursework, graded papers, …) on the website of the respective courses, information on registration is available to registered students at the beginning of the semester.
Whether you can have the examination performance credited to your studies depends on various factors. For more information, see “Which type of examination can be recognized for my transcript of record?”
Basically, there are two ways to receive credit points for an examination performance in Project “Leonardo”: directly via RWTHonline or indirectly via the issuance of a performance record.
The first option is only intended for study programs in which you can register for the exam directly in RWTHonline (see “Do I have to register for the exam in RWTHonline?”). If you have registered for an exam, you will automatically receive the credit points after successfully completing the exam. Please check exactly which types of examinations are allowed for you according to RWTHonline. Open the examination node (green circle): Here you can choose between a protocol with analysis, a presentation or a student research project. On the pages of our courses you can see which of these examinations are offered each semester. Alternatively, you can open the course node (red triangle) in the folded-out module node at RWTHonline: Here you can see all “Leonardo” courses in which a suitable examination achievement is offered for you.
Figure 1 Example from the study plan “Social Sciences”. You are allowed to take the exam “Study Paper”. This is offered in six different “Leonardo” courses.
If Support Project “Leonardo” is not offered in your curriculum, this does not automatically mean that you cannot earn credit points with us! Decisions about credit transfer are made at faculty and departmental level. In your examination regulations you will find information concerning your study program. We recommend that you seek advice from your departmental student advisor. Experience has shown that crediting in “free elective areas”, “non-subject elective areas” etc. is possible without any problems.
Please note that some degree programs do not allow for the subsequent submission of credits that have been passed. Instead, you must first have your examination board approve your credits in the “Leonardo” project at the beginning of the semester.
You can find information on the offered exams on the pages of the respective courses.
Registration for examinations in “Leonardo” courses always takes place with the responsible teaching assistant. The corresponding deadlines are announced at the beginning of the semester.
For courses in which the “Leonardo” project is part of the curriculum, you must also register for exams via RWTHonline. This applies to you exactly if you have a module node named project “Leonardo” in your curriculum support.
To register for an exam in your “Curriculum Support”, select the exam node (green circle) of project “Leonardo” and register for the same exam that you have registered for with the responsible assistant. Of course, you should have checked beforehand that this achievement can really be credited to your studies (see “Which type of examination can be recognized for my transcript of record?”) When selecting the examination date, make sure that you really register for the correct course and not, for example, for the top examination date. You can see which exam date belongs to the course you attended in the description at the very bottom.
When registering for an exam, you must make sure that you select the date from your “Leonardo” course, as each has its own date.
The academic committees of your respective program of study decide upon the recognition of examination achievements. We are committed to creating space for interdisciplinary content in as many study programs as possible. If this is not possible for you, we would be pleased to hear your opinion and to have you voice it towards the people in charge. The more students point out deficits in this respect, the easier it will be for us to work towards improvements within the university.
You can e.g. contact your program coordinator, your faculty council members, your representatives in subject committees and examination boards, your dean of studies or your student body as examples.
The examination board decides on the crediting of CP numbers. The CP numbers given by us represent a recommendation and an evaluation of the workload, which should serve a uniform crediting of the achievements.
For study programs in which the “Leonardo” project is anchored in the curriculum support, the selection of the correct examination performance is clear anyway (see point “Which type of examination can be recognized for my transcript of record?” ). For example, in the Bachelor’s program in Social Sciences, the completion of a study paper is expected and rewarded with 5 CP (instead of the 4 CP suggested by us). In this case, this examination is the only one linked in RWTHonline.
Certificates
All students who participate in a “Leonardo” course can receive a certificate of participation or a certificate of achievement. Exceptions are students who can register for their examination performance directly via RWTHonline (see “Which type of examination can be recognized for my transcript of record?”): In this case, the passed examination performance is automatically transferred to your certificate – a certificate of performance is no longer required.
You will receive a certificate of attendance if you “only” attend the course or do not successfully complete an examination. You will receive a certificate of achievement if you successfully complete an examination during the semester (and were not able to register via RWTHonline). You will receive information about this at the beginning of the courses.
After the end of the lecture, you will receive a certificate from us confirming your performance in the course. You submit the certificate to the Central Examination Office (ZPA). Your performance will be entered into the system there.
If you have registered for the examination via RWTHonline (see “Which type of examination can be recognized for my transcript of record?”), you will not receive a certificate of achievement. Your exam result will be entered directly into RWTHonline – just as you are used to from other exams.
We will issue the certificates for the students of each course at the end of the semester . As this often involves several hundred certificates, this process can take some time. However, you will be notified as soon as the certificates are ready for collection.
Usually you can not.
