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Face-to-face teaching is the exception in the pandemic (symbol image)
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Sebastian Gollnow / picture alliance / dpa
Germany's universities are calling on the federal government to specify as quickly as possible how the so-called federal emergency brake should apply in university operations.
"Exceptions should be made immediately for courses and examinations requiring attendance, as well as for library lending," said the President of the University Rectors' Conference, Peter-André Alt. One hopes for a quick clarification through the announced ordinances.
In the federal emergency brake, universities are mentioned in the same breath as schools: If the so-called seven-day incidence exceeds the threshold of 100 on three consecutive days, alternating lessons are compulsory from the day after the next.
From a value of 165 onwards, face-to-face lessons are prohibited from the day after next.
Alternating teaching is de facto not feasible at universities.
"The model is aimed at class groups and is completely unsuitable for universities," criticized Alt. "Complete closings in a number of subjects meant the failure of entire attendance-bound study parts and thus considerable loss of time for the students concerned." The HRK President also warned of library closings.
This would also hinder learning progress in the context of virtual courses.
Alt referred to a passage in the emergency brake law.
It empowers the federal government to issue statutory ordinances, with the consent of the Bundestag and Bundesrat, which provide for “more precise specifications, simplifications or exceptions” to the emergency brake rules.
The higher education policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Jens Brandenburg, sharply criticized the federal emergency brake, which comes into force this Friday: "With its half-baked law, the coalition is also exacerbating the already acute problems faced by many students." hardly ever entered the universities.
These people finally need a reliable, open perspective.
"After a quick test, even small block seminars in large lecture halls should be possible again."
Fok / dpa