FAQ MSc MBS

Questions

General Questions

· How do I get emails from the university? → Mail

· How do I find the lectures, staff and the buildings? → Maps

· Who is OLAT? → E-learning

· I have concerns about my studies → Study counseling, SLI, Student union

· I have special questions concerning the master's program or the forthcoming semester. → Study counseling

· Who represents the students at the university? → Student counsil

· What is the Deutschlandticket? → Public transport

· How do I find a flat? → Accomodation

· What is the Goethe-Card? → Goethe-Card

· Where do I find the matriculation number? → Campus management system, Goethe-Card

· Where do I find the enrollment documents → Campus management system

· How do I get access to ebooks and journals from outside the university? → VPN

· No sport is no option. → Sport options at Goethe

· Access to textbooks and publications – the university's library → Library

· Questions concerning course of study

· I have general questions concerning studies. → Study counseling

· I cannot register for the second semester. → Prerequisites for the second semester

· What are the prerequisites to continue my studies in the second semester? → Prerequisites for the second semester

· I am interested in an Erasmus semester abroad, what do I have to to? → Studies abroad

· I am interested in an external module or external master theses – what do I have to consider? → External Modules, External Master's Thesis

· Why do you offer a kick-off? → Kick-off

Exams

· Where do I find the examination dates? → Examinations

· Do I have to register for the examinations? → Examinations

· Who handles the examination results? → Examination office

· Where do I find the examination results? → Examination results

· Can I improve my grade? → Examinations

· What does the bonus regulation mean? → Examination results

· Something missing, comments → Updates and mistakes

Answers

Accommodation

The market for apartments in Frankfurt is very tight. The Goethe University itself does not offer flats. Students apartments are offered from the student union MainSWerk: https://www.swffm.de/

Furnished rooms for international non-EU-students offered by the Wohnrauminitiative FrankfurtRheinMain: https://www.uni-frankfurt.de/141194470

The Goethe University offers a housing brochure: https://www.uni-frankfurt.de/158950047

Kompass International offers online info sessions concerning housing: https://www.uni-frankfurt.de/124965382

Campus Management Systems

The campus management system (CMS) has different information levels. It can be found here: https://qis.server.uni-frankfurt.de/. The information tags' language can be changed by clicking the flag.

Some documents are only available in the forthcoming CMS, called Goethe Campus: https://www.goethe-campus.uni-frankfurt.de. Here are the certificate of studies, enrollment form and other documents stored, see below.

Courses

The course catalog gives dates and rooms for lectures and seminars. The shown semester is indicated at the upper right. In the middle of the semester, the qis changes to the forthcoming semester. Please confirm that you search in the intended semester.

Members

Here you find names, email addresses and telephone numbers of employees of the Goethe university.

Transcript of records

After logging into the CMS you can download your transcript

Certificate of study – Enrollment form

Under The language can be changed in the lower right corner, “Standardsprache".

Startpage > Student Service > Requested Reports /Reports > Common Reports

The certificates are only available in German.

E-learning

OLAT

OLAT is the main e-learning system used during studies. OLAT stands for Online Teaching And Learning. You can access OLAT via https://olat-ce.server.uni-frankfurt.de/. The language can be changed by clicking “Deutsch" or “English" at the upper right corner.

For each academic year, the master offers an OLAT-course with general and specific information about the modules.

Studium digitale

Studium digitale provides more e-learning platforms and workshops. Mainly in German.

The web address is https://www.studiumdigitale.uni-frankfurt.de or https://www.uni-frankfurt.de/49689206

Information concerning artificial intelligence - AI

Studium digitale offers information on the use and the risks of AI: https://lehre-virtuell.uni-frankfurt.de/knowhow/allgemeine-empfehlungen-im-umgang-mit-generativer-ki-in-studium-und-lehre/. This information is also available in English (button upper right).

Examinations

You must register for your first examination, which is normally the written exam for module 1 in the middle of the winter semester. You have to register at the latest two weeks before the examination date. For all forthcoming examinations, you do not have to register. You will be registered by appearance.

Once you took an examination in one module and failed, you must repeat it at the next examination date.

Once during studies, you can improve a written examination (Modules 1-10). The registration is done without form by sending an email to the → examination office. The improvement must be done before the last examination (“Prüfungsleistung”) and latest two semester after successfully passing the exam.

Examination dates

The reliable examination dates are published here: https://www.goethe-university-frankfurt.de/45944234/

Although the dates are also listed in the qis for room booking, the official dates are on the page mentioned above.

Examination office

The examination office is part of the faculty of bio sciences. Susanne Horst is responsible for the belongings of the master molecular biosciences. The opening hours are published on the website of the examination office: https://www.goethe-university-frankfurt.de/45944234/

The email address is pabio3@bio.uni-frankfurt.de

Some of the responsibilities are:

· Uploading examination results to the → CMS

· Acceptance of applications for examinations, external modules, application for the master examination (module 13).

· Accepting a letter of illness at an examination date or for request for an extended submission deadline for the master's thesis.

· Administration of all examinations and coursework.

· Request to review module examinations

The webpage https://www.goethe-university-frankfurt.de/158511464 contains information from the office concerning forms, the master thesis and external modules.

Examination results

The examination results will be published in your qis-account. Please refer → CMS.

Bonus regulation to improve the grade

Some compulsory elective modules from 3-10 offer a bonus regulation to improve the grade achieved during the written examination. The bonus can be achieved by a very good coursework.

Study regulations:
„§35 (7) The examiners may deviate from the calculated grade of a passed module examination if this better reflects the overall impression of the student's performance and the deviation has no influence on the passing grade (bonus regulation to improve the grade). In particular, the coursework completed during the semester in exercises or other courses is to be taken into account, up to a maximum of 25% of the overall assessment of the corresponding module examination. Further details can be found in the module handbook. The coursework leading to the awarding of bonus points must be announced publicly in an appropriate manner by the beginning of a semester at the latest. Earned bonus points expire at the end of the semester following the semester in which the bonus was awarded.“

After the course works had been examined, the bonus will reported to the examination office, the improved modules grade will be visible in the CMS and the student will be informed.

External Master's Thesis

The master's thesis can be done outside the institute for molecular biosciences and its associated professors. In case of an external master's thesis also module 12 must be done externally at the same institution. An application for an external master's thesis must be made before the start of module 12 and must be approved by the head of the examination board. It is strongly recommended to coordinate the application with the master's student advisory service (m.fauth@bio.uni-frankfurt.de).

Goethe-Card

The Goethe-Card is your students' cards. It is an identifier e.g. to borrow books in the library or to attend examinations. Here you also find your matriculation number.

External Modules

The study regulations allow 15 CP to be obtained outside of the institute for molecular biosciences.

The module can be done outside of the institute, outside of the faculty, the university or Germany. The master does not offer organized internships in companies.

Please contact the master's student advisory service (m.fauth@bio.uni-frankfurt.de) for the application and organization before starting the module.

Kick-off

Each year the institute organizes a two-day kick-off meeting for the first semester students of the master molecular biosciences outside of Frankfurt in the week before the start of lectures. During this kick-off the organization and structure of the studies will be presented as well as the modules and the offering working groups. In addition, workshops on good scientific practice and the use of artificial intelligence are held. Third semester students share their experiences of their first year.

Letter of illness

A letter of illness has only to be provided in case of a mandatory exam or when applying for an extended submission deadline of the master's thesis. The webpage https://www.goethe-university-frankfurt.de/158511464/ offers the necessary form.

Library

On the campus Riedberg you will find the library in the Otto Stern Center (OSZ). You can borrow books as a student. In addition, you can have access to online versions of text books and some journals. From the campus net, you have full access to all online services. If you are outside the universities network, you can use a → VPN tunnel or your → HRZ account. After logging in at the main page https://www.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/ you can access the online portfolio of the library.

If you are not sure, if the library offers online access to a specific journal, you can check this page: https://ezb.ur.de/ezeit/search.phtml?bibid=UBFM&colors=7&lang=en&bibid=UBFM&colors=7&lang=en

Mail

Each student at the Goethe University (GU) gets an email account by the HRZ (Hochschulrechenzentrum, university computer center). The official parties of the university are obliged to send mails only to the student's mail address of the GU.

HRZ account

The HRZ account for students starts with a “s" followed by a 7-digit number. With this account name the e-mail address is e.g. s1234567@stud.uni-frankfurt.de. The HRZ account also guarantees access, for example to the online library (ub.uni-frankfurt.de). After the matriculation each student can pick up a letter with the account password at the campus Westend.

Webmail – Horde

The emails directed to the university account can be accessed by a webmail system, called HORDE. The website is https://webmail.server.uni-frankfurt.de/

HORDE is not comfortable, but it is not recommended to forward the mail automatically to a private mail account. Once the mail is forwarded, they are deleted from HORDE. If the private mail provider does not accept the mail, it is no longer accessible.

Mail clients

Most operating systems offer mail clients. These programs and applications need some information to contact the mail server. During the setup these are needed:

Receiving mail via IMAP imap.server.uni-frankfurt.de port: 993 security: SSL

Sending mail via SMTP smtpauth.rz.uni-frankfurt.de port:587 security: STARTTLS

Your username is the HRZ account name (s1234567).

Maps

The campus maps can be found here: https://www.goethe-university-frankfurt.de/73011530

Master Thesis

During your studies, you will have contact with almost all the groups of the institute. Normally after completing the elective modules in semester 2, you have a good overview about where to apply for a master thesis later. You can then choose your favorite group already for the next module (module 11) or you can carry out module 11 in another group of the institute, if you cannot decide on your favorite field.

Prerequisites for Modules 3-13

To study the modules from the second semester onwards, students always must fulfill prerequisites.

· To study module 3-6 (first semester half of the second semester) and modules 7-10 (second half), one has to successfully complete module 1 or 2 before.

· To continue in module 11, one must have completed modules 1, 2 and one of 3-10.

· To start module 12, one must have completed module 11.

· For the master thesis module, module 12 must be completed.

Prerequisites for the second semester

Every student must send the BSc certificate to the Team Master. Before you enroll to the second semester you must pay the semester fee (like every semester) and send a good quality scan or a pdf-document of your BSc certificate to the Team Master sli-master@uni-frankfurt.de. If you do not send the certificate, you cannot register for the second semester.

Prerequisites for each semester

Before you enroll in the second semester you must pay the semester fee.

Public transport – Deutschlandticket

The semester fee includes a ticket for the public transport in Germany – the Deutschlandticket. The webpage https://wissen.deutschlandticket.de/das-deutschlandticket has the important information, but only in German. The page https://int.bahn.de/en/offers/regional/deutschland-ticket has the most important information in English.

The ticket (qr code) is available online and for download with your HRZ account: https://idp.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/idp/profile/SAML2/POST/SSO?execution=e1s2

Semester dates

Detailed semester dates are listed here: https://www.goethe-university-frankfurt.de/124931893/

Be aware that some seminars, internships, lectures and especially most exams take place in the time between semesters.

SLI – student secretariat

The SLI (Studium, Lehre, Internationales; Studies, Teaching, International) is the general department for student concerns. If you have questions concerning enrollment, semester fee, Goethe card, etc., the SLI can answer your questions. https://www.goethe-university-frankfurt.de/124853772

General answers on questions at the beginning on studies can be found here: https://www.goethe-university-frankfurt.de/124927179

Team Master

The Team Master <sli-master@uni-frankfurt.de> answers special concerns of master students, especially during the application period.

GO – >Global Office

If you have special questions concerning your certificates from abroad or visa issues, the GO is responsible for these concerns.

https://www.goethe-university-frankfurt.de/126321918 and international-sozial@uni-frankfurt.de.

Student Mental Health Counseling Service

The PBS (Psychosoziale Beratungsstelle) offers workshops and personal support, if you experience an impaired mental health.
https://www.goethe-university-frankfurt.de/124856482/

The student union (MainSWerk, Studierendenwerk) offers also help during mental health issues:
https://www.swffm.de/en/advising-financing/psychosocial-counselling

Ancora is an initiative of the university hospital. They offer help via phone and walk in. Although the webpage (https://www.ancora-frankfurt.de/) is only offered in German, the also support internationals.

Sport Options at Goethe University

The Goethe university offers a sport and exercise program every semester: https://www.goethe-university-frankfurt.de/105875861.

Student council

The student council of the faculty (Fachschaft Biowissenschaften) offers advice from a student perspective. The webpage https://www.bio.uni-frankfurt.de/160641479 shows the opening hours, email address, and social media.

Student union (MainSWerk, Studierendenwerk)

The student union offers general help with questions concerning student life, e.g.

· Eat and drink on the campus

· Accommodation

· Advising and financing

· Legal advice

· Psychosocial counselling

General advice can also be found on the webpage of the SLI: https://www.goethe-university-frankfurt.de/124927179

Studies abroad

Module 11 (in the first half of the third semester) is a flexible module and can be used for external modules, especially for studies abroad. The faculty offers advises for international programs: https://www.goethe-university-frankfurt.de/45948386

Dr. Karen Hahn is the coordinator for international exchange: international@bio.uni-frankfurt.de

The planning of an external module should always be discussed with the master's student counseling (m.fauth@bio.uni-frankfurt.de).

Study counseling

A general study counseling is offered by the SLI.

Specific counseling on the master's program is offered by Prof. Büchel (c.buechel@bio.uni-frankfurt.de) and Markus Fauth (m.fauth@bio.uni-frankfurt.de).

Some competences are:

· General planning of studies

· Specific planning for the first two semesters

· Advice on applications for external module

· Advice on study problems

Study regulations

The official study regulations are published on the website https://www.uni-frankfurt.de/54550485/, only available in German. An unofficial reading version can be found on the master's webpage https://www.goethe-university-frankfurt.de/45943567/. The study regulations are accompanied by the module manual stating all detailed information about each module.

VPN

Some services are only available from the universities network. You can use a vpn tunnel, to get access to these services. The information page (https://www.rz.uni-frankfurt.de/139452557/) is not yet available in English. The VPN is based on eduVPN. You can download clients here (https://www.eduvpn.org) and access with your HRZ account.

Updates and mistakes

Whenever you find mistakes or missing answers, please contact Markus Fauth (m.fauth@bio.uni-frankfurt.de), to improve this answer collection.