Index

Can I use my conditional subjects for my Master’s course?

Yes, if you are satisfied with the grade you achieved in your conditional subjects you can use them for your module group “Free Choice Uni/M8” (according to Study Regulation/FPO 2018 and 2019). You cannot use them for any other group, as these other groups have to consist of Master’s level content, which the conditional subjects are not – by definition.

In order to have your conditional subject moved to the “Free Choice Uni/M8” section of your Campo account, just send an email to Mrs. Jahreis of our Examinations Office (helga.jahreis[at]fau.de) and ask her to do so.

I need a document stating the provisional end of my studies (confirmation for submission to immigration authorities). Where can I get such a document?

The authority for foreigners or non-residents (Ausländerbehörde/Rathaus) often requires a document in order to ensure your current status as a student (“ein aktuelles Schreiben der Universität über das voraussichtliche Studienende” or “Bescheinigung zur Vorlage bei der Ausländerbehörde/Confirmation for submission to immigration authorities”) in order to extend your study visa. You can download this document with the title “Bescheinigung zur Vorlage bei der Ausländerbehörde/Confirmation for submission to immigration authorities”  in the section “My Studies” – “My Achievements” in Campo.

The confirmation refers to the “individual duration of study pursuant to certificate of enrollment”. This means that if you studied during the official “covid semesters” (SS 20, WS 20/21, SS 21 and WS 21/22), these semesters are mentioned as such in your certificate of enrollment and count as zero. You need to submit your certificate of enrollment together with the confirmation at the Immigrations Office. Hence, the officers there will deduct the covid semesters from your duration of studies.

The confirmation also refers to the “approved extension in accordance with the examination regulations”. This means that, from the university’s point of view, all master’s students can get 2 additional semesters after the regular duration of studies of 4 semesters (4+2 = 6 semesters) if needed. In principle, this extension by two semesters is guaranteed. However, if you are a Non-EU student with a residence permit for study purposes, it is important for you to understand that the question of whether you can make use of this study extension or not depends on whether you can prove to the immigrations office that you are studying actively and successfully and qualify for a visa extension.

If you cannot access the confirmation in Campo it is due to the fact that you did not acquire enough credits in relation to your duration of studies, meaning that you are not studying actively and succesfully (enough). If this is true for you, please contact our General Study Advisory Service and ask for an individual letter.

 

Where can I find more information regarding examination and registration dates?

The registration periods for module examinations can be found on the homepage of the Examinations Office.

Registration for these examinations exclusively takes place via our online portal Campo. Please note that exam registration is only possible during the official exam registration period (see above).

What is my standard period of study?

Master

The standard period of study in the Master’s program is 4 semesters. You will automatically get an extension for a 5th and 6th semester if you re-register on time. After that, study time extensions for a 7th or 8th semester are possible, but you have to file a petition then and give justified reasons for it.

If you want to know more about deadline extensions or extending the standard period of study, click here.

How do I register for an exam if I don’t find it on the Campo platform?

First of all, exam registration is only possible during exam registration period (usually three weeks in the middle of the lecture period – you will be informed by your lecturers and your study advisor). For most of your exams you will be able to register online via our Campo platform. However, there are some exceptions:

  • For courses offered at VHB (Virtual University of Bavaria) by lecturers who are not members of FAU, you cannot register via the Campo platform. Please read the course information on the VHB website (it’s mostly in German – please use google translate or ask a German-speaking friend). It will tell you whether you have to register online via the VHB website, via email with your lecturer or in a different way.
  • For most courses outside the Medical Engineering curriculum, you won’t be able to register via the “study planner with module plan” in Campo. This will mostly be the case for courses which you want to take within the module groups “Flexible Budget Faculty of Engineering”/M7 and “Free Choice Uni/M8”. In order to register for these exams, you have to select “Register for electives” in Campo and use the search function. This works best if you search for the exam title or the exam number:
    • Option 1: Search for the exam title, which is in most cases identical or very close to the title of your module/course.
    • Option 2: Ask your lecturer in the next lecture session or in the StudOn forum to give you the exam number. Please avoid asking your lecturers for the exam number via email in order to save them from being bombarded with emails!
    • If you cannot find your desired exam via option 1 or 2: Please contact your study advisor.
  • There are some courses which are part of the Medical Engineering module catalogs but don’t appear in the Campo exam registration. This is mainly the case for seminars and practical courses. Please ask your lecturer how you can register for those achievements. If you have to register with them personally (i.e. not via the Campo system), they will issue you a paper certificate (“Schein”) after the successful completion of the module, which states your name, the course title, the amount of ECTS credits and your grade. Please send this certificate to Mrs. Jahreis of our Examinations Office (helga.jahreis[at]fau.de) in order to have your coursework registered in the Campo system.

I have already acquired all ECTS points that are necessary for my master’s degree. Can I still take exams?

Yes, even if you have already obtained the required 120 ECTS points for the master’s degree, you have the possibility to take additional modules and exams in order to improve your overall grade (as long as you stay within the study period of six semesters, which is granted to all master’s students).

Please contact Ms. Jahreis of our Examinations Office (helga.jahreis[at]fau.de) when your 120 ECTS are complete and let her know that you would like to take more exams in the current semester and therefore don’t want her to issue your degree certificate yet. It is no problem if the exams you want to take take place in the second examination period, i.e. if the exam dates lie in the subsequent semester. You are still allowed to take them without having to re-register for the subsequent semester.

If you want to extend your studies by another semester to take additional exams (and will stay within the 6 semester limit), you can do so so by re-registering and informing Mrs. Jahreis of your plans.

After you have completed your additional exams, please inform Mrs. Jahreis that you would like her to issue your degree certificates now and let her know which exams you want to use for your master’s degree and which ones should only be listed in the “Additional Achievements” section of your transcript of records (i.e. without counting towards your degree).

In case you failed some of the addional exams, you can ask Mrs. Jahreis to deactivate them. (This is only possible since you already have acquired the necessary 120 ECTS in this scenario).

I am facing my last attempt for an exam or I failed my last attempt. What do I do now?

When you learn that you failed your penultimate attempt, you should contact your study advisor as early as possible in order to be optimally prepared for the last attempt and to inform yourself about possible study alternatives.

It is important for you to understand that if you fail a last attempt in your current branch of study of our master’s program in Medical Engineering, you will be de-registered from the program as a whole and will be blocked from entering our Medical Engineering program ever again. This is also true for our other branches of study, meaning that if you failed in one branch of study, you cannot change to another branch of study (as they both belong to the same study program, which you are permanently blocked from).

If you fail our master’s program in Medical Engineering, you are still allowed to apply to all other master’s programs at FAU, however. Please be aware that in order to transfer to another master’s program at FAU, you need to formally apply for this alternative program via the Campo portal within the official application period and be granted admission to this program. Therefore, you MUST apply to other suitable English-taught master’s programs at FAU in the semester in which you have your last exam attempt. In addition to programs at FAU, you MUST also apply to programs at other German universities in order to broaden your chances. Please inform yourself early on about the application deadlines! Public universities tend to have earlier deadlines. Private universities (e.g. in Fürth) might offer you the chance to apply until shortly before the start of the new semester, but they charge high tuition fees. If you get admission to the alternative study program, you have a backup plan for the following semester if you cannot continue your studies in the Medical Engineering program. You have to inform the immigration office when you change your study program. Please note, however, that the immigration authorities will usually only allow you to change your study program once.

If you feel unable to take the last exam attempt on the examination day, you must withdraw from it before it takes place by submitting a medical certificate to the Examinations Office (helga.jahreis[at]fau.de). If you suddenly feel ill during the exam, you have to inform your exam supervisor immediately, leave the exam and directly go to an officially recognized doctor (Vertrauenssarzt). After you have finished the exam, it is generally not possible to declare it invalid  retroactively (for example due to illness or personal crises).

If you have failed your exam in the last attempt, this means that you will lose your enrollment status in our program by the end of the semester. If you don’t have admission for another program you can transfer to, you won’t be an enrolled student anymore and subsequently lose your student status. If you are in Germany on a study visa this visa becomes invalid, meaning that you become “illegal” and may have to leave Germany and the Schengen area immediately. PLEASE TAKE THIS MATTER VERY SERIOUSLY! You must inform your local immigration authority as soon as you learn that you will lose your student status. Your responsible immigration officer will inform you of your next steps. If you have a student job, you will also lose it from the moment you are not an enrolled student anymore. The same applies if you live in a student residence/student dorm. Please make sure to inform the responsible officers in due time in order to avoid legal problems.

What else can you do?

If you have a bachelor’s degree with good to very good grades,  at least intermediate German skills (B1/B2) and are motivated and open to other options, you can try to find a STEM job in Germany and apply for a conversion of your study visa to a work visa. If this is a viable path for you, please seek advice from our officer of the German Employment Agency, Mr. Hümmer (michael.huemmer[at]arbeitsagentur.de) as soon as possible.

How do the examination and grading system at FAU work? (Info valid until SS 24)

First of all, it is important for you to understand that the exam system at FAU is probably very different from what you are used to from your home country. Hence, it is not recommended to approach the exams at FAU with your expectations and preparation strategies that you are used to, as they may lead you to failure and consequently, at lot of frustration.

On a positive note, you have a good chance at doing well in your exams if you are aware of the following:

  • You will not be able to pass exams if you just memorize the lecture content and reproduce it in the exam. You can also not expect that the exam questions to cover exactly what has been taught in the lecture and exercises. The teaching philosophy at FAU is that you should understand the course contents on such a deep level that you are able to apply the acquired knowledge to new tasks, even if you have never seen those tasks before. The exam design and questions vary from semester to semester. If you have to take a repeat exam, it is not going to look the same as your previous exam.

 

  • All exams can only be taken once per semester. They either take place in the first exam period (= first two weeks of the holidays) or in the second one (last four weeks of the holidays – the second exam period partly coincides with the beginning of the new semester). Exams will only be offered in one of those two periods. Please be aware that both examination periods can be slightly extended (regarding their start or end date), if there are public holidays within those periods or major time/room conflicts occur. It is therefore not recommeded to book flights/holiday trips etc. close to the exam periods.

 

  • You have to register for exams via the Campo system. It is only open for registration for three weeks during lecture period. Your lecturers and study advisor will let you know when the exam registration starts. Attending a lecture doesn’t mean that you have to take the corresponding exam or are automatically registered for it. You have to register for every exam you want to take otherwise you cannot participate!

 

  • If you fail an exam you have to take the repeat exam in the following semester and are automatically registered for it. This mandatory registration for the repeat exam is independent of whether the respective course is offered in the respective semester or not, as you have access to the study materials via StudOn and can study on your own. You have three attempts in total for each exam. If you fail a third attempt for any exam in your program, you are deregistered from it.

 

  • If you have registered for a first attempt of an exam and don’t feel well prepared you can undo your registration via your Campo account until the end of the third working days (Mon-Fri) before the exam day. After that deadline, or if the registered exam is a mandatory repeat exam, you can only cancel your registration with a medical certificate, which you have to send to our examinations officer Mrs. Jahreis (helga.jahreis[at)fau.de).

 

  • If you have passed an exam you cannot repeat it in order to improve your grade. Failed exam attempts will not be listed in your final transcript of records or Master’s certificate. All passed exams will be listed in your transcript of records.

 

  • The best grade in the German academic system is 1.0, the worst passing grade is 4.0:
Grades Interpretation
1.0/1.3 Very Good
1.7/2.0/2.3 Good
2.7/3.0/3.3 Satisfactory
3.7/4.0 Sufficient
4.3/4.7/5.0 Unsatisfactory

I have failed an exam attempt for a module. Can I transfer it to another module? (Info valid until SS 24)

This depends on whether the respective module is mandatory or not. If you failed the exam for a module that is marked as mandatory in your module catalog (please see the footnotes there) you cannot transfer it.

If the module in question is not mandatory, you can transfer your registration for the repeat exam to another module of the same module group with the same ECTS value. Please note that your failed attempt(s) will be subtracted, meaning that if you switch to another module after a first failed attempt you will only have two attempts left to pass the exam of the new module. If you switch after your second failed attempt you will only have one attempt left to pass the exam of the new module. If you transfer your attempt(s) from one module with 5 ECTS to two modules of the same group with 2,5 ECTS each, the failed exam attempt(s) will be subtracted for both of them. If you want to make use of this option, please send an email to Ms Helga Jahreis of our Examinations Office (helga.jahreis[at]fau.de) during the official exam registration period and ask her to transfer your registration to a new module of the same module group.

Which lectures am I supposed to use for M8/Free Choice Uni (study regulation FPO 2018 and onwards)?

For this module, you can take any graded technical or non-technical course offered at any faculty of FAU. Please make sure that you receive a grade in that course. Just browse through our online course platform Campo and see which courses look interesting to you. You can also use courses offered by the Virtual University Bavaria (VHB), provided that they offer an exam with identity control (= exam under supervision, either on-site or remotely via zoom/camera) or a written paper.

Possible courses include but are not limited to: economics, language courses, psychology, literature, history, any module of our Faculty of Engineering or the Medical Engineering degree program itself or your conditional subjects. In case you don’t feel inspired we can recommend “Nailing your Thesis” (by Prof. Dirk Riehle), as it is a good preparation for your Master’s thesis.

If you were admitted with conditional subjects you can also use your conditional subjects in module group M8.

You can also take more modules and exams for M8 and thus acquire more ECTS credits than the required amount of ECTS points for M8 (5 ECTS). If you complete more exams than needed and do not state any preference at the Examinations Office, it will select the best possible grades when issuing your Master’s certificate.

If you take classes outside of our Facutly of Engineering, it is possible that the exam registration cannot be conducted via the Campo portal. In this case, please contact the lecturer or Mrs. Jahreis of our Examinations Office (helga.jahreis[at]fau.de) and ask them to register your exam manually.