03.08.2021

Outlook: On-site classes in the winter semester

Circular to all employees and students

Dear students,
Dear colleagues,

Many of you are writing or correcting term papers and exam papers these days or have to take or pass examinations. But all of us are already looking ahead to the coming winter semester, and many employees and students are wondering under what conditions the next semester will take place. After three semesters of online classes, we would like to take this opportunity to make it clear on behalf of the President’s Office and the Student Council that we want to return to face-to-face teaching when the lecture period begins on October 18.

Several weeks ago, the President’s Office already expressed its intention that more than 50 percent of all classes should be held on campus again from the winter semester onwards. For all employees and students, this means that we assume that you will be present in Tübingen and at the university again. Studying and teaching, research and all services are to take place regularly on site again and not in virtual space from the fall. Only some lectures will have to continue to take place online.

In recent weeks, students at the university have been calling with growing impatience for a return to face-to-face teaching, and as we see it, this demand is more than justified. The University of Tübingen is not a distance-learning university with online teaching only and it does not want to become one. Research and teaching need dialogue and critical debate. And even though we have seen over the past year and a half that much can be taught and communicated electronically, the experience of this period has also shown us that people need to meet on campus in order to achieve common goals effectively and in close exchange.

At the same time, we should neither lull ourselves into a false sense of security nor act recklessly: Covid-19 remains a dangerous infectious disease in the coming fall and winter. Protecting the health of employees and students continues to be a central task. That's why we will do everything we can to ensure that classroom teaching is combined with a high level of infection control. However, infection protection must not be allowed to make studying and teaching, research and services on campus impossible in the coming winter semester.

Even though the spread of the delta variant shows that the danger posed by Covid-19 is far from being averted, our situation is much better than it was a year ago. In collaboration with the Tübingen Vaccination Center, the university has been able to offer vaccination to all employees and students since June. Surveys indicate that most of our employees and students have been vaccinated or will have full vaccination protection in a few weeks.

Since there is currently enough vaccine available, the university decided last week to now extend the vaccination offer to all newly enrolled students. This means that around 5,000 more people will have the opportunity to be fully vaccinated by the start of the winter semester. Although everyone is aware that this does not completely rule out the possibility of infections among employees and students, it is safe to assume that the risk of infection at the University of Tübingen will be very low in the coming winter semester.

As of August 16, the Tübingen Vaccination Center will once again be present on campus. After the Paul-Horn-Arena, its current location, is abandoned, the vaccination center will once again move to the Old Archaeology building (Wilhelmstraße 9) and carry out Corona vaccinations there until September 30. For employees and students who have still not been vaccinated, there will be another chance to get vaccinated quickly and easily in the coming weeks. All information and the registration link can be found at uni-tuebingen.de/vaccination.

In recent days, the state government of Baden-Württemberg has repeatedly made clear that it, too, wants to enable universities to return to on-site studying and teaching. However, it will be important that policymakers remove the obstacles that still exist. The current regulations require that (with a few exceptions) it must be checked at every single on-site class and event whether those present have been vaccinated, have recovered from an infection or have tested negative (3G). At the University of Tübingen, this would mean that more than 27,000 students had to be checked several times a day. It is obvious that normal teaching would not be possible under these conditions. Consequently, the University of Tübingen advocates that the respective checks be limited to spot checks.

It will be decided in the coming weeks whether we will have large-scale face-to-face teaching on campus again in the fall. Political decisions will play just as much a role as the further development of the infection figures. However, each and every one of us can contribute just as much. If you have not yet been vaccinated, please do so. And if you have already been vaccinated, please promote vaccination among your fellow students or colleagues. Together we can succeed in returning to on-campus studying and teaching.

With best regards,

Prof. Dr. Bernd Engler (President), Jacob Bühler and Johanna Grün (Chairpersons Student Council)