Updates about Coronavirus COVID-19

Dear students and lecturers,

COVID-19 presented an extraordinary challenge for all participants in the summer semester 2020. I would like to thank you for the fact that the necessary transition to pure distance learning worked out so well. This required a lot of flexibility and commitment from your side!

We have learned two lessons from this semester:

• Distance Learning can be used in many more courses than we were aware of before.
• Classroom teaching is a valuable asset and an essential part of practice-oriented teaching. The personal exchange between teachers and students is an essential part of the learning process and in many cases cannot be completely replaced by online formats.

Based on these findings, we have prepared the timetable for the winter semester 2020/21. The plan was that teaching would continue to take place primarily on campus as before, with an increased proportion of teaching units in distance learning.

Lecturers have already received the timetables. Students will receive their timetable this week.

However, as the developments of the last two weeks have shown us, we cannot assume that the classrooms can be used in the winter semester 2020/21 as usual. We currently assume that it will be possible for students to attend our university, but that the 1-meter distance in the classrooms must be maintained. This drastically reduces the maximum number of people allowed in the rooms and “normal” attendance teaching is not possible. At the same time, we do not want to conduct purely online teaching as in the summer semester 2020.

Therefore, in the winter semester 2020/21, it is necessary to conduct teaching in a hybrid form of very much distance learning combined with on-campus teaching.

We have therefore decided to revise the timetable once again and adapt it to the circumstances. The dates of the courses will remain the same, but rooms will be changed and many dates will be changed to distance learning. This process of changeover and optimization under the given spatial conditions can take some time. We will inform you during August as soon as a final version is available.

Please also bear in mind that due to official requirements, a complete changeover to online teaching may become necessary again in the course of the winter semester.

I ask for your understanding that a great deal of flexibility and commitment will be required from all those involved in the next semester.

We will do our best to offer you optimal conditions for teaching and learning at FHWien der WKW.

With kind regards,

FH-Prof.ⁱⁿ Dr.ⁱⁿ Beate Huber
Chair of the Academic Board
Head of Academic Affairs
Head of Department of Management

Dear students,

Due to the decision of the Austrian Federal Government of March 10, 2020 to switch teaching at universities to distance learning from Monday March 16, 2020 at the latest, we at FHWien der WKW are working at full speed to enable orderly teaching.

Teaching activities

The entire summer semester 2020 will be conducted in the form of distance learning. The only exceptions to this are courses where attendance is indispensable, such as excursions or the use of the TV studio.

Examinations

Testing on main and secondary dates is suspended until April 13, 2020. In individual cases, examinations can still be held until April 13, 2020 by changing the examination mode (e.g. examination in the form of a written assignment or as an oral online examination).

Grading deadline

The grading deadline for courses from the winter semester 2019/20 is cancelled. A new date has not yet been set.

Courses

Likewise, the forms in which courses are carried out will change during this period, as planned classroom courses will be replaced by distance learning of various kinds.

Course dates

Work on the dates and forms of implementation (presence, distance learning) is ongoing. As soon as new forms of implementation or new dates are known, they are entered into FHWien Online. In the meantime dates are booked as “cancelled”, this may change later. This means that appointments are then converted into distance learning or postponed to a future attendance appointment.

Communication

Please refer to our online platforms for these changes:

• Changes in dates can be found in FHWien Online
• Changes in the content and delivery methods of courses can be found in your Moodle courses.

Details of the changes

Details of the changes are documented by the teachers in the Moodle courses and especially in updated syllabi.

Pragmatism

FHWien der WKW and its lecturers are making every effort to maintain teaching operations as well as possible in this exceptional situation. Please bear in mind, however, that due to the short-term changeover, open questions and ambiguities may arise.

Campus & Library

The wko campus at Währinger Gürtel 97 will be closed from Monday noon (March 16, 2020) until April 30, 2020, or until further notice.

The library is open again from 04.05.2020 for lending and returning of books. You can find the current opening hours here.

Important: The online resources are of course still available. For further information and updates, please go to Moodle.

Note

It is not permitted to hold courses and examinations outside the building; such examinations are not valid.

Support for students on semester abroad

FHWien der WKW is in constant contact with all its students who are currently spending a semester abroad and passes on to them recommendations from the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (BMEIA) and the Erasmus National Agency.

We support all our students who – for reasons of health or safety – decide not to begin or to discontinue their semester abroad, in starting their semester at FHWien der WKW. Wherever possible, individual solutions will also be provided to enable our students to successfully complete the 2020 summer semester.

Contact point for questions

If you have any questions, please contact our Service Point as usual: servicepoint@fh-wien.ac.at.