How does university work?

It can be pretty tough to find your way around university especially if you are in your first semester. There are so many new terms you never heard before that it can seem like they are speaking a completely different language in university. And then uni is at least ten times as big as your previous school which comes with more complex structures as well.

This section will help you settle in in Greifswald by giving you all necessary information about the structure of this university and explaining some of the relevant terms. That way you can enjoy your everyday life at the university Greifswald and concentrate on the important things such as your classes.

Lecture vs. Seminar

Why are there different types of university classes and what exactly is the difference between each of them?

A lecture (Vorlesung) is usually held by a professor or sometimes by a doctoral candidate. In most cases the lecturer is speaking in front of a larger group of students. Lectures are meant to give an overview of a bigger topic or research field and are often used to offer an introduction to a subject area. This is a good way to communicate a big amount of information to a large number of students. It is up to the listeners to organise the knowledge and to go deeper into the topic.

In contrast to that, a seminar is not only a lecture – but a practical study course. Students can gain and deepen knowledge in smaller groups (ideally a maximum of 25 students). A university seminar can be held by all members of the teaching staff. A seminar is meant to encourage independent thinking and active learning, as well as the exchange between students and teachers. In a class like that, students are asked to participate in the topics and discussions – much like a class in school.

Tutorials (Übungen) are very similar to seminars. But compared to a seminar, tutorials focus more on practice. Typical examples are tutorials for statistics in economy or psychology degrees. There are also tutorials which are more specific and usually are an additional offer along lectures held by experienced students. Most of the time the material from a lecture is being repeated and students get the chance to ask questions, if there is anything they didn’t understand the first time.

A specialty of the university courses is the internship. This is often done outside the university, but can be discussed in an accompanying seminar as it is the case for teaching degrees. In degrees such as biology, the internship is usually done in the laboratory of the university. The goal of an internship is always to practice and refine the skills acquired in class in a practical way.

Professor vs. Lecturer

Did you ever wonder about the different titles of the people giving a lecture or seminar at university?

Here are the answers.

First of all, anyone giving a university course like a lecture, a tutorial or a seminar is a lecturer (in German Dozent*in). This can be a professor who is habilitated (short habil.) or graduated (with the title Dr.) but they have to at least have an academic degree such as Bachelor, Master or Diplom.

At the top of the hierarchic order of a University are professors. They can basically decide on their own which content they want to teach in their classes and which research fields they want to explore. But with this freedom also come a few duties. Professors have to conduct examinations, supervise students and organise the education. They also supervise doctoral and habilitation candidates on their path towards their doctorate or their habilitation (which is one step to becoming a professor). Professors also have to take part in different university committees and administrate the chair.

These are the steps to become a professor explained in a simple way:

First, you need to achieve an academic degree at a university (at least Master, Diplom, Magister or Staatsexamen) and then you need a doctoral degree. Following this you have to habilitate or earn the title of junior professor. Usually this means years of research, as well as an excellent education. Nowadays, it takes about 12 years of hard work to reach a doctoral degree and a habilitation. To finally become a professor, there has to be an open position at a university. You need to fight a surprisingly large number of competitors to get a job (depending on the research field there are about 100 applicants for one position) and afterwards you have to convince the commission board that you are the right candidate. Important for that are mostly your raised external fundings and a long list of publications.

Most of the time professors are the ones holding the lectures. Other classes like seminars and tutorials are often taught by the non-professional teaching staff of the university. Those are teaching staff (wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiter) that are working, teaching and researching under the instruction of a professor. They can have a doctoral degree, but it is not necessary. Their main task is to supervise students, do administrative work and further research tasks of their professor.

What are ECTS-points?

That is a very good question!

Let’s begin with the cryptic abbreviation ECTS which stands for European Credit Transfer System. The Universities in Europe joined that system as part of the Bologna Process. The idea behind it was the following: No matter where in Europe you are studying, your grades should be comparable with those of other cities and countries in Europe. That way changing universities should not be problematic anymore.

One ECTS-point equals around 25 to 30 working hours and therefore is a measuring unit for a student’s workload. In each module, which usually consists of one seminar and one lecture, you can get 5 ECTS-points – this corresponds to 125 to 180 working hours including both attendances in classes, as well as preparations at home and for examinations. Generally, a student is supposed to earn 30 ECTS-points per semester which are 750 to 900 working hours in those six months with a 40h-week. A Bachelor has 180 to 240 points (depending if it has 6 or 8 semesters) and a master has 60 to 120 points (for 2 or 4 semesters).

The ECTS points are also used as a weighing factor to calculate the average grade for the graduation certificate. This means that normally the achieved grade of one module is multiplied by the number of ECTS-points of that module. For example, a grade of 2,0 with 12 ECTS-points weighs more than a 2,0 in a module with 5 points. Depending on your exam regulations some module grades can weigh double or sometimes more.

The term ECTS-points is a synonym for the terms Credit Points (CP) and the German Leistungspunkte (LP).