Basics in Studying and Teaching

Examination regulations (“Prüfungsordnungen” or „PO“) regulate structure, range and process of degree programmes and are legally binding. They can be found on the central website of the university.

Course achievements are non-graded performances, which are meant to train competencies of courses or modules. One course achievement can consist of several smaller parts. Specific information, what is expected, are written down in the module catalogue. The teaching person determines at the beginning of the course, which achievements must be attained.

Course achievements are normally yielded during the course. They aren’t a precondition for registering or deliverance of examination performances. Successfully passed course achievements should be attested promptly, at the latest at the end of the current semester.

Examination performances are generally graded. The type and extent of performances of a module are laid down in the appendix of the examination regulation. If there are more than one type of performance given, the teaching person will define until October, 15^th for the winter semester or April, 15^th for the summer semester the type of performance for alle students equally. Before starting the examination, students must agree to a verification by special detection softwares for plagiarism in a written form. It is recommended to use the following formulation as declaration of authorship:

"Mit der Übermittlung meiner Arbeit auch an externe Dienste zur Plagiatsprüfung durch Plagiatssoftware erkläre ich mich einverstanden." ("I hereby declare that I agree to the transmission of my examination performance to external services or software in order to detect any plagiarism." Please use the German declaration.)

Credit points within the framework of the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) measure the quantitative workload of a student. 1 credit point corresponds to 30 hours of work in the average. The entire workload includes preparation, attendance, postprocessing of a course and selfstudying time in order to attain the course achievements and examination performances.

To complete a Bachelor’s degree 180 credit points are required, for a Master’s degree it is 120 credit points.

Credit points are only given at the point of completion of the entire module, which includes passing all course achievements and examination performances.

Students can apply for compensation of disadvantages, if they have a chronic disease or are disabled and can’t yield their course achievements or examination performances in the asked manner. (Nevertheless the general capability to study must be given.)

Further information

All teaching persons, who want to examine students of a certain degree programme must be appointed by the responsible examination board (see § 5 of the examination regulation). The appointment takes places at every beginning of the semester by written application of the Institutes to the chairperson of the examination board.

Associated teaching persons for an exam are designated by the examiner him*herself. Associated persons need to have at least the examinated qualification level or higher.

Grades are booked instantly by the examiners themselves in the HIS-QIS-data base module POS. Access passwords to the online system and further information are send automatically by the examination office once the examiner is appointed. If access isn’t given until the beginning of the examination period, examiners are kindly asked to get in contact with the examination office. The processing staff of the concerned degree programme is at disposition for any questions about the data base or technical problem booking course achievements or examination performances.

a) Registration to a Module Examination Performance

Students need to register for each examination of their degree programme. The registration takes places within the registration period (see beneath) and serves to count the attempts of the student’s examination performances. The number of attempts is limited. Students register online in the HIS-QIS system for examinations. Examiners receive the information about the registrations in HIS-QIS listed and sorted by examination numbers. It is possible that students of the same examination are listed beneath different examination numbers, e. g. if examinations are attached to more than one module at the time or if the same module is offered for more than one degree programme.

b) Registration and Admission to the Bachelor’s or Master’s Thesis

As a precondition for registration to the module “Bachelor’s Thesis” a student must hold 110 credit points. For the Master’s Thesis there are generally 60 credit points required. Additionally certain subjects have special requirements for admission. This could be for example proofs of internships or of language knowledge. In the degree programmes with more than one subject, requirements must be fulfilled in every subject, even if the Bachelor’s or Master’s Thesis is written in the other subject. All requirements are fixed in the examination regulation of the degree programme.

To register to a Bachelor’s or Master’s Thesis students must apply in a special manner. They fill out and hand in a special form which can be found on the website “Prüfungsinfos & Fachberatung” (see above). The examination office checks before handing out the Thesis’ subject, if all requirements are met and confirms it on a special certificate. Only after receiving this certificate the student is allowed to start the work on the Thesis.

(see appendix 3 of the examination regulation)

Registration Period

The examination performance of a module must be registered on time within the registration period. If the deadline is missed, there is no other possibility to take part in the examination.

Examination Period

During this period the examination performance takes place in accordance with the teaching person. Within the period, examination dates of colleagues shall be organised with each other, so that they don’t overlap for students. Dates for students during their last semester are fixed in such a way, that

1. they can apply to a Master’s programme before July 15^th  (before January 15^th),
2. they don’t need to extend their studies to the next semester, because grades are still missing.

Re-Examination Period

If an examination performance is failed, it can be repeated during the next re-examination period and after a new registration for it. There is no automatism for re-registration.

In order to register on-time for re-examination it’s necessary that examiners transmit the former results in due time by online booking.

Correction Period and Assessment Deadline

After the examination period follows the correction period. Generally it takes one month for the examiner (see § 17 examination regulation). All deadlines can be found in appendix 3 of the examination regulation.

Some subjects or degree programmes have a re-examination period at the end of the same semester. Failure results and re-examination information must arrive at the student at least one week before the new reexamination date. That’s why the correction deadline in these cases is especially important to meet.

The status and possible applications of artificial intelligence (AI) are developing dynamically. LUH has analysed the use of AI from a variety of perspectives, developed guidelines and instructions and makes this information available to teaching persons and students here.

The committee on teaching and the curriculum of the Faculty of Humanities advises to all teaching persons to use the self-elaborated guidelines for counselling and assessment of written examinations (term papers or thesis’), unless there is no other template of the concerned Institute.

a) Examination Performance / Online Booking

The booking of grades is only finished, when all registrated students of the same number got grades.

De-registration = De-registration occurs within the registration period and is carried out by the student him*herself in the online system or directly at the examiner (best via e-mail). There must not be given any reasoning for de-registration.

Students de-register within the deadline

• for written examinations (“K” or “KA”) by themselves in the online system -> “AMD” occurs automatically
• Students de-register within the deadline for all other types of examinations performances (except “K” and “KA”) directly at their examiner -> “AMD” occurs in the system, the examiner is responsible for the entry
• Students are registered, but the examiner doesn’t hand out a subject title for the examination -> “AMD” occurs in the system, the examiner is responsible for the entry

Absence = Non-appearance to an examination or no handing in of examination without de-registration within the given period

• Students are registered, but don’t appear to the exam (“K”,” KA”, “MP”, “SP”) -> “NER” is booked by the examiner

Withdrawal = De-registration from an examination after the deadline, but with important reasons, which are instantly declared against the examination board by using a special form.

The examination board decides whether the given reasons of a withdrawal are accepted as important. The decision over „NER“ turns out to an „RTE“, when the withdrawal is accepted. “RTU” as decision after “NER” on the other hand shows a non-accepted withdrawal-attempt. In this case one of three possible attempts is lost.

All shortcuts of de-registration, non-appearance or withdrawal are shown and explained in HIS-POS and as FAQ 9.5 here.

If students took part in an examination without being on the list of registrations, there could have been mistake of registration or no registration at all. Before correcting the examination performance the examiner in this case contacts the examination office in order to clear the authorization of the student. The student will be added to the examiners online list, if admission is accepted.

The examination office reminds missing grades to the examiner after the correction deadline. The latter gets into contact with the former for clearing. By doing so in due time degrees can be guaranteed and delay can be avoided.

Bachelor students applying for a Master’s degree at the Leibniz University Hannover need the proof of 150 credit points up to July, 15^th or January, 15^th. They are dependent upon the examiners results in due time. There is the possibility to book grades in these cases at any time. Lists of student grades can still be closed entirely at the end of the semester.

b) Expertise to Bachelor’s or Master’s Thesis

Expertise opinions (naming the grade) for Bachelor’s or Master’s Thesis’ and protocols of oral exams are sent by the examiner directly to the examination office, which is booking the grades.

Examination performances will be stored in two ways:

1. Storage by the Examination Office

All parts of the examination file like admissions to exams, grades, expertises, protocols for oral final exams, ruling decisions et al. must be stored centrally for 50 years.

2. Storage by the Institute

All examination documents like written exams, term papers or other written performances, protocols of oral exams, Bachelor’s and Master’s Thesis’ are stored for 3 years. That means that they’ll be destroyed 3 years after the year of receiving the module examination result.

In case of any objection or juridical process running or in prospection, the documents may not be destroyed. Further information can be found in this circular letter: Rundschreiben Nr. 22/2024

Digital storage options can be explained by the Leibniz University IT Services (LUIS).

The Diploma Supplement serves as explanatory document about the degree programme and its qualifications. It is handed out to the students together with their official, final degree documents. Due to a decision of the studies committee individual, extracurricular performances can be added to the diploma suppelemt upon request. These performances must fulfill special criteria to be included to the document.

The request is made at the studies coordinators office (Faculty of Humanities) at the end of the degree programme and must contain all necessary and complete proofs (originals). The studies coordinator forwards the additional information to the examination office.