Student Advisory
Student Mental and Physical Health Advisory for IAA
Advice on how to successfully manage your studies at IAA
Meeting the many requirements of your studies can be a challenge. Here are some pointers on how to manage these challenges. The best way to go about this is to tackle any issues and plan ahead as early as possible. We are committed to helping you achieve the qualifications and master the content of your courses as specified in the Fachspezifische Bestimmungen that are legally binding for each module.
Health Issues
If you have physical or mental health issues that prevent you from meeting the requirements of a particular course or of your studies in general, you should seek medical help as soon as possible. If the issues mean that you need special conditions to enable you to complete a course, you need to contact the advisory service for Studierende mit Behinderungen und Chronischen Krankheiten. Here is the link to the service: https://www.uni-hamburg.de/studieren-mit-behinderung/ueber-uns.html
You will then have to put in an application for a Nachteilsausgleich in the Prüfungsausschuss who will inform you of their decision in response to your request. You must then inform the instructor that you will need an individual learning agreement or special exam conditions, for example a different type of exam, or extensions to deadlines. The individual learning agreement defined as an Äquivalenzleistung, will then be agreed between you and the instructor, the advisor from the service, and the Prüfungsausschuss. Ideally, you will contact the service and your instructor before or at the beginning of the semester so that there is sufficient time for everyone to hold discussions and plan ahead. Dealing with emergencies during the teaching period is always difficult and should be avoided if at all possible. The assessment of your needs is made by the service, and there is no need for you to share medical or other private information with your instructor unless you wish to do so.
Family Commitments
If you have family commitments that prevent you from meeting the requirements of a particular course or of your studies in general, for example if you are the carer of young children or of family members suffering from illness or impairment, you should seek advice as soon as possible from the Familienbüro:
https://www.uni-hamburg.de/familienbuero.html
If the issues mean that you need special conditions to enable you to complete a course, you must contact the Family Office. You will then have to put in an application for a Nachteilsausgleich in the Prüfungsausschuss who will inform you of their decision in response to your request. You must then inform the instructor that you will need an individual learning agreement or special exam conditions, for example a different type of exam, or extensions to deadlines. The individual learning agreement defined as an Äquivalenzleistung, will then be agreed between you and the instructor, the advisor from the service, and the Prüfungsausschuss. Ideally, you will contact the service and your instructor before or at the beginning of the semester so that there is sufficient time for everyone to hold discussions and plan ahead. Dealing with emergencies during the teaching period is always difficult and should be avoided if at all possible. The assessment of your needs is made by the service, and there is no need for you to share medical or other private information with your instructor unless you wish to do so.
Studienfachberatung
There is a departmental service to advise you on your studies if, for example, you need accreditation of studies from another university.
https://www.slm.uni-hamburg.de/iaa/studium/beratung-und-hilfsangebote/studienfachberatung/anerkennung-von-leistungen.html
If you have exceeded the allotted time to complete the degree course for which you are enrolled, you may be contacted by letter by the Campus Center, and you will then be required to attend a Studienfachberatung consultation:
https://www.slm.uni-hamburg.de/iaa/studium/beratung-und-hilfsangebote/studienfachberatung/anerkennung-von-leistungen.html
To prevent this from happening, please follow the advice on tackling issues early and planning ahead. In exceptional circumstances you may also apply to study part time through the Campus Center:
https://www.uni-hamburg.de/en/campuscenter/studienorganisation/studienverlauf/teilzeitstudium.html
University Counselling Service
The Campus Center also offers a service and workshops for students who need counselling and help with mental health issues.
Psychologische Beratung:
https://www.uni-hamburg.de/campuscenter/beratung/beratungseinrichtungen/psychologische-beratung.html
The service provides a helpline and crisis intervention as well as ‘walk in’ advice for refugee students. The service provides advice not just for students, but also for instructors in dealing with teaching situations impacted by students’ mental health issues. In rare cases, your instructor may start the process of getting professional help to ensure that communication for everyone concerned – including all students in a course - is as constructive as possible:
https://www.uni-hamburg.de/campuscenter/beratung/beratungseinrichtungen/psychologische-beratung/schwierige-situationen-mit-studierenden.html
Work Commitments
If you have to work to support yourself during your studies, there is no special dispensation for reducing your workload at university, which means that you have to do so yourself by following our advice here. The most important piece of advice is to avoid overloading your schedule before you start the semester. Select fewer rather than more courses, plan ahead, and pace yourself. Try frontloading some of the work, and be realistic if you have taken on too much. In that case, you are advised to inform your instructor early in the semester that you need to drop the course so that your status can be changed to inactive on Stine. If you realize that studies and work commitments will mount up towards the end of the semester, as early as possible ask your instructor for adjustments that can be accommodated such as an early presentation date. Furthermore, deadlines for term papers can only be extended for medical reasons (please submit a note from your doctor).
If you encounter issues in a Seminar and cannot meet the deadline for the term paper, there is also an option for you to simply make use of the second exam attempt (zweiter Prüfungsversuch): this will reset the deadline for your term paper to the following semester. All you need to do is inform your professor or instructor, and contact the Lehrveranstaltungsmanagement who will enter the new due date in Stine.
Please note that in Sprachpraxis courses, using the option of the second exam attempt means that you will have to retake the entire course in the following semester. The reason for this is that assessment in Sprachpraxis courses is cumulative and formative instead of there being a final Prüfungsleistung in the form of a term paper (Hausarbeit) or exam (Klausur).
Please don’t hesitate to ask if you have questions. We wish you a successful and happy time during your studies at IAA.