FAQ

For reasons of transparency and efficiency, questions that may be relevant to others are generally not answered in one-on-one conversations or by email. Please use the respective ILIAS course forum or the class sessions for any organizational or content-related questions!

If you have questions before the semester starts, please first check the information provided on our website. If your question is not answered there and no ILIAS course forum is available yet, feel free to send us an email!

That depends. For modules with a lecture format that end with an exam, attendance is not mandatory for any of the sessions (however, you must of course attend the exam if you wish to take it). For modules with a seminar format, you are required to attend all sessions that involve assessments (e.g. presentations). Information regarding this is usually provided at the beginning of the course, and in most cases, you can also find it in our announcements, informational videos, or slide sets. Some modules may also have a general attendance requirement for didactic reasons. If this is the case, the information will be clearly stated in the module description.

Most modules are offered at least once a year (that is, every other semester). Depending on available teaching capacity, some modules may be offered more frequently, while others might not be available in certain semesters. Details about the modules offered in a specific semester are published before the semester begins on our chair website under the “Teaching” section.

We generally provide all course materials via ILIAS. To access them, you must be registered and admitted to the course in the HIS system. The systems usually synchronize overnight. In most cases, you can register for the course yourself through the HIS system. For more details, please refer to the next question.

Yes. You need to register in HIS-LSF to gain access to the corresponding ILIAS course area, since the two systems are linked. After you have registered and been admitted in HIS-LSF, it usually takes up to 24 hours for your access to the ILIAS course to be synchronized. Because all course communication takes place via ILIAS, this step is very important.

Important: For some courses, you are automatically admitted in HIS-LSF after registration (e.g., BB10 and BW43). For other courses, especially project modules or modules at the master’s level that require prior knowledge or have specific admission restrictions, admission is carried out manually by our team at certain times. In these cases, you may need to wait a little longer before gaining access to the ILIAS course. If you do not have access to the ILIAS course 24 hours after being admitted in HIS-LSF, please send us an email. This applies only after the official start of the course, as we are usually still preparing the ILIAS courses beforehand, and they are therefore not yet activated.

Please, please, please don’t rely on rumours (thank you!). It’s amazing how many supposedly reliable “tips” and “pieces of advice” are circulating that have nothing to do with our courses. If you have any questions, please use the respective ILIAS course forum or ask them during the class sessions, and make sure to follow the forum rules and ILIAS netiquette.

Our elective modules in Sustainability Management require relevant prior knowledge to varying degrees in order to participate. More detailed information on the required level of prior knowledge can be found in the current module descriptions. At the beginning of the semester, we will request proof of your prior knowledge in the form of transcripts of records or certificates (it is sufficient to show that you passed the respective courses; specific grades do not need to be disclosed). If the titles of the submitted modules do not clearly indicate a connection to “Sustainability Management” (or related areas such as Environmental Management or Corporate Social Responsibility), you may need to provide additional documentation, such as module descriptions. The same applies if you wish to have a bachelor’s thesis module recognized as a relevant prior achievement. Please note that practical experience cannot be accepted as proof of the required prior knowledge.

Do not send us any documents unsolicited, as pre-checks are not possible!

You cannot be admitted to modules or complete any assessments if you do not meet the prerequisites listed in the module description. Exceptions are not possible for examination-related legal reasons. However, you may still be allowed to attend the module without taking the exam or receiving a participation certificate, provided that sufficient capacity is available. In this case, please contact us directly.

In some courses, individual sessions or parts of sessions are made available online as screencasts. If this is not the case, we have decided not to record the sessions for organizational and didactic reasons. In such cases, recordings are therefore not available. Please note that audio or video recordings by students are strictly prohibited in all courses.

No. Exam registrations are administered by the Examinations Office or the Student and Examination Administration. We have no influence on this process and cannot make late registrations or changes.

No! Exam registration is separate from course registration in the HIS system. You must register independently and on time for each exam, otherwise your grades cannot be recorded. 

The chairs are not involved in the organization of exams. Therefore, please contact the Examination Committee or the Student and Examination Administration for any questions on this matter, as the answer may vary depending on your examination regulations or other specific rules.

Written exams, including their dates and locations, are organized by the Examinations Office. We have no influence on this process and do not receive the information in advance. Please contact the Examinations Office for details or use the respective ILIAS course forums to exchange information with other students. Note that final room assignments for exams are usually made only after the withdrawal deadlines for the respective exams have passed.

As a rule, we do not provide any additional guidance on exam topics beyond what is communicated at the beginning of the course. Email inquiries about exam content will not be answered. Please post any such questions publicly during the course or in the respective ILIAS course forum.

We announce the exam review dates well in advance via the respective ILIAS course forum. Participation in an exam review is only possible after timely registration, which also takes place in the ILIAS course area. Therefore, please make sure not to deactivate email notifications for new forum posts, or check the forum regularly to stay informed.

Apart from our mandatory module BB10 (for which one exam is offered each semester, allowing one exam attempt per semester), exam opportunities are generally aligned with the teaching schedule. This means that exams for elective modules and project courses can be taken in the semester in which the module is offered (including any resit exams).

For modules with other forms of assessment, grades are usually available a few days after the last assessment. We cannot speed up this short process, so we kindly ask you not to send inquiries, as this would delay the process for everyone.

For modules with written exams, we typically have a large number of exams. For organizational reasons, we cannot provide information on individual exams. Again, we ask you not to send such inquiries, as this would only slow down the process for everyone. We always strive to grade exams as quickly as possible, but sometimes this depends on external circumstances (e.g., staff members taking vacation or being ill).

We announce the registration periods for project modules in good time before the start of each semester on our website (under “Teaching” and then the respective semester). In most cases, registration takes place toward the end of the preceding semester. However, the exact registration periods may vary from semester to semester, as we often work on different topics in cooperation with companies and need to adapt to current circumstances.

No.

Please check the section “Teaching → Semester” on our website and select the relevant semester. There you will find a list of all courses offered in both the bachelor’s and master’s programs. If no project module (BQ or MQ) is listed for that semester, it means that no project work can be completed with us during that time. If project seminars are offered, we usually provide detailed information on the content, structure, and registration process on the respective page a few weeks before the start of the semester.

No. According to the examination regulations, the project work with colloquium required as part of the Key Qualification in Economics (BQV) must be linked to an elective module in Economics.

No, this is not a formal requirement. However, we strongly recommend attending our modules in advance, as they usually provide helpful background knowledge and prepare you well for your thesis topic. If you have not taken any of our courses, you may need to familiarize yourself with the relevant material on your own. For bachelor’s students interested in writing their thesis with us, we particularly recommend module BW43, and for master’s students module MW57. It can also be beneficial, though not compulsory, to complete a project work module (BQ/MQ) with us beforehand.

The process is explained in detail on our “Final Theses” webpage and in the informational video linked there.

No.

Yes.

In principle, yes. However, please note the information on the relevant subpage on “Theses” (especially regarding the lead time!). If the specified lead time cannot be met, you bear the risk that a topic may not be realized even after you have been allocated to us for your final thesis, for example because the content or methodology is not suitable for a thesis. In this case, you are of course still free to write about one of the topics we offer.

Yes, but only if the thesis (also) deals with a scientifically (!) relevant topic from our field, which is usually investigated using an empirical research method. Experience has shown that most “practical topics” do not meet these requirements. Before contacting us, please ask yourself critically: What scientific research question do I want to answer with my thesis, and what method can I use to answer this question?

Also note that even if the thesis is conducted in collaboration with a company, it is still written at the university. The evaluation, including grading, is the responsibility of the university examiners alone.

For information on the (time) schedule for your own topic proposals, please refer to the notes on the relevant question here in the FAQ.

We will provide information about the general topic areas before the end of the central registration phase on the relevant subpage of our website (“Teaching” -> “Theses”). Details about the specific topics are announced a few weeks after you have been allocated to our chair. Please also note the information on the subpage of our website (especially the information video).

During the summer semester between April and September and during the winter semester between October and March. Late registrations are not possible and you would then have to participate in the central allocation procedure again (with no guarantee of getting a place with us again!).

Registrations particularly early in the semester in question (i.e., April in the summer semester or October in the winter semester) are generally possible.

Please note that, especially in cases of particularly early or particularly late planned registration, the process of finding the exact topic (“exposé phase”) takes some time. The duration of this process largely depends on your own initiative and willingness to complete it efficiently.

For more detailed information, please refer to the “Final Theses” section on our website (in particular the informational video linked there).

The purpose, content, and process of the exposé phase are explained in detail on our “Final Theses” webpage, in the informational video linked there, and in the “Guidelines for Academic Writing” also available on that page.

We strongly recommend that you write your thesis in English, as a significant part of any academic work involves working with the latest international (i.e., English-language) academic literature. Even though it may not seem so at first, writing your thesis in English is usually easier for this reason. If absolutely necessary, your thesis can also be written in German. In such cases, we will discuss and decide this together with you during the exposé phase.