FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Below you will find answers to frequently asked questions and explanations of important terms which are relevant to your studies from application to course credits and academic achievements.

BASIS & Assignments

To register on the online study portal BASIS you need a user name and a password. All newly enrolled students will receive details about their student accounts (a Uni-ID8, an associated e-mail address and an initial password) from the Hochschulrechenzentrum9 (HRZ). The user ID can be found on the semester documents next to the address field.
Should you have any further questions, please contact the HRZ-Support10.

Online course enrolment takes place via the electronic study portal BASIS.22

For more information, please refer to the guide and support information on the BASIS-Support-Webseite12.

Registration for courses takes place in two enrolment cycles. The dates are announced by the Examination Office of the Faculty of Arts before each semester. In addtion, the current semester calendar also provides information on dates, deadlines and periods of study and examination organisation at the Faculty of Arts.

Please note: After subject change, registration for courses is only possible in the second enrolment cycle, because the change of study programme must first be successfully registered. 

Admission to or rejection from courses is initially dependent on the planned group size of the course. If the number of registrations exceeds the numer of available places, the online study portal BASIS1515  decides on admission or rejection on the basis of various parameters: except the priority with which you register for courses, BASIS takes into account whether there are overlaps between course schedules in your timetable.

In the case of rejection from a course, you have the opportunity to ask your lecturer for an available place at the beginning of the semester. Corresponding modification of course enrolment (including the cancellation of a course which is no longer attended!) must be made during the second enrolment period on BASIS1515 .

There is no entitlement of admission to certain courses.

Study and examination achievements

Study achievements are preliminary inputs that are required before taking part in a module examination. A selection of study achievements for the module is specified in the respective module description in the module handbook of your degree programme. The precise requirements are announced by the lecturers in the online course catalogue on BASIS before the beginning of each semester.

The lecturer of the respective course is responsible for the record of the achievement of the course objectives on the online study portal BASIS. If you have any problems or enqueries regarding the recorded course achievements, please contact your lecturer first and, if necessary, the respective programme manager.

Examination achievements are results of all types of examinations (term paper, project work, presentation, protocol, internship report, portfolio, written examination or oral examination) that must be taken for the successful completion of a module (module final examination). A module final examination can consist of a single examination or several partial examinations. The examinations to be taken are specified in the respective examination regulations which is available for you in the respective module description in the module handbook of your degree programme.
Please note that certain examination achievements (e.g. presentations or protocols) can also become part of study achievements. Should you still have further questions, please refer to the examination regulations, the module description, your lecturer or the responsible programme manager.

Registration for a module examination takes place in due time via the online study portal BASIS. During the registration periods, which are announced by the Examination Office for each semester, you select on BASIS the module for which you want to register for the module examination or the partial module examination. Registration is only possible if you fulfil the preconditions for the respective examination or partial examination. These preconditions are usually study achievements that have already been recorded and, if applicable, the proof of successful participation in modules with compulsory attendance.

Following the online registration for the examinations (term paper, internship report, presentation, project work and portfolio, etc.,), BASIS generates a registration form which must be signed by your examiner in order to define the topic assignment and processing period. Together with the examination achievements, the registration form must be submitted to your examiner by the end of the processing period at the latest.

The processing time runs from the date of registration and topic assignment (handbook term paper) and last from a minimum of one week to a maximum of twelve weeks (exception: for term papers and project papers, from a minimum of two to a maximum of twelve weeks). Regardless of this, the processing period ends in any case at the end of the examination period in the respective semester (also the end of the respective semester: March 31 or September 30). Accordingly, the available processing period can also be shorter than twelve weeks. The precise submission date must be noted on the registration form and is not at the discretion of the examiner.

The assessment of a written examination will be uploaded on the online study portal BASIS no later than four weeks after the examination of the Bachelor's programme and no later than six weeks after the examination of the Master's programme. The assessment of an oral examination will be announced directly after the examination and then uploaded on BASIS. The assessment of the Bachelor's thesis will be released on BASIS after six weeks at the latest and the assessment of the Master's thesis after eight weeks at the latest.

The withdrawal from written examinations and oral examinations is possible without giving reasons until one week before the respective examination date at the latest. The withdrawal from examinations must be notified either in writing or online via the online study portal BASIS. The decicive date is the date of receipt at the Examination Office.

Withdrawal from term papers and course accompanying examinations (such as project work, papers, presentations, protocols, internship reports or portfolios) without giving reasons is not possible after registration and topic assignment. In both cases, you can subsequently withdraw for exclusively with so-called 'valid reasons' - in particular due to illness-related incabability of taking examinations. The withdrawal must be notified on time convincingly in writing to the Examination Office within three days. In addition, a medical certificate must also be submitted as proof of incabability caused by illness.

Generally withdrawal from an examination will not be considered if the examination has already been taken. Only when the examination committee recognises proof of incabability caused by illness or with other 'valid reasons', the examination attempt will be considered to be "not undertaken". 

The contact persons in the respective institute and the Examination Office are responsible for the recognition of study and examination achievements. In principle, the recognition can only be processed with the application form. Together with another proof indicating the achievements that are already made, this application form must be submitted first to the responsible person of each institute. Later, this responsible person in institute will forward this form and the proof with an expert recommendation on the achievements which are to be recognised by the Examination Office. There, the notification of credits will be created and the achievements which have already been recognised will be uploaded in the student account on BASIS.

If examination achiements which have already been made will be taken into account for the enrolment in a higher study semester of a new degree programme, it is necessary to apply for an assessment in a higher study semester and this assessment must be submitted to the Register Office for enrolment.

An application for recognition of examination achievements is no longer possible, if the examination achievements in the respective module have already been generated. 

Registration for the Bachelor's thesis requires 108 credit points beforehand, while registration for the Master's thesis requires 60 credit points in advance. The processing time (three months for Bachelor's theses and six months for Master's theses) begins with the written registration at the Examination Office. Please note that there is no minimum processing time. Bachelor's or Master's theses which are not submitted to the Examination Office by the deadline will be graded as 'not sufficient'.

Upon completion of the degree programme by taking the last required examination, a certificate of exmatriculation will automatically sent out. The exmatriculation will be effective till the end of the ongoing semester.

By applying for admission or rather registration for the examination procedure, a file is created in the Examination Office and the study account is activated for registration for module examinations on the online study portal BASIS. Without the application for admission or registration for the examination procedure, registration for examinations is therefore not possible!

For first-semester students in the Bachelor's degree programme, registration for the examination procedure usually takes place in a compact form in one week in November. First-semester students please use regular office hours of the Examination Office. Please bring the completed and signed Bachelor's or Master's application form with other required documents.

Application Form Bachelor17  Application Form Master17 

Interdisciplinary Praxis Area

The Interdisciplinary Praxis Area (ÜPB) is an integral part of the Bachelor's degree programmes at the Faculty of Arts. Students can acquire key qualifications by attending seminars comprising 12 credit points from the ÜPB.

The Interdisciplinary Praxis Area is further divided into eight sub-areas (plus foreign languages): Intercultural competences, Career orientation - Work place - Professional practice, Cultural management and education, Media and IT competences, Interdisciplinary techniques of scientific work, Creativity techniques, Transdisciplinary theory and method formation, Civil society engagement.

For more information visit the webpage of the Interdisciplinary Praxis Area.

The Interdisciplinary Praxis Area is addressed to all Bachelor students of the Faculty of Arts. Modules of the ÜPB cannot be selected if they are already anchored in the other modules provided by the respective degree programme.

Available  places open up the possibility for other students to attend these courses and receive a certificate at the end of the semester by request. Please use the contact form for respective applications.

It is possible that externally acquired competences and practical work experience are recognised within the framework of the ÜPB. In addition, the sub-area of 'Civil society engagement' support the recognition of voluntary work in social and cultural institutions, projects and initiatives. For respective applications, please use the contact form.

No. There is no examination in the Interdisciplinary Praxis Area. Instead, modules are completed with ungraded course achievements for which no examination registration on BASIS is required. The achievement of the course objectives is coordinated exclusively by the lecturer. As soon as the achievement has been made, the lecturer confirms the successful participation so that the credit points can be recorded.

Application Master

During the application phase, please use the online application portal20 for your application. Before your online application starts, make sure that you are already informed about the general admission requirements and specific requirements of the degree programmes. Please enter your information on these areas conscientiously and truthfully in the fields provided in the online form.

Towards the end of the application interview, you must upload the following documents:

  • Baccalaureate certificate
  • Bachelor's degree certificate (if not yet available, this certificate must be replaced with the Transcript of Records)
  • Transcript of Records/Academic achievement overview
  • Proof of language proficiency (depending on the degree programme, this can already be proven via the certificate of secondary school examinations (Abitur)

The application will be completed online and without paper. That is to say, necessary documents will be uploded as attachments. Please do not send us your application documents by post. After online application, you will first receive an automatic confirmation of receipt. If there are still important documents missing, we will contact you by email.

Visit the webpage for further information on Master's programme application at the University of Bonn.

Master's programme application takes place within two phases. The application deadlines are announced by the Faculty of Arts on the homepage2420In addtion, the current semester calendar also provides information on dates, deadlines and periods of study and examination organisation at the Faculty of Arts.

Yes. In principle, you can apply for a Master's degree programme if you already have 132 credit points (please note that potentially there are also admission requirements which are specific for your field of study). Instead of your degree certificate, please upload a up-to-date Transcript of Records or a up-to-date overview of academic achievements. In addition, please also indicate your average grade. Eventually, the Bachelor's degree certificate must be submitted to the Examination Office by mid-December after your Master's programme starts.

In order to apply for a study place at the University of Bonn, a DSH 2 certificate or other certificates corresponding to the CEFR level C1 are generally required (in specific cases, DSH 1 or CEFR level B2 or DSH 3 or CEFR level C2 is required).

There is no need to convert your grades into the German grades by yourself. This will be done by the selection committee of each department and the dean's office of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Bonn. You are welcome to list modules which, in your opinion, meet the subject-related admission requirements, with the title of the module and the foreign credit points in the application portal under 'Study contents'. The selection committee of the respective department will examine the admission requirements on the basis of the official documents that you upload. A self-assessment will aslo be helpful.

German applicants who have acquired their higher education entrance qualification (HZB) abroad must also have their foreign certificates recognised before application and enrolment begin (you can check the webpage in advance: https://anabin.kmk.org/no_cache/filter/hochschulabschluesse.html). A recognition determines whether and for which degree programme admission in one of the German higher education institutions is possible. If you would like to apply for a recognition of your foreign study achievements, which is vaild in every federal state and your place of residence is in NRW or if you have a place of residence outside Germany and would like to begin to study in NRW, please contact the Düsseldorf District Government: Am Bonneshof 35, 40474 Düsseldorf, Tel. 0211/475-0. 

Please also refer to the webpage information for prospective foreign students and the webpage advisory and counselling services2625 of the University of Bonn.

Your application status can be viewed at any time on the online application portal ‚APP‘. Please note that it takes a few weeks to prepare the notifications. We will contact you by email no later than six weeks after the application deadline.

In the case of all degree programmes without restricted admission, you will receive a notification of enrolment from the Register Office, if you meet the admission requirements; or a rejection if your don't meet the degree programme-specific requirements.

In the case of degree programmes with restricted admission, a further selection procedure may be required if there is a high number of qualified applicants. If you have achieved a sufficiently high position on the ranking list according to your Bachelor's overall grade after the selection procedure, you will receive a notification of enrolment from the Register Office. If you do not meet the admission requirements, you will receive a rejection letter. If you fulfil the admission requirements, but stay at first on a waiting list due to a low ranking position, you will receive a provisional notification (Depending on the ranking position and the capacity of study places in the respective Numerus clausus programme, a decision will be made whether an admission can still be issued).

For the specific enrolment deadlines of your degree programme, please refer to your admission letter. You can also find an overview of all application deadlines at the University of Bonn here. For students who have already completed their Bachelor's degree at the University of Bonn, enrolment will take place during the period of registration for the winter semester. 

The following documents are required for your enrolment at the University of Bonn:

  • Admission letter for the corresponding Master's degree programme
  • Bachelor's degree certificate (for external students), if this is already issued. IMPORTANT: If the Bachelor's certificate is not yet issued, it can be submitted to the Examination Office after the enrolment. Please note the special regulations regarding submission deadlines. If the Bachelor's degree certificate is a first-time higher education entrance qualification for admission to a university (e.g. in the case of a previous entrance qualification for studies at universities of applied sciences), the Bachelor's degree certificate must be submitted at the time of enrolment.
  • Bachelor students who are already enrolled at the University of Bonn only need to bring their admission letter and their most recent student ID.

Change of university or subject (external): The submission of a university degree certificate does not replace the certificate of exmatriculation which is required in any case.

Contact

If you have further questions about your studies, please use our contact forms:

Student counselling (preliminary courses, interdisciplinary praxisl area, Master's applications)
Examinations Office (study and examination results).

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