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© Universität Bielefeld
Informations for Employees
The Faculty introduces itself
The Faculty of Public Health is one of 14 faculties at Bielefeld University and, with a history of more than 25 years (founded in 1994), one of the youngest. To date, the Faculty of Public Health is the only Faculty organized according to the international model of a School of Public Health. We are an interdisciplinary Faculty with staff from medical, natural science and social science subjects. Even before the Faculty was founded, Bielefeld University was one of the first to offer health science education in Germany, at that time still in the form of a postgraduate course for health professionals with an academic degree. Today, the School of Public Health is the only Faculty in Germany that offers a consecutive program of study with a Bachelor's degree in Health Communication, a Master's degree in Public Health and a doctoral program, which is supplemented by continuing education courses for different target groups.
Contentstructure
The content structure of the Faculty is based on the areas of expertise central to public health research and teaching. The Faculty comprises eight Working Groups (so-called "AGs") and two research units (Rehabilitation Sciences and Electronic Public Health), each headed by a professor and including technical and administrative staff as well as student and research assistants in addition to other professors and academic co-workers. The number of staff in the individual WGs and research units varies depending on the number and size of the third-party funded projects to be worked on.
The professors design their focus of research independently, assume responsibility for individual Modules in the degree programmes in cooperation with other WGs and each shape a specific staff culture. On the one hand, this is a great strength of the Faculty, as it allows the individual areas to develop their own profiles. On the other hand, it also presents the Faculty with the challenge of communicating with each other across the WGs and developing a common profile.
About the Working Groups and Research Units.
How is teaching organized?
Module descriptions
The basis of teaching is the module descriptions. The degree programmes are modular, and responsibility for the Modules usually lies with one or two professors. Modules usually consist of several courses, which are held either in parallel or across semesters. While in some Modules lectures are the central event form, in other Modules teaching is also carried out (sometimes temporarily) in smaller groups (seminars, practical projects). The concrete design (based on the module descriptions) is up to the module leaders.
The module descriptions, on which the study/examination performance is based, represent a binding specification for the design of teaching. Further information can be found here:
Bachelor Health Communication:
https://ekvv.uni-bielefeld.de/sinfo/publ/bachelor/healthcommunication
Master Public Health:
https://ekvv.uni-bielefeld.de/sinfo/publ/master-as/pubhealth
Teaching and course planning
The planning of teaching takes place with a lead time of about half a year: On the basis of the study program modules, the courses are transferred centrally into the electronic course catalog (eKVV) and those responsible for the modules receive a request to report changes compared to the previous year. At this point, detailed planning takes place in the WGs. Here it is determined who will teach in the corresponding semester with which thematic focus in the Modules as well as when and in which form the examination and, if applicable, study requirements / credits are to be rendered (e.g. seminar paper, written exam, etc.). As a rule, the time of the course is taken over from the previous year, since the compulsory courses must be coordinated in order to avoid scheduling conflicts. If a course is to be scheduled in a different time slot, it is imperative that the person responsible for the module and the teaching assistant Dr. Kerstin Schlingmann be consulted so that the appropriate coordination can be made.
Your own courses can be viewed via the following link:
https://ekvv.uni-bielefeld.de/ under "My courses" with the university registration.
electronic course catalogue (eKVV)
All courses (as well as links to module descriptions) can be found in the electronic course catalog eKVV. Via the electronic course catalogue (eKVV) teaching staff, instructors, lectures can contact the students of a course via email (a separate collective email address is set up for each course). For each course, teaching staff, instructors, lectures can set up a learning room where, for example, documents can be stored (even before the start date of the course). The electronic course catalogue (eKVV) is also used to document course and examination results.
To use the electronic course catalogue (eKVV) as an extended teaching platform, teaching staff, instructors, lectures can create a "learning room plus". More information can be found on the BIS website: https: //ekvv.uni-bielefeld.de/wiki/en/eLearning_im_BIS.
Exchange on teaching issues
The university has numerous offers for the support of teaching and the development of didactic competences. The central point of contact is the personnel development for teaching staff, instructors, lectures "PEP_Lehre". The offers range from two-hour introductory courses, e.g. on lecture hall technology or working with the learning room, to a comprehensive certificate for university teaching. Coaching for new teaching staff, instructors, lectures is also offered.
The PEP offer is sent regularly to all teaching staff, instructors, lectures via email. You can also view the offering at the following site: https://www.uni-bielefeld.de/pep/.
Center for Studies, Teaching, Career also offers exchange, further development and training on the conception and design of teaching at Bielefeld University. It is worthwhile to browse through the site, as it not only lists continuing education offerings (e.g. on media didactics/eLearning), but also offers many materials for download: https: //www.uni-bielefeld.de/themen/career-service/.
University offers
The following offers can be helpful for employees:
electronic course catalogue (eKVV)
Information for doctoral students
Studierendenwerk
Formal Structure
The Faculty is led by a dean's office consisting of a dean* and a vice dean* who are elected for four years at a time by the Faculty Conference. Since November 2022, the dean is Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Greiner and the vice dean is Prof. Dr. Kayvan Bozorgmehr. Dr. Kerstin Schlingmann has been the Dean of Studies since April 2023, and is thus responsible for all matters relating to teaching and examinations at the Faculty.
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The position of the Faculty's head of administration is held by Eleonora Wagner. The Head of Administration is the most important contact person, e.g. for personnel and organizational issues.
In addition, numerous committees and commissions determine the formal structure of the Faculty: Faculty Conference, Teaching Commission, Research Commission, Structure and Finance Commission, and the Equal Opportunity Commission.