Student Council of the Faculty of Physics

To become a student, you register (in person, by post, email or telephone) at the student office. There you will receive enrolment documents, which you fill out and send to the university along with a few other documents (including a certified copy of your school-leaving certificate, proof of health insurance, etc.). After paying your semester fee, you will receive your matriculation number and semester stamp and you are enrolled.

Part of the procedure, filling out the enrolment documents, can also be done online, but the printed documents then take the same route. When you enrol, you will also be charged the tuition fee

In the summer semester, the preliminary physics course begins approximately one month before the start date of lectures, i.e. from mid-March. The course runs every day (Mon-Fri) for three weeks in the summer semester, with two hours of lectures followed by tutorials (in connection with lecture/seminar) in smaller groups.

In the winter semester, the introductory block for the physics course begins with the start date of lectures, i.e. from mid-October. The course runs for four weeks with its own lecture and corresponding tutorials (in connection with lecture/seminar). It replaces the preliminary course; this is now integrated into the semester through the introductory block and is a compulsory course.

The course mainly deals with the mathematical basics that are needed to study physics and is therefore recommended for everyone: perhaps your maths skills are already a little rusty due to a voluntary social year or a short trip around the world, etc.? Or did you focus on different subjects at school than you will need for your physics degree? Perhaps your maths lessons weren't as good as they could have been? In short, the introductory block helps you to start your studies with a good foundation in maths.

By the way: If you have achieved an A+ / 15 points in a really difficult maths course and are therefore worried that you will be bored in the introductory block: don't worry! As you probably only had the subject matter of 12 classes at school, you are missing a year of maths basics that are definitely needed in physics studies. So you will certainly learn something new.

• After you have sent off your enrolment documents, you will receive a transfer form for the semester fee. Once this has been transferred, some time later you will receive a computer printout with semester certificates, computer centre data etc., the so-called Leporello. You now have a matriculation number and are enrolled.

• In addition to the semester certificates, the Leporello also contains a password for the university computer centre. With the password and your matriculation number, you can activate your HRZ account online or directly in the computer rooms of the computer centre (in building section V0).

• The account gives you a Bielefeld University email address, approval for campus-wide Wi-Fi and public computers (in pool rooms and in the library) as well as access to various online services (e.g. the library account, where you can renew and pre-order books online).

  The computer centre account also gives you approval for exam and timetable management in the electronic course catalogue and should therefore be set up right at the start date of your studies if possible. At the same time, a functioning e-mail address should be stored there, as e-mails are sent for many courses via the mailing list function of the course catalogue.

• You can also use the access data on the Leporello to apply for a UniCard. This serves as a semester ticket, canteen card and student ID. You must upload a current photo in passport photo format. Under the menu item "UniCard", you must also accept the Unicard user regulations. As soon as you click on Save, your UniCard with your photo will be ordered and can usually be collected from the Infopoint 2 working days after applying. An identity card or passport and a semester certificate are required for collection.

How does a degree programme actually work? Are all physicists really not that talkative? And how do you behave in a lecture when the material is super boring? You can find this and other general information about studying in our first-year booklet, which you can download here .

At the beginning of the semester, the departmental student representative committee organises a first semester breakfast. In addition to bread rolls and coffee, there is a general student counselling service with ready-made timetables for the first semester. So you don't have to put together a timetable yourself.

The first semester breakfast takes place on the following dates

Monday, 30 September 2024 at 12:00 in H11

For further reading:

• Presentation: First semester breakfast
• Presentation: electronic course catalogue (ekvv), examination management & Co.
• Website: Introduction to the BIS applications

In the winter semester, there is a first semester trip(in addition to getting to know each other at breakfast), which takes place on a weekend about one to three weeks after the start of the semester. (Registration forms can be found in the first semester booklet and in the departmental student representative committee). We can only recommend taking part, as you will also get to know your future fellow students in person. As the degree programme often involves group work, this is usually an advantage, and most people also simply enjoy it. If you start in the summer semester, you are of course invited to take part in the trip in the following winter semester.