Project Group Supervisor Info

This info gives PG supervisors an overview of common organizational and legal issues.

Duration of project groups

A project group lasts two consecutive semesters. It includes work equivalent to 16 semester hours (2 semesters á 8 semester hours) of conventional courses. Since there is always discussion on this point, it should be explicitly emphasized that these 16 SWS include all the time that has to be spent on 16 SWS of conventional courses, i.e. time for following up the lecture, working on exercises, preparing for exams, preparing seminar presentations, etc. The time before the lecture is free of charge. The lecture-free time before the first PG semester can be used to prepare PG seminars that take place at the beginning of the first PG semester. Otherwise, care should be taken to ensure that no PG activities beyond the specified time frame take place during the lecture-free periods. The actual workload of the individual participant should be such that parallel attendance of other courses totalling 6-10 semester hours is possible.

PG applications

An example of a project group proposal can be found at the bottom of this page. Please note the order of the sub-items. Items 1 through 8 must fit on four A4 pages, as they will be copied directly into the PG info booklet. A page break must be inserted after the legal information (point 8), as the remaining points do not appear in the PG-Info. The application must be submitted as a printable PDF file to the PG administrator.

Note: 16 paper submission is no longer required!

Requirements for PG applications by the Study Advisory Board (StBR)

PG applications must clearly indicate that a project group as defined in the PG regulations is planned and that the necessary requirements are met. The Study Advisory Board has compiled some guidelines that form the basis for the StBR's decisions on whether to endorse or reject PG applications. These guidelines can be found in Appendix I and II of the PG Order.

Field Trip Requests

Field trip requests must be submitted to the Dean of Faculty's Office no later than the end of July of each year. The Faculty also supports field trips financially within its means.

External seminars

Externally organized PG seminars cannot be applied for as field trips! It is assumed that the university can provide sufficient seminar rooms so that there is no official reason to organize seminars externally. There is no question that especially external seminars have a positive influence on the getting-to-know phase in PGs and are therefore highly recommendable for the group. In the past, it has been shown that students were quite willing to bear the costs themselves.

Printing and duplication costs

(IRB printer & central duplication).

The faculty provides each PG with a maximum amount of Euro 500. The PG, or the supervisors, are responsible for ensuring that this amount is not exceeded. The supervisors will be informed by the Dean's office about the monthly printing costs of the PG. Requests for duplication orders are to be processed through the Dean's Office. Additional expenses are to be borne by the chairs/units where the supervisors are located.

Project group rooms and seminar rooms

Working and seminar rooms for PGs can be reserved via the pages of the Room Administration of the Faculty of Computer Science. A current overview of available rooms can be found here.

Conclusion of project groups

The project group prepares a final report, which contains in particular a systematic presentation of the problem solved and the solution adopted, a description of the factual and temporal structuring of the problem solving and the compilation and discussion of the results obtained. It submits the final report to the faculty via the PG representative as a PDF file for the dean's office and the BBI. The project group reports to the faculty in a technical meeting on the process and results of the PG work.

The PG organizer certifies the successful participation of the PG participants. The certification requires, among other things, the successful completion of the project group in terms of

• the actual achievement of the minimum factual goal
• the preparation of an interim report
• the above-mentioned technical discussion
• the submission of a sufficiently detailed final report.

The organizer may, in special cases, confirm successful PG participation to individual PG participants even if no successful PG completion has been achieved overall. He shall issue the certificate in particular for PG participants who are not at fault for not achieving the PG degree.

In special cases, the PG organizer may refuse to certify the PG participation of individual PG participants even if a successful PG completion has been achieved overall. He shall deny the PG certificate especially for PG participants who have actively or passively hindered the work progress of the project group. The non-award of the certificate shall be justified in writing. Details are regulated in §7 of the PG regulations.

Computer resources

The allocation of computer resources is regulated by the IRB. Details can be found here.

Other

For colleagues who are new to the faculty, please refer to Research Report No. 84, 1979 (Green Series) "The Project Study at the Department of Computer Science - Materials".

Informational material

• Example of a project group proposal