Overview
Here you will find answers to frequently asked questions.
About the student council
About office hours
About orientation week (O-Phase)
Miscellaneous
Questions about the student council and its work
Why does the student council for chemistry and life sciences exist?
If you compare the Faculty of Chemistry and Biosciences to a company, then the student council would be the department’s student union. Among other things, we represent the opinions and interests of all students in our department to the faculty in various committees. In this context, we try to help shape the day-to-day running of the degree programs as much as possible and thereby also simplify them. We are a point of contact for almost all questions relating to your studies. In addition, we also perform other tasks, some of which we have listed and briefly described here:
Contacts with other university institutions:
The student council maintains contact with other student councils and universities. This helps us obtain information about general university policy or overarching activities.
Representation of interests
If problems occur with internship supervisors, lecturers, and other individuals or institutions, the student council attempts to negotiate with them in the interests of the students and find solutions.
Collection point
The student council accepts suggestions for improvement, criticism, praise, and complaints of all kinds and forwards them to the relevant authorities (including ourselves). In general, we are responsible for representing the interests of all students at the department and are therefore always there if you have any questions or problems. We’re looking forward to your visit!
How can I get involved?
Just come by a student council meeting! These are always held on Wednesdays at 6.30 PM during the lecture period (and on the first Wednesday of the month during the lecture-free period). If you’d like to find out more about what we do beforehand, feel free to come by one of our office hours, send us an email (fschembio@lists.kit.edu), or simply contact us on Discord server.
How does a student council meeting work?
Our regular meetings always start at 6.30 PM, but we usually meet a little earlier to chat in the student council room. The aim of the meeting is to discuss reports and topics submitted in advance. These can cover a wide area of university life, and any faculty member can submit a topic, even if they have never been involved with the student council before. The topics submitted are announced before the meeting via email and on the Discord news channel.
With advance notice, department student assemblies are occasionally held for which all students of the faculty are explicitly invited. These meetings are used to make fundamental decisions, such as approving our budget or nominating election candidates.
What committees are there?
We provide student representative for the following committees: study commissions, examination commissions, appointment commissions, the student council conference, the department council, and senate commissions. Among other things, this is done to give the student body a say in matters of department and university policy, the creation of examination and study regulations, the appointment of professors, and other personnel decisions.
Questions about our office hours and services
What do we offer during our office hours?
Our office hours are held daily from Monday to Friday during the lecture period (always on Wednesdays during the lecture-free period). You can find the hours on our door or at the bottom of our website. Currently, we offer office hours led by students from different degree programs. During these office hours, we advise (future) students on the topics of class schedules, internships, lectures, degree programs, exams and other questions and concerns. Furthermore, we have a collection of (oral) exam transcripts and old exam questions, that are available for the price of the paper used printing. Of course, we also reply to emails and do other administrative work.
Where can I get exam transcripts and exams?
Exam transcripts and old exams from previous semesters are available. These can be printed out for €0.05 per double page. These make exam preparation much easier, but only works if the transcripts and exams are submitted to the student council!
We do not have any lecture notes, exercise sheets, practical protocols or solutions.
Questions about the orientation phase and starting your studies
What is orientation week (“O-Phase”)?
The orientation week (O-Phase) is a multi-day introductory event for our first-year students to help them get started with their studies. We are always looking for tutors from all of our degree programs to help approximately 300 first-year students take their first steps in their studies and show them what student life is like. Feel free to join us! You can find more information here.
What are Uni for Beginners, Girl’s Day, Campus Day, etc.?
Events are regularly planned to present the department and the university with the aim of informing and recruiting future students. For some of these, the student council is involved in organizing and carrying them out, in particular Campus Day. The work involved ranges from making coffee to giving tours of the campus.
Other questions
Can I put up notices on your bulletin board?
We publish job advertisements and event notices on the bulletin board on our website. In addition, all types of notices can be posted in consultation with us: sale of laboratory equipment and textbooks, apartment hunting, student assistant positions, diploma and doctoral theses, sporting and cultural events, trade fairs, tutoring, study groups, and much more.