FAQs: BA programmes

Prior to registering for your bachelor’s thesis, you should have written at least some term papers for the advanced seminars in your major. You must also have completed your compulsory internship, which must have been added to your electronic student account.

There are two registration periods per year for the bachelor’s thesis. In the winter semester, you can register from 15-31 October. The registration period in the summer semester is 1-15 May.

Please register via the Central Examination Office. The person responsible is Jasmin Rommel (room C 404).
Please talk to her in advance to obtain the necessary documentation, which you should collect before the start of the semester break, i.e. before the start of the registration period.

You are free to suggest whatever topic you think suitable. Please consult with your first reviewer/supervisor first. Your thesis topic will then be assigned to you by the Central Examination Office.

The writing period for the bachelor’s thesis is six weeks. In special cases, it can be extended by another two weeks.
If you have registered for your bachelor’s thesis in the winter semester, you can write your thesis between 15 November and the middle of January (this writing period is slightly longer because the university closure over Christmas and New Year does not count towards the writing period). Alternatively, you may write your thesis between 1 February and the middle of March.
If you have registered for your bachelor’s thesis in the summer semester, you can write it either between 1 June and the middle of July or between 1 August and the middle of September.

The same registration periods as for the bachelor’s thesis apply: 15-31 October (winter semester) and/or 1-15 May (summer semester).
Please register via the Central Examination Office. Your contact person is Jasmin Rommel, you’ll find her in C 404.

You can register for your final oral examination if you are certain that you’ll have completed all required coursework and performance assessments in your major as well as the required transferable skills courses (in Literature-Art-Media, these include the entire module 8 including neighbouring disciplines) in the near future. At this point, the minor is irrelevant, which you are free to conclude at a later stage.

This means that, when registering for your oral examination, you do not have to have completed all required coursework and performance assessments for your minor. However, please note that these must appear in your electronic student account at least one week before the date of the oral examination. Otherwise, you will not be admitted to the final oral examination. Your bachelor’s thesis does not need to be graded yet. However, you must have submitted it.

The regulations for transferable skills and the internship are set out in the study and examination regulations for bachelor’s programmes in the humanities (general study and examination regulations) and their attachment D.

You must earn a total of 20 ECTS credits for transferable skills in career-relevant interdisciplinary areas. Eight of these credits are awarded for the compulsory internship (a minimum of eight weeks). Another 12 credits are awarded for transferable skills courses.

In attachment D of the general study and examination regulations (see above), you will find four transferable skills areas that you can choose from:

• Skills area 1: basic skills for students (e.g. IT skills, information literacy, academic writing, German as an academic language, etc.)
• Skills area 2: communication, social and personal skills (e.g. capacity for teamwork, presentation skills, intercultural competencies, etc.)
• Skills area 3: career-relevant skills, 1. media, 2. management
• Skills area 4: Languages

Language courses only count towards your transferable skills requirements if the chosen language is not the target language of your major or minor. For instance, we cannot recognise English language courses as transferable skills achievements if you’re studying the BA in British and American Studies. The same applies to French language courses, if you’re studying French Literature, etc.

Language courses only count towards your transferable skills requirements if you earn a minimum of 6 ECTS credits in the language.

You can earn all of your transferable skills credits by taking courses in either one or two different languages (six credits each as described above).

The compulsory internship must be at least eight weeks long with an employment volume comparable to that of a full-time position (35 weekly working hours minimum).

The internship can be divided into two four-week components. Internships shorter than four weeks cannot be recognised unless the individual components are completed at the same employer and, together, add up to one full internship divided into several stages.

You are free to choose whatever professional field you like for your internship. It does not have to relate to the subject of your major or minor.

However, your internship must provide you with insights into a professional academic field. Student jobs (waiting tables, working assembly lines, as a lifeguard, ski instructor or in assembly/installation, etc.) do not count as internships.

Undergraduate student assistant jobs offered by university departments generally cannot be recognised. Undergraduate student assistant positions only count as internships if they are in university administration (central university institutions, university sports, KIM, etc.) and if they provide insights into the professional field of science and research management.

Internships completed prior to the start of the study programme, professional training you have received and volunteer work can be recognised.

No, you do not.

After completing your internship (you must be able to document the entire eight weeks), please visit Dr Daniel Hütter during the departmental student advisory service’s office hours and bring along either a copy of the internship certificate you received from your employer or a copy of your employment reference. The internship will be added to your student account immediately.

You can obtain such a certificate from Dr Daniel Hütter, the departmental student advisor.