NEWS

About COVID-19 measures, teaching and opening hours

Covid developments and next steps for studying at the PLUS from March: a message from the Vice Rector for Academic Affairs, Martin Weichbold, and the chairing team of the Students’ Union, Laura Reppmann, Lara Simonitsch and Manuel Gruber.

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„Dear students,

The summer semester starts next week, and we are looking forward to welcoming you back to the university! As the infection rate is still relatively high, some measures are still necessary for the time being to ensure a safe environment at the university.

• The 5G rule still applies for entering university buildings, which means you must be vaccinated, recovered or PCR-tested.
• Be prepared to be asked for proof of your 2.5G status on entry to buildings or classes – we recommend using the  Greenlight app, which creates a ticket on your smartphone or tablet with your PLUSonline photo and proof of vaccination, recovery or test, which will make checks easier.
• In addition, an FFP2 mask must be worn in the university buildings (also in lectures). Lecturers may remove the mask if they can maintain sufficient distance from others present.

Depending on how the infection rate develops, we hope to be able to lift these measures soon, but at the moment we strongly urge you to adhere to them.

If you get COVID, please send an email to , we are obliged to record the number of current cases of infection anonymously. You should also inform teachers of courses in which you might have passed on the infection so that all other students can be informed (again, of course, without giving your name). If you have the virus or are in quarantine, you are considered excused for compulsory attendance; please simply inform your course leaders.

The PLUS buildings will have normal opening hours again as of 1. March. Library services, along with study areas and communication zones for participation in online lectures will also be fully available; please refer to the UB website for opening hours. The  Mensa (cafeteria) and M-Cafés at the Nawi and in the Toskanatrakt are also open again and look forward to your visit; the M-Café at Rudolfskai has vending machines with snacks and drinks. We would like to point out that a new company is responsible for the food service in the Unipark (Eden Kantine and  Eden Sky Bar) – the team will be delighted if you stop by!

The last few semesters have been enormously challenging for all of us. We hope that we can now gradually return to a “normal” semester. However, this return to teaching in person does not mean that everything we have experienced in online teaching over the last two years (and even before) is now obsolete. Wherever it makes sense from a teaching point of view, we want to combine and use both online and classroom teaching even better. Please bear with us if things don’t go smoothly at first. Talk to the course leaders first, and if no solution can be found, contact your student representative. Many questions can be clarified in this way, but the student representatives also have other contacts if this is not possible.

We wish you a good start to the new semester and every success in your studies and at the PLUS.

Martin Weichbold, Vice Rector for Academic Affairs on behalf of the entire Rectorate

Laura Reppmann, Lara Simonitsch and Manuel Gruber, ÖH Chairing Team“