Faculty VII - Economics and Management

Teaching obligations at Faculty VII - Economics and Management

Faculty VII - Business and Management checks the compliance of its full-time academic staff with their teaching obligations on a semester basis. The basis for this is the Ordinance on Teaching Obligations at Universities (Lehrverpflichtungsverordnung - LVVO) for full-time academic and artistic staff with teaching duties at the state universities of Berlin. It regulates the scope of teaching obligations. 

Valid version of the LVVO

To notify us of your completed courses, please follow these steps:

 

1. The following deadlines for submitting the report must be taken into account: 

     by February 28 of the year for the respective current WiSe
     by July 31st of the year for the respective current SoSe

2. The report must be sent in the form of the Excel table provided (will be sent by mail) by mail attachment, in the best case from your TU mail address, to info(at)wm.tu-berlin.de by the deadline.

Note: The Excel spreadsheet (will be sent by mail) must be sent in its form unchanged (please do not add or delete columns!) as .xls or .xlsx. Pdf formats cannot be considered! Courses of several teachers can be reported per Excel form. Please simply create a corresponding number of rows. 
You will find detailed instructions for filling in the form on this page as the last item of the accordion element below as well as in a somewhat shorter form directly in the second worksheet of the Excel spreadsheet.

3. A teacher(s) signature on the form/spreadsheet is not required. However, it is imperative that any teacher recorded in the spreadsheet who is not the sender of the mail to us be placed in the Cc. 
Note: This implies the confirmation of the teachers listed in the table and placed in the Cc, if they do not object to the information about themselves within 1 week after the mail is sent.

4. The notification will be reviewed by us and, if completed correctly and completely, will be submitted to the Dean for his or her attention.

5. The following instructions will help you to fill out the form correctly and to report your courses using the Excel spreadsheet mentioned above.
Note: Please read the notes and assistance carefully. It will save you and us numerous inquiries and consultations.

 

Basic information on the teaching obligation

The teaching obligation is a personal service obligation that cannot be transferred to others. Since professors in the state of Berlin are not subject to any regulations regarding working hours and are largely free to organize the performance of their official duties, other official duties (namely research and business trips) must be performed in such a way that the teaching obligation can be fulfilled personally; cancelled events must be made up for. Substitutions are only possible for compelling reasons - apart from illness, only other official obligations that have priority and cannot be scheduled otherwise.

The teaching obligation must first be fulfilled in the area of compulsory (P) or compulsory elective (WP) courses in accordance with § 3 Para. 2 LVVO. This means that the course must meet this criterion in a degree program. If the required course offering according to the study and examination regulations is ensured, supplementary course offerings are desired. 

What is the standard teaching obligation?

Amount of teaching duties per week according to § 5 LVVO:

Professors: 9 LVS
Junior professors (first phase): 4 LVS
Junior professors (second phase): 6 LVS
University lecturers: 18 LVS
Lecturers for special tasks: 16 LVS
Research assistants, employed for an indefinite period of time with 100% employment from budgetary funds: 8 LVS
Research assistants, fixed-term employment with 100 % budgetary funds: 4 LVS

In the case of S-professorships, etc., the extent of the teaching duties is determined by the
cooperation agreement and the details of the employment relationship.

LVS = teaching hour; 1 LVS = 1 SWS (see item "What is a teaching hour (LVS)?").

The standard teaching obligation always refers to a semester (not a year).

Reduction of the teaching obligation

The Human Resources Department alone decides about the reduction of the standard teaching obligation (teaching reduction). This requires a justified application and a vote of the faculty. A teaching reduction can only be taken into account if and insofar as a decision of the Human Resources Department has been received in writing.

What is a lecture hour (German LVS)?

One lecture hour (LVS) corresponds to at least 45 minutes of teaching time per week of the lecture period, i.e. at least 45 minutes to be spent in front of or with students. Preparation and follow-up time (as well as time for the preparation or correction of exercises or examinations or the coordination of practical courses) are not eligible for credit. Lectures, exercises, seminars, integrated events, etc. are fully counted towards the teaching obligation (1 SWS = 1 LVS).

For courses that do not take place every week of the lecture period (e.g. block courses, excursions, lecture series, etc.), the time hours held must be converted into SWS in advance. For this purpose, the total number of teaching hours held in the respective semester is divided by the number of lecture weeks (16 weeks in WiSe, 14 weeks in SoSe).

If, for example, a block course with a total of 32 teaching hours was held in the winter semester, this results in 2.0 SWS (32 teaching hours : 16 weeks of lectures = 2.0 SWS). It should be noted that a maximum of 8 hours of teaching time per day is taken into account.

Excursions are also to be converted into SWS; a maximum of 10 hours of teaching time per day is taken into account. The credit factor is 0.3, since no continuous supervision of students is required. For a three-day excursion in the summer semester, 0.6 creditable LVS result (3 days x 10 hours : 14 weeks = 2.1 SWS * 0.3).

The number of credit hours must be rounded to one decimal place.

How many courses (weeks) are credited per semester?

According to the lecture period the usual target is

in the winter semester: 16 courses
in the summer semester: 14 courses

Courses must begin in the first week of lectures, unless they conflict with a priority introductory course. They must be completed by the last week of lectures. Deviations from this norm (cancellations and interruptions that have not been compensated for) must be justified.

Courses with multiple teachers

Courses in which two or more teachers are involved will be credited to them according to the extent of their respective teaching involvement.

Example 1: A seminar of 2 SWS is taught by two teachers. In this case, each teacher is credited with 1 LVS.

Example 2: An exercise of 2 SWS is taught by two teachers. The first teacher has offered only 4 x 2 h (= 4 courses) in the whole semester. The second teacher, on the other hand, has offered 12 x 2 h (= 12 courses). Accordingly, 0.5 LVS is allocated to the first teacher and 1.5 LVS to the second teacher. (For the pro-rata calculation, the following applies in principle: WiSe = 16 courses; SoSe = 14 courses) Always round to one decimal place.

An exception is made for interdisciplinary courses, i.e. courses in which teachers from different institutes or faculties are involved (LVVO § 4). In this case, the respective lecturers may receive the full number of credit hours. However, the course may be credited a maximum of three times.

Courses with multiple groups

If a course of the type Exercise / Integrated Course / Seminar / Project(-seminar, -exercise) / Excursion is divided into several student groups throughout the semester and these are taught independently of each other (group teaching), each individual group course can be fully credited to the teacher(s). However, the LVS for each additional group can only be credited when the additional groups have the minimum size of 30 participants* each. 

Example 1: To ensure the quality of your teaching, you would like to split your seminar with 40 participants and teach each group of 20 students individually and independently (on two different weekdays) throughout the semester. In this case the group size is too small for a double crediting of the LVS, i.e. the course can only be credited once.

Example 2: In order to ensure the quality of your teaching, you would like to split your seminar with 60 participants and teach each group of 30 students individually and independently (e.g. on two different weekdays) throughout the semester. Here the group size is large enough. You can credit yourself (or a possible other teacher who has taken over e.g. the 2nd group) the LVS twice (or once each). 

Lectures cannot be divided into groups in this way. These can only be credited once with an unlimited number of participants

Can final theses be credited?

The supervision of final theses cannot be counted towards the teaching obligation. In Berlin, an above-average workload due to the supervision of theses can only be taken into account in the teaching obligations of professors in artistic subjects and at universities of applied sciences.

See LVVO § 3 para. 6 with reference to § 5 para. 1 sentence 1 letter b.

When is the teaching obligation to be provided?

As a rule, the teaching obligation must be fulfilled in full each semester.

In exceptional cases and only on the condition that the prescribed teaching load in a subject is fulfilled in each semester, the teaching obligation can also be fulfilled, if there are no official reasons to the contrary, by meeting the teaching obligation on average for three consecutive academic years or by compensating for a teaching load that is below the teaching obligation with a higher load of other teaching staff within the respective semester. University teachers can only compensate each other.

Failure to fulfill teaching obligations

The Dean has to notify the Human Resources Department of any failure to comply with the teaching obligation. Failure to comply with the teaching obligation regulation may have consequences under service or employment law.

Title teaching for PD, apl. and honorary professors

Private lecturers, non-scheduled professors and honorary professors are required to teach 1 course unit (LVS). Employees of the TU Berlin have to provide the title teaching in addition to their regular teaching duties, unless other comparable (and in particular not instruction-bound) teaching activities are to be credited.

Instructions for filling in the reporting table

Column 1 - 3

Surname, first name and academic degree are to be entered here. 
Preferably, all courses held during the semester should be reported for the same person with the same table. The information in columns 1 to 3 should then be repeated in each row, as should the information in columns 5 and 6 (Kst and Sekr).
It is also possible to report the teaching load of several persons with the same table (e.g. of a subject area). In this case, a new row must be created for each person and each course.

(see explanation above point 2.)

Column 4

The following abbreviations are to be used here: 

Prof for professor 
JP/1 for junior professor / 1st phase 
JP/2 for junior professor / 2nd phase 
HD for university lecturer 
WiMi/u for scientific employee / unlimited 
WiMi/b for research associate / limited term  

In case of other types of employment, please indicate them freely.

Column 5

Here you have to enter the cost center of your department (see also spreadsheet "KstVerz").

Column 6

Please enter the secretarial code of your specialty here. (H XX)

Column 7

Here you have to enter the amount of your standard obligation according to LVVO § 5. This is for: 

Professors: 9 LVS
Junior professors (first phase): 4 LVS
Junior professors (second phase): 6 LVS
University lecturers: 18 LVS
Research assistants, employed for an indefinite period of time with 100% employment from budgetary funds: 8 LVS
Research assistants, fixed-term employment with 100 % budgetary funds: 4 LVS

Column 8

If you have a teaching reduction approved by the Human Resources Department, please indicate here to how many teaching hours your regular teaching obligation is reduced (please not by how many!). The decision from Human Resources must be attached to the mail. Otherwise the reduction cannot be considered!

You only need to fill in the information about the teaching reduction and the confirmation that you have attached the notification once per teacher and semester.

Column 9

The course number according to the course catalog in MOSES must be entered here.

Column 10

Enter the title of the course here.

If a course is held by you several times in parallel, it is to be listed accordingly often. Please use a new line for each course. As a distinguishing feature, the time and place should be entered directly after the course title. (See also "Courses with several groups" above).

Column 11

The following abbreviations are to be used here: 

VL for lecture 
UE for Exercise 
 IV for integrated course 
SE for Seminar 
PJ for project 
TU for tutorial  
CO for colloquium
EX for excursion
PR for internship
For other types of events, please indicate them freely.

Column 12

SWS according to the module description in MOSES.

In the case of courses that do not take place every week of the lecture period (e.g. block courses, excursions, etc.), the hours held must be converted into SWS in advance (see "What is a lecture hour (LVS)?" above).

In principle, the following applies: WiSe = 16 weeks/courses; SoSe = 14 weeks/courses.

Example: a block course with a total of 32 teaching hours is held in the winter semester. This results in 2.0 SWS (32 teaching hours : 16 weeks of lectures = 2.0 SWS). It must be taken into account that a maximum of 8 hours of teaching time per day is taken into account.Excursions are also to be converted into SWS; a maximum of 10 hours of teaching time per day is taken into account. The credit factor is 0.3, since no continuous supervision of students is required. For a three-day excursion in the summer semester, 0.6 creditable LVS result (3 days x 10 hours : 14 weeks = 2.1 SWS * 0.3).

The number of credit hours must be rounded to one decimal place.

Column 13 - 14

Column 13: Please enter the number of participants at the beginning of the lecture period only for courses with restricted participation.

Column 14: Please enter the number of participants at the end of the lecture period only for courses with restricted participation.

Column 15

The respective surname and first name of the teaching staff involved in the same course (academic staff only) must be indicated here in the case of regular teaching participation.
Tutors are not academic staff!

Column 16

Here, only the own share of LVS per week in a course held jointly with other teachers is to be indicated. The participating teachers indicate their respective share in their own report. 

Example 1: A seminar of 2 SWS is taught by two teachers. In this case, 1 LVS is to be credited to each teacher.

Example 2: An exercise of 2 SWS is taught by two teachers. The first teacher has offered only 4 x 2 h (= 4 courses) in the whole semester. The second teacher, on the other hand, has offered 12 x 2 h (= 12 courses). Accordingly, 0.5 LVS is allocated to the first teacher and 1.5 LVS to the second teacher. (For the pro-rata calculation, the following applies in principle: WiSe = 16 courses; SoSe = 14 courses).
The number of courses must always be rounded to one decimal place.

An exception is made for interdisciplinary courses, i.e. courses in which teachers from different institutes or faculties are involved (LVVO § 4). In this case, the respective lecturers may receive the full number of credit hours. However, the course may be credited a maximum of three times!

Column 17

Here you must enter whether the course is a compulsory, compulsory elective or elective course. The following abbreviations are to be used: 

P for compulsory (This course is included in at least one study and examination regulation of the TU-Berlin in the compulsory area).
WP for compulsory elective (This course is included in the compulsory elective section of at least one study and examination regulation of the TU Berlin).
W for Wahl (This course is neither in the compulsory nor in the compulsory elective area in a study and examination regulation of the TU).

Column 18

If you would like to share something with us, you can do so for general messages in your mail or directly here. The latter would be preferred for messages that directly affect this course.

For example, you could tell us why the teaching obligation was exceeded or not met and in which semester the compensation is/was made. (See "Failure to meet teaching obligation" and "When to meet teaching obligation" above).

Contact person