Vorheriger Bericht
Gute Inhalte, mangelnde Organisation
Know what you're in for
Starting with the positives, the palaeoanthropology department of the ASHE program offers a broad range of interesting courses and the lecturers are great teachers and highly competent researchers. If I could judge the last two years solely based on the education I received I would definitely recommend it.
However, this is only one side of the study program and it was dulled by the utter lack of communication and organization we experienced: There was a lot of confusion about what we had to do to get credit for some courses and the information given in the module handbook did not always match the answers we got from the department. There were arbitrary deadlines that we were informed about one and a half months before projects were due and there are big differences between the specializations regarding project reports and when to submit them. For long stretches of the semester it felt like some deadlines were made up on the spot and communicated directly to students (usually short notice) or inofficially by telling one student to 'inform their peers about it". The amount of e-mails each one of us send just to figure out what was happening and what to do is sobering. Trying to get credit for our courses was another never-ending e-mail thread with the examination office. The lecturers aren't to blame here as they usually submitted everything fairly early, but then the grades got stuck at the examination office and we had to chase after them for months. This really took away from time that we could have spent studying or at the very least not worrying, if we'll ever see those grades.
There was talk to limit the number of students allowed to take introductory courses to palaeoanthropological topics in the future, so be aware that you might not be able to specialize in this, if you don't get in. The department seems to take on more students than they can comfortably accommodate. Some department heads were not particularly open towards suggestions from the student union (Fachschaft) trying to find substitutional classes or any other way to provide more students with the chance to actually study what they want to study.
As I said, if it was only for the quality of teaching and the class content this would be a great program. But you need to be aware that as of now it is deeply disorganized and if this doesn't get fixed it will take a toll on your study experience. I would not recommend this program the way it is structured presently.
However, this is only one side of the study program and it was dulled by the utter lack of communication and organization we experienced: There was a lot of confusion about what we had to do to get credit for some courses and the information given in the module handbook did not always match the answers we got from the department. There were arbitrary deadlines that we were informed about one and a half months before projects were due and there are big differences between the specializations regarding project reports and when to submit them. For long stretches of the semester it felt like some deadlines were made up on the spot and communicated directly to students (usually short notice) or inofficially by telling one student to 'inform their peers about it". The amount of e-mails each one of us send just to figure out what was happening and what to do is sobering. Trying to get credit for our courses was another never-ending e-mail thread with the examination office. The lecturers aren't to blame here as they usually submitted everything fairly early, but then the grades got stuck at the examination office and we had to chase after them for months. This really took away from time that we could have spent studying or at the very least not worrying, if we'll ever see those grades.
There was talk to limit the number of students allowed to take introductory courses to palaeoanthropological topics in the future, so be aware that you might not be able to specialize in this, if you don't get in. The department seems to take on more students than they can comfortably accommodate. Some department heads were not particularly open towards suggestions from the student union (Fachschaft) trying to find substitutional classes or any other way to provide more students with the chance to actually study what they want to study.
As I said, if it was only for the quality of teaching and the class content this would be a great program. But you need to be aware that as of now it is deeply disorganized and if this doesn't get fixed it will take a toll on your study experience. I would not recommend this program the way it is structured presently.
- Most docents I encountered were encouraging and passionate about their field of study and fantastic teachers
- Complete disorganization and lack of official communication
Wie gut ist deine Hochschule digital aufgestellt?
I did not know that printed paper certificates for class credit/grades were still a thing before I came to Tübingen University. The ASHE program is one of the last ones that still use these. We would sometimes get our grades online, sometimes on paper (but still had to hand them in to the examination office either per mail or e-mail), but never knew beforehand which one it would be. We had to email the examination office and lecturers multiple times (most of the time without an answer) over the course of months to finally have credits put on our transcripts. I waited over a year for some grades. The whole process was annoying and anxiety inducing to say the least. Some of us depended on their grades to keep their scholarships and applying for a PhD missing half your credits isn't exactly ideal. Overall, the ASHE program's digital presence was still severely lacking when we graduated and needs to be completely restructured, if they want to avoid the same mess in the future.