Message to students: Take advantage of the vaccination offer

Dear Students,

as a result of the Corona pandemic, we are approaching the end of our third digital semester. Due to the sinking number of Corona cases, not only in the state and the city of Stuttgart, but also across the country, we all firmly believe that it is finally time to ease restrictions, after months of hardship and adversity. 

While EC football matches are being held in front of thousands of spectators, restaurants and shops are opening once more, and face masks must no longer be worn everywhere in the city center, the question arises: when can we return to some semblance of normality? When is it finally time to wave goodbye to exclusively digital teaching and return to "normal" university life with on-site teaching?

I would like to emphasize today that the University of Stuttgart is doing everything in its power to ensure that we will be able to return to on-site teaching and studying in the winter semester 2021/22 - this will be a step-by-step process, subject to hygiene and distancing rules. In a meeting with the Minister of Science Theresia Bauer and university directors from universities in Baden-Württemberg, we came to the agreement that the state must formulate a clear framework for the planned campus openings, particularly in terms of clear social distancing rules.

For the University of Stuttgart, this means that the Rector plans to ensure that a hybrid model for studying can be implemented at the university from the beginning of September, as far as this is possible. We will implement this - as we have done successfully in the past - together with the student council stuvus and all faculties. In particular, we will be focusing on students who have recently begun studying at the university and who have never set foot on campus, let alone in an auditorium, to ensure that they are able to experience to onsite teaching, or at least a similar model.

Nevertheless, it is important to remember that our plans for reopening the university are also subject to the current state Corona Guidelines from the State Ministry of Baden-Wuerttemberg for Sciences, Research and Arts (MWK), and that these will dictate what options are open to us. The Rectorate would like to emphasize, that the university will be exploring all legal options available for ensuring that we can return to the onsite teaching model we have all been longing for.

This is very important, and I would like to finish with an appeal to you all to please take advantage of the vaccination offer! That is why I am delighted that 6,000 vaccines are being allocated for students enrolled at universities in Stuttgart as part of a pilot project, organized by the State Ministry of Baden-Wuerttemberg for Sciences, Research and Arts (MWK). The University of Stuttgart has agreed with the MWK that it will be responsible for managing student registrations for vaccination appointments for all Stuttgart universities. For more information, please visit the Vaccination offer website for students You can sign up to be vaccinated here starting July 1 at 5:00 pm. starting July 1 at 5:00 pm

We are all collectively responsible for ensuring that protective government-imposed restrictions can be rolled back.

I would like to thank you all for behaving responsibly throughout the crisis and for the solidarity you have shown at our university. I wish you all a great summer and hope that life will become a little easier, without this ending in reckless behavior.