FAQ

• Please use the Friedolin-HelpdeskExternal link

• Please keep your personal information up to date for important requests of the examinations office. The current status you can check after your login in Friedolin at “Personal data”.
• To change your address please fill in the form “Veränderungsmeldung” on the website of the Student Service Centre de. The form must be provided via mail or in person (FSU Jena, Studierenden-Service-Zentrum, 07737 Jena)
• To change your e-mail address please contact the Student Service Centre de
• Please check your mail regularly or forward your mails to an active account.
• Phone numbers can be changed in Friedolin
• International students can change their personal data at the international officeExternal link

• Yes, it is possible to submit your thesis these ways.
• Caution! Please be aware of your faculty’s requirements. Otherwise your thesis is not submitted in due time. (Bachelor: 2 bounded hardcopies + 1 digital version. / Master: 3 bounded hardcopies + 1 digital version.)
• Signed Declaration of independencepdf, 143 kb in each bounded hardcopy must be submitted!
• Digital Version can be submitted by email

• Within 10 weeks after begin of lectures a withdrawal on Friedolin is possible.
• Afterwards just via formpdf, 100 kb · de.

• Application for lectures should be in advance of their start. (Winter semester from 15.08 / Summer semester from 15.02)
• The lectures assignment will occur beginning of October/April
• Within 10 weeks after the beginning of the semester a submission (or withdrawal) is possible.
• Further information you can find on Friedolin at “Dates”External link.

• Regulations for a “free attempt” you can find here: B.Sc. Physics, B.Sc. Material Science, M.Sc. Photonics.

• General form of applicationpdf, 100 kb · de.
• Application form must occur within 6 weeks after the beginning of the next semester.
• The right to take an examination must be newly awarded. Regulations will be set by the examiner.
• Sometimes there is the possibility for an oral examination but not by legal right.
• Registration for the third attempt must be arranged via the Examination Office.

• The examination deadline states until which semester certain exames should be taken in a given study programme. For students of the Bachelor's programmes, the deadline ends at the end of the fourth semester after the standard period of study, and for the Master's programmes after the end of the third semester after the standard period of study. This deadline may be extended in the Examinations Office upon proof of valid reasons.
  
  
• Ensuring the deadlines are met is responsibility of the students. In particular, it is the students responsibility to keep in mind the deadlines and examination cycles as published on Friedolin. Furthermore, students are obliged to check up on entries in the grading section and date section in Friedolin at least weekly. 
• Examination deadlines may only be extended after an application has been submitted. This includes deadlines that are not added on top of the standard period of study. Students affected by this must inform themselves and apply if nessecary at their respective Examinations Office.

• Inform the examiner before the start of the examination (e-mail or phone call).
• Submit the certificate stating that you are unable to take the examinationpdf, 234 kb · de to the Examinations Office within 3 working days (by post, email, in person or in the letterbox in the foyer)
• Informal versions from the doctor's practice are also accepted. It is important to note that only the university can formally determine the inability to take exams;
• The old paper medical certificate ("Krankenschein") is also accepted by us, but only in the version with a diagnosis code, if it shows that you are unable to take an examination. The university is currently not authorised to read out the sickness absence data digitally, as is possible for employees.
• ATTENTION! Even if you are ill on the 1st examination date, you will automatically be registered for the re-examination (1st attempt)!
  If no form is submitted at a later date, the examination is deemed to have been failed ("failure to appear without good reason").

• Students of the Bachelor's programme have additional examination attempts after the first failing of an exam of any module in the orientation phase of their studies. The orientation phase are the first three semesters of the studies programme. Such additional attempts may be used up to three times per study programme and cause failed attempts of exams to not be counted as as an attempt at all, if the failed attempt was also the first attempt of the given module exam in the orientation phase. The form (via mail or in paper) has to be submitted to the Examinations Office latest fourteen days after being informed about failing the exam via the electronic study and exam organisation system.
  
  
• Bachelor students have additional attempts: Up to three module during the entire Bachelor's programme may be counted as free attempts to improve grading. Already passed exams may only be re-attempted once. In order for the result of the free attempt to be recognisable, the exam has to be taken at the next possible examination date after registering for the exam. The registration will be processed by the Examinations Office after the corresponding form has been submitted latest two weeks before the examination date by the student. Between the grade from the passed exam and the free attempt, the better one will be used as the module's grade.
• Master students have additional attempts: Students following the recommended study schedule can use up to two free attempts to improve grades from passed exams of the first study year of obligatory courses. Each passed module examination may be re-attempted at most once. In order for the result of the free attempt to be recognisable, the exam has to be taken at the next possible examination date after registering for the exam. The registration will be processed by the Examinations Office after the corresponding form has been submitted latest two weeks before the examination date by the student. Between the grade from the passed exam and the free attempt, the better one will be used as the module's grade.

Since theses are critical for the completion of the degree, it is prescribed here that one of the two examiners (=examiner) must be a university lecturer/professor (cf. §54 (4) ThürHSG).

In the MSc. Physics and BSc. Physics this means in particular that the first examiner (= the one who issues the topic) is a professor of the PAF. The same applies to the MSc. Photonics, whereby it must also be guaranteed that the professor is a member of the Abbe School of Photonics. In the BSc. or MSc. Materials Science, the second reviewer can also be a professor and the first reviewer can be, for example, a junior research group leader.

• For your Bachelor thesis (Physics, Materials Science) it is 360 hours according to examination regulations.
• Standard FSU-regulations: From 9 weeks to 4 months time for completion.
• Admission at the examinations office.

• If there are legitimate circumstances present hindering the student from working on the thesis, more time can be granted after submitting an application to the Examinations Office. The application has to be submitted by the student working on the thesis and must contain an explanation of the circumstances as well as verifiable proof and a statement of the student, if the circumstances are not caused by the university. The application has to be submitted immediately after the hindering circumstances have begun and before the deadline of the thesis.
  
  
• In cases of health-related causes, a medical attest has to be submitted latest at most three days after it has been attested, in certain cases from a public health officer. The attest has to contain certification of the health condition hindering the student from working on the thesis. If valid reasons are presented, additional time equal to the time the student is affected by the attested condition will be granted.
• The application will be reviewed by the corresponding Examination Board and it decides whether or not additional time is granted.

• From April 1, 2026, bachelor's/master's theses will only be submitted digitally.
  A bound version will no longer be required.
• There are no exact formal criteria.
• You should use the standard formal criteria of your faculty (font size, line space etc.)
• The number of pages written is not limited.
• IMPORTANT! Include and sign the declaration of independencepdf, 143 kb.

If parts of the referenced material is already published, the work has to be cited according to the general procedure. In addition, we recommend refraining from citing larger passages word by word, since authorship cannot be attributed to single authors in published work with multiple authors. If the work has not yet been published, copyright does not enforce citing of the work. But for the purpose of grading, parts that were produced outside of the assignment for which the work is done have to be clearly specified as such, if they were already part of another module's grading format.

Further information can be found here:

• Refecencing one's own preliminary work, DFGExternal link
• Safeguarding good scientific practice

Attempts to deceive, serious disruption to the examination process, plagiarism, etc. are generally given mark 5.0. In that case, the possibility for a 2nd retake is cancelled as well. This applies in particular to both the person who takes results from another one and the person who allows it. In the event of serious misconduct, examinations can also be retrospectively canceled. Details are regulated in the relevant paragraphs of the examination regulations.

• It is always possible to participate in modules without taking examinations.
• Master required elective modules with a maximum of 12 ECTS will be recognized when completed during your Bachelor studies (not for mandatory modules from the M.Sc. Physics!)
• General form of application.pdf, 100 kb · de

• Modules of “Teacher training” are exclusively for students with them being compulsory modules of their recommended study plan.
• Exceptions will be made with the lecturer for students who must repeat the module.
• Students of “Teacher training” are generally allowed to attend Bachelor modules.

• We recommend completing your practical semester during the summer semester (typically the 6^th semester).
• If the practical semester is completed during the winter semester (5^th semester) modules must be attended in a different order.

• Normally contents of modules will be compared. Cases of regulations can occur.
• Please inform at the Office for Student Affairs and Examinations.

• In general, regulations are the same as with compulsory modules (Dates, application, free attempts etc.)
• Exceptional case here: The possibility to replace one required elective module with another in case of failed modules.
• If you have completed more required elective modules than necessary these can be referenced as additional modules on your grade certificate.

• No, this is not a problem. Please submit to examinations in time.
• g. “Introduction to Research Methods” (M.Sc. Physics/Materials Science) / “Industrial Internship” (B.Sc. Materials Science)

• Admission to lecture (Schedule of classes)
• Register for the examination via the Office of Studies and Examinations.
• For examinations that do not have an examination number, please register using the “Examination registration”pdf, 84 kb · de form. You hand this in directly to the lecturer.
• For language courses via the Language Center, you do not need to register for examinations (send the certificate of achievement by e-mail to the Office of Studies and Examinations).

• according to the decision of the Faculty Council of 12.02.2015, language courses up to 8 ECTS can be credited in the free elective area
• there must be progress in the acquisition of language skills beyond the Abitur level

Enrolling in two study programmes at the same time is possible, but credit recognition has to be done via the Examinations Office. The final thesis may not be recognised outside the respective study programme. Further information can be obtained by asking the respective Examinations Offices.