COVID-19 / CURRENT INFORMATION

By order of the Federal Government, no courses with a physical presence may be held at the University of Applied Arts Vienna until April 3, 2020.

10. March 2020

important information distance teaching and homeoffice
info.uni-ak.ac.at

The motivation behind the comprehensive measures is to reduce social contacts in order to curb the spread of the corona virus at an early stage.
 
The University of Applied Arts Vienna therefore implements the following measures IMMEDIATELY until the end of the Easter holidays (Fri, April 17, 2020):
 

- There are no courses with physical presence. Courses, presentations and other activities related to doctoral studies are also affected.
- All activities with a physical presence in the teaching context (lectures, talks, excursions, visits to exhibitions) will be discontinued.
- Based on the motivation of the orders by the federal government, no public events will be held at the university until further notice.
- Starting Monday, March 16, 2020, students will not be able to access the studios and classrooms. Needed materials can be picked up until Friday, March 13, 2020.
- The operation of the workshops for students is discontinued.
- Operation in the reading room of the university libraries is discontinued. Books can be borrowed and returned.
- In all areas of work, personal contact and interaction is limited to the minimum. This applies in particular to the study department and the human resources department.
- Teaching and research staff is advised to switch to home working. If it cannot be avoided, access to the dedicated offices is permitted. Meetings with more than three people are not permitted.
- Business trips are not approved; business trips that have already been approved cannot be started.
- Persons returning from all WHO crisis areas cannot enter the university for 14 days. With foresight, employees are urged to reduce private travels according to the guidelines of the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
- Services in the areas of planning, service and administration remain in place. The respective superiors strive to take measures that reduce the risk of infection. The possibility of home office must be clarified with your respective superior individually. Access to the offices is permitted. Meetings with more than three people are prohibited.
- The university gallery in Heiligenkreuzerhof remains open.
 
More detailed information for students, teachers and staff can be found at the end of the message.
 
It is important for us to emphasize that there are currently no confirmed or suspected Corona-cases at the Angewandte. In order to handle the extraordinary situation with care, the Rectorate has decided to implement the Federal Government's guidelines published today with all the consequences, at least for the coming weeks.
 
Thank you for your understanding! We can only try to make the best out of this - for everyone - stressful situation, and be as careful as possible with ourselves and our fellow human beings.
 
 
Best wishes
Gerald Bast (Rector), Barbara Putz-Plecko, Bernhard Kernegger, Eva Maria Stadler and Maria Zettler (Vice Rectors)
 
 
 
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Information for students
Please stay at home during the above-stated period and reduce your social contacts as much as possible. Of course, contact to teaching staff remains in place electronically as far as possible. For the continuation of the courses, new formats of “distance learning” are gradually developed and communicated in order to maintain teaching in as many areas as possible ("distance learning", electronic communication, etc.).
 
You will get information about the courses directly from the respective teachers. The Rectorate regularly provides you with information on other university measures. Therefore, please check the messages in your university account regularly. General information about services as well as step-by-step instructions for access to your email-account can be found here (will be updated continuously).
 
For now, it is not possible to work on semester, diploma and final theses at the university buildings during the above-mentioned period. Deadlines for scientific diploma theses will be met. In consultation with teaching staff as well as with other art universities, the Rectorate will find a solution for the assessment of such projects – taking the special circumstances into account.
 
We are aware that these measures will lead to numerous problems, challenges and detours. In consultation with the authorities, we endeavor to find solutions with a special focus on students’ life realities and will communicate them on an ongoing basis.
 
If you have any questions, please contact your teachers or the study department. Questions that cannot be answered immediately will be collected and dealt with regularly in the Rectorate.
 
 
Information for teachers
All lecturers are obliged to maintain contact with the students electronically and to develop (in cooperation with the respective department / institute) a teaching format that enables the respective courses to be held without attendance during the above-mentioned period. Please communicate the further procedure promptly to your students via base.
 
In addition to analog methods (reading, essays, written documentation, etc.), digital services such as video calls, video and audio recordings and the use of online forums are also available. Instructions for this can be found here (will be updated continuously).
 
Presentations (PowerPoint, PDF etc.), videos, sound recordings, pictures, manuscripts, handsets etc. can be passed on to the students via ownCloud as usual. When you registered in Courses & Teaching, a folder was automatically created and shared with the students, in which the teachers can load and distribute the documents.
 
General information on the University's services for remote work as well as step-by-step instructions on how to switch to work from home can be found here (will be updated continuously).
 
If you have any questions, please contact your respective superior or the Vice Rector for Teaching and Development Bernhard Kernegger (bernhard.kernegger@uni-ak.ac.at). Questions that cannot be answered immediately are collected and dealt with regularly in the rectorate.
 
 
Information for employees in planning, service and administration
Basically, the in-house-services remain in place; personal contact is largely restricted.
 
If you belong to a risk group for which a disease would be particularly dangerous, it is possible, with the presentation of appropriate medical documents, to avoid/reduce activities with direct personal contact by finding an alternative mode, in consultation with your supervisor. In what way is to be discussed individually. In any way, the HR department has to be informed.
 
General information on the University's services for remote work as well as step-by-step instructions for switching to work from home can be found here (will be updated continuously). If you have any questions, please contact your respective superior. Questions that cannot be answered immediately are collected and dealt with regularly in the Rectorate.
 
Dealing with symptoms
If appropriate symptoms of the disease appear (fever, cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing) AND a stay in one of the affected regions or contact with possible COVID-19-patients within the previous 14 days, please stay in your apartment and report immediately to the health hotline: 1450
There you will receive specific instructions on how to proceed. 
If you are classified as a potential COVID-19-patient, please inform the HR department immediately.
 
In your own interest and in the interest of all members of the university, you are not permitted to enter the Angewandte before a complete medical examination.
 
 
Further information:
 
Information for higher education
The BMBWF collects information relevant to higher education on the following website:
https://www.bmbwf.gv.at/corona
 
General questions and daily information about the virus
The website of the Agency for Health and Food Security AGES of the Ministry of Health is a good point of contact for all general questions about the virus:
https://www.ages.at/themen/krankheitserreger/coronavirus/#
The information page of the City of Vienna is also very helpful: https://www.wien.gv.at/gesundheit/coronavirus.html
 
Telephone health advice:
Telephone number 1450 (7 days a week, 0 a.m. to midnight)
 
Up-to-date information on the worldwide course of the disease can be found on the website of the Ministry of Health:
https://www.sozialministerium.at/Informationen-zum-Coronavirus.html