Freshmen’s Welcome Week

Important: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and according safety regulations, the Welcome Week for winter semester 2021/22 will be taking place virtually via Zoom from October 6th to 8th.  The links and details will be sent via email to all prospective students. All times are indicated in German time (CEST).

Schedule

Wednesday, October 6th
4pm – 6pm: Welcome by the Tutor
Our tutor will welcome you and introduce you to how the study programme works.

Thursday, October 7th
2pm – 4pm: Welcome by the Tutor
You can learn more about Siegen, the university and opportunities around your student life.
4pm – 6pm: Meet&Greet with faculty members and students
Our professors and lecturers will welcome you, introduce themselves and their projects. Find out about interesting research and work opportunities! 

Friday, October 8th
1pm – 3pm: Academic Advisor Q&A
Got questions left? Your academic advisor will be happy to answer them!

We recommend you to check this webpage frequently for updates. In case of any other questions, do not hesitate to contact your Academic Advisor and take care.

Here are some important documents and an example schedule for a good start into the HCI programme:

Formular zur Prüfungsanmeldung (German)
Exam registration form (English)

Example schedule for your first semester: Example_Timetable_HCI_WS21

Overview of all current elective modules: Elective courses in winter semester 2021/22

 Date: October 6th to 8th
  Tutor: Daniel Courtney
 Our HCI Facebook Group

 Orientation

There are several campus locations where the freshmen’s introduction and many courses will be held. The most important one is the Unteres Schloss Campus or US, which is a relatively young campus. We moved here for in winter semester 2014/15 and it’s located in the middle of the city. Here, all of the HCI core and elective lessons will be held. The official direction is Unteres Schloß, 57072 Siegen. Attention! This campus is based on a easily recognizable castle building, as well as the earlier regional hospital, where the HCI is located and is just behind the castle building, on the Kohlbett Street (Kohlbettstr.). You’ll find a map on the right.

Furthermore, there is the Adolf-Reichwein Campus, or AR. It’s the university’s biggest campus where the main cafeteria, Aula Magna, main library, etc. are located. HCI students will attend here, basically, complimentary courses, which are offered by other faculties. The AR campus is located outside of Siegen, on the Haardter Mountain (Haardter Berg). A map showing both the AR and US campus can be found on the right.

Than another Campus you get in touch with sometimes is the Hölderlin Campus (H). You only go there if vacancies with rooms occur, but it happens seldom. Anyhow, the H-Campus is important for it provides you with two CIP-Pools and a lot of other important things like hard- and software if needed at the ZIMT. You’ll find the link here.

 Driving Directions

It is highly recommended to drive to the university via public transport (don’t forget your semester transit ticket!) due to little parking lots at the US campus. The AR campus can be reached with the C 111 and C 106 bus lines, whereas during the freshmen’s introduction and lecture season the university express lines UX 1, 2, 3 and 6 will be additionally offered, parting from the Siegen and Siegen-Weidenau train stations. The US campus can be reached on foot in ten minutes from Siegen main station. The „Kölner Tor“ bus station, nevertheless, is some minutes clores to the campus.

You can also get some orientation within Siegen and its campus bus routes through the USi-Bus app.

Lageplan US CampusLageplan AR Campus

Freshmen FAQ

The examination regulations and the module handbook (included in the regulations) are the most important factors to consider when putting your timetable together. The examination regulations govern examination conditions and indicate which modules (courses) have to be completed successfully. The module handbook describes the content (learning aims, contents of the courses of study, bibliography etc.) and the formalities (semester cycle, type of examination, preconditions etc.) of the modules and part modules.

At first, it makes life easier to be guided by the order of study. Later on, you can find out which lectures take place and when by taking a look at the lecture timetable online in Unisono (don’t forget to check in the top left hand corner if you have selected the correct semester). You can choose which of the courses to go to and – voilà! You have put your first timetable together! However, as your HCI tutor will help you to put your timetable together in the course of the introductory week, there is absolutely no need for you to do so before the term begins.

When you first begin to study here, it will almost certainly happen that you can‘t register for certain courses in Unisono (the online prospectus) because the first registration deadline has expired. No problem. Just wait for the second opening of registration for choosing your courses (Attention: from the 2nd semester onwards you shouldn’t miss the second deadline!). If you do so you can ask the lecturer within first session about joining the course. Please note – as a Freshman you have special conditions on the whole process, so it is not necessary to register for courses before the introductory week.
ZIMT, our computer center, has put together an overview of all these things.
In addition to the usual registration procedures, various data protection regulations require you to send the registration form together your Bachelor Certificate or Diploma to the Faculty III examinations office in order for you to be permitted to take examinations. Make sure to do so until the exam registration deadline has passed! We are going to discuss this within the freshmen’s introduction week.
The most important thing to note is that when you register for a course in Unisono, you are not automatically registered for the examination! Examinations take place separately at a later date in the semester (see the examination department’s web page for dates and details). The lecturers will tell you more about this when the course is running. You can register for exams in Unisono under My Studies -> Study Planner with Module Plan. The exams are the courses with the red ribbons.