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© Universität Bielefeld
Information for (new) Employees
The Faculty introduces itself
The Faculty of Public Health is one of the 14 faculties of Bielefeld University and one of the youngest, having been founded almost 30 years ago in 1994. To date, the Faculty of Public Health is the only faculty organized in accordance with the international model of a School of Public Health. We are an interdisciplinary faculty with staff from medical, natural science and social science disciplines. Even before the Faculty was founded, Bielefeld University was one of the first institutions to offer health science education in Germany, at that time still in the form of a postgraduate course for graduate health professionals. Today, the Faculty of Public Health is the only university faculty in Germany that offers a consecutive program of study with a Bachelor's degree in Health Communication, a Master's degree in Public Health and a doctoral program, which is supplemented by continuing education courses for different target groups.
Structure
The Faculty is structured around the areas of expertise central to public health research and teaching. The Faculty comprises eight working groups (WGs) and two research units (Rehabilitation Sciences and Electronic Public Health), each headed by a professor and including technical and administrative staff as well as student and research assistants in addition to other professors and academic co-workers. The number of staff in the individual WGs and research units varies depending on the number and size of the third-party funded projects to be worked on.
The professors plan the focus of research independently, assume responsibility for individual modules in the degree programs in cooperation with other WGs and each shape a specific staff culture. On the one hand, this is one of the Faculty’s great strengths, as it allows the individual areas to develop their own profiles. On the other hand, it also presents the Faculty with the challenge of communicating across the WGs and developing a common profile.
About the Working Groups and Research Units.
Formal Structure
The Faculty is led by a dean's office consisting of a dean* and a vice dean* who are elected for four years at a time by the Faculty Board. Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Greiner has been dean since November 2022; the vice dean is Prof. Dr. Kayvan Bozorgmehr. Dr. Kerstin Schlingmann has been Academic Dean since April 2023, and is thus responsible for all matters relating to teaching and examinations at the Faculty.
Faculty's head of administration is Eleonora Wagner. The Head of Administration is the most important contact person, e.g. for personnel and organizational issues.
In addition, the Faculty’s formal structure is based on a number of committees, including the Faculty Board, the Teaching Committee, the Research Committee, the Structure and Finance Committee and the Equal Opportunities Committee. Information on the non-professorial academic staff can be found here.
How is teaching organized?
Module descriptions
The basis of teaching is the module descriptions. The degree programs are modular and responsibility for the modules usually lies with one or two professors. Modules usually consist of several courses, which are held either in parallel or across semesters. While in some modules lectures are the central method of instruction, in others teaching is also conducted (sometimes temporarily) in smaller groups (seminars, practical projects). Module leaders are responsible for the actual design (based on the module descriptions).
The module descriptions, on which study programs and examinations are based, constitute a binding specification for teaching. Further information can be found here:
Bachelor Health Communication:
https://ekvv.uni-bielefeld.de/sinfo/publ/bachelor/healthcommunication
Master Public Health:
https://ekvv.uni-bielefeld.de/sinfo/publ/master-as/pubhealth
Teaching and course planning
Teaching is planned with a lead time of about half a year. On the basis of the study program modules, the courses are transferred centrally into the electronic course catalog (eKVV) and module leaders are requested to report changes compared to the previous year. At this point, detailed planning takes place in the WGs. Here it is determined who will teach the various topics in the corresponding semester as well as when and in what form the examinations will be held and, if applicable, course requirements are to be fulfilled (e.g. seminar paper, written exam, etc.). As a rule, each course is delivered at the same time as the previous year, since the compulsory courses must be coordinated in order to avoid scheduling conflicts. If a course is to be scheduled in a different time slot, it is imperative that the the module leader and the Academic Dean, Dr. Kerstin Schlingmann, be consulted so that the appropriate planning can take place.
Your own courses can be viewed via the following link:
https://ekvv.uni-bielefeld.de/ under "My courses" with the university registration.
Electronic course catalogue (eKVV)
All courses (as well as links to module descriptions) can be found in the electronic course catalog eKVV. Via the electronic course catalogue (eKVV), teaching staff can email the students enrolled in a course (a separate collective email address is set up for each course). For each course, teaching staff can set up a learning room where, for example, documents can be stored (even before the start date of the course). The electronic course catalogue (eKVV) is also used to document course and examination results.
To use the electronic course catalogue (eKVV) as an extended teaching platform, teaching staff can create a "learning room plus". More information can be found on the BIS website: https: //ekvv.uni-bielefeld.de/wiki/en/eLearning_im_BIS.
Teaching support
The university supports teaching and the development of teaching competences in numerous ways. The central point of contact is the personnel development unit for teaching staff "PEP_Lehre". The offers range from two-hour introductory courses, e.g. on lecture hall technology or working with the learning room, to a comprehensive certificate for university teaching. Coaching for new teaching staff is also offered.
Information on the PEP offer is sent regularly to all teaching staff via email. You can also view the offer at the following site: https://www.uni-bielefeld.de/pep/.
The Center for Studies, Teaching and Careers also offers support, further development and training on the approach to and design of teaching at Bielefeld University. It is worthwhile browsing through the Center’s site, as it not only lists continuing education offerings (e.g. on media didactics/eLearning), but also offers a wide range of material for download: https: //www.uni-bielefeld.de/themen/career-service/.
University offers
The following offers can be helpful for employees:
electronic course catalogue (eKVV)