Examination Regulations for the Study Course: Political Science - Master of Arts (M.A.) Faculty of Social Sciences University of Mannheim 9 th March 2007, as amended in the constitution of 8 th June 2009 Due to 34 para.1 and 35a para.1 state law on education (Landeshochschulgesetz-LHG), the Academic Senate of the University of Mannheim established the following examination regulations on 29 th November 2006. The Ministry of Science, Research and Art of the federal state Baden-Würtemberg agreed upon this study course on 22 nd February 2007 (Az: 41-816.5-7) with a limitation to 31 st July 2011. The University Council was involved. The principal gave his consent on 9 th March 2007. Within the examination regulations, the used male form refers to both men and women. Furthermore reference is made to 3c UG. I. General regulations 1 Aim of the examination 2 Graduation 3 Admission 4 Regular period of study, structure and study content II. Organization and administration of examinations 5 Examination board 6 Students office 7 Examiner 8 Acceptance of study periods, assessed assignments, and examination results 9 Registration and admission for examinations III. Study-course-related assessed assignments and course achievements 10 Form of assessed assignments, formation of the grade system 11 Evaluation of study-course-related assessed assignments 12 Grant of ECTS points IV. Master thesis 13 Form and grading of the master thesis 14 Deadlines for examinations V. Passing the final examination 15 Evaluation of the assessed assignments, formation of the grade system VI. Resits, failure of the final examination 16 Resits 17 Failure of the final examination VII. Master s degree document, graduation certificate, written confirmation 18 Master s degree document 19 Graduation certificate 20 Written confirmation in case of failure of the final examination VIII. Breach of examination regulations 21 Absence, withdrawal, deceit, breach of regulations 22 Invalidity IX. Final clauses 23 Inspection of examination records 24 Commencement Annex: Subject-specific section 1) Political Science 2) Sociology -1-
I. General regulations 1 Aim of the examination (1) The examination completes a proper consecutive masters degree. The examination allows the candidate to acquire a further professional qualification. (2) The examination ascertains if the candidate has obtained sound knowledge of the subject, is able to explain correlations in his subject and if he can use scientific methods and knowledge in an interdisciplinary context in accordance with his chosen degree. 2 Graduation If the candidate passes the final examination, the University of Mannheim awards the academic title Master of Arts. 3 Admission (1) The Master of Arts study course at the Faculty of Social Sciences only admits students, who gained a first university degree with no less than a grade 2,5. The requirements for admission are stated in the selection regulations of each department. (2) Students who have lost their right to take examinations in the same or in a related study course cannot be admitted to study or to sit an examination of the master study course. 4 Regular periods of study, structure and study content (1) The regular period of study including the Master examination required to achieve the academic title is four semesters. The study content corresponds to 120 ECTS points. One ECTS point corresponds to 30 hours work. (2) The master study course is built up in modules. The requirements of each course are stated in the subject-specific annex. (3) The study content in the subject-specific annex must be designed in a way that the studies can be completed in the regular period of study. (4) Requests for maternity leave and parental leave have to be considered. (5) The candidate is responsible for adherence to the deadlines and content given in the examination regulations. II. Organization and administration of examinations 5 Examination board (1) An examination board is formed. The examination board comprises three professors of the study courses involved. The members are appointed by the faculty board of the Faculty of Social Sciences. The mandate of the members is four years. A re-election is possible. (2) The examination board makes all examination-related decisions unless, according to the examination regulations, the chairman of the examination board, the examiner, or the students office are responsible for these decisions. The examination board ensures the examination regulations are adhered to. The examination board reports regularly to the faculty about the development of examinations. The examination board gives recommendations for the reform of the examination regulations and module catalogues and also acts as an advisor. -2-
(3) The examination board enacts with simple majority. It elects a chairman and a vice-chairman from its members. The chairman leads the affairs of the examination board. The examination board can assign special duties to the chairman. (4) The candidate must be informed in writing of decisions of the examination board and be provided with an instruction on right to appeal. If the examination board rejects the appeal, an objection notification will be issued. (5) The members of the examination board have the right to attend examinations. 6 Students office (1) The students office is in charge of the administrative handling of the master examination. (2) The duties of the students office include the following: 1. The announcement of the registration periods as well as the examination dates and locations, the announcement of names of the examiners, the acceptance of the applications for admission and the registration of candidates for examinations, administration of examination records, monitoring of administration terms, acceptance of objections. 2. The technical handling of examinations and, together with the faculty, the arrangement of supervision during written examinations. 3. Informing the candidates about their examination results, as well as issuing of master s degree documents, graduation certificates, and written confirmation of examination results. 7 Examiner (1) The examination board assigns examiners and assessors. (2) Only professors, assistant- and private professors, junior professors and those research assistants who are authorized by the examination board are allowed to accept the master thesis. Assistant professors, research assistants, associate lecturers and tutors for special duties can only be appointed as examiners if there are not enough professors and assistant professors available. (3) For study-course-related examinations, tutors of each course are authorized to give the examinations. (4) The candidate can nominate an examiner for his master thesis. 8 Acceptance of study periods, assessed assignments, and examination results (1) Study periods, assessed assignments, and examination results from master study courses at an equivalent university or college in Germany will be accepted, if an equivalence is established. The examination board determines the crediting. Deadlines stated in the examination regulations have to be considered. (2) The crediting of study periods, assessed assignments and examination results, which were completed outside of Germany, will also be accepted for master study courses. Attention has to be paid to the accepted equivalence agreements of the Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs and the Conference of University principals as well as to arrangements with university partnerships. For crediting the ECTS system must be used. (3) If assessed assignments and examination results are credited, the grades as long as the grade systems are comparable have to be transferred and also have to be included in the final grade. -3-
(4) If, for changing university and/or changing the study course, a grading into a higher semester than the second semester of the master study course is required, admission has to be declined. 9 Registration and admission for examinations To participate in an examination, the candidate has to register within the time limit that has been set by the students office. Registration for examinations only can be withdrawn within the time limit that has been set by the students office. III. Study-course-related assessed assignments and course achievements 10 Form of assessed assignments, formation of the grade system (1) The master thesis consists of: 1. Study-course-related examinations according to the subject-specific annex 2. Master thesis 3. Socio-scientific research internship, which could be an internship or the participation in a summer school. Further information is stated in the research internship regulations. (2) The subject-specific annex describes and limits the form, content and requirements of the studycourse-related examinations. They determine which course achievements have to be fulfilled as prerequisites for the individual assessed assignments. They give recommendations for the sequence of the study-course-related assessed assignments. (3) Study-course-related assessed assignments and course achievements according to these examination regulations are: a) Notifiable, graded study-course-related Final Module Examinations (FME=MAP), which test all components of a module. The module grade results from the (FME=MAP) grade. b) Notifiable, graded study-course-related Continuous Assessment (CA=TP) in several courses of a module. The module grade results from the arithmetic average of the ECTS points of all (CA=TP) of this module. c) Notifiable, non-graded study-course-related course achievements (LN). These achievements are part of the certificate but they are not part of the final grade. (4) Final module exams and continuous assessments are taken as study-course-related examinations, which consist of written examinations, papers, transcripts, reports, seminar papers, presentations, and homework. (5) The subject-specific annex determines the duration of the written examination. Written examinations can include multiple-choice tasks. (6) The module grades are admitted into the Master s degree certificate. They form the basis for the calculation of the final grade according to the subject-specific annex. (7) If the candidate hands in a medical certificate that proves that he is unable to take the examination as required, the chairman of the examination board can allow the candidate to hand in an equivalent assessed assignment. -4-
11 Evaluation of study-course-related assessed assignments Each examiner uses grades to evaluate the individual assessed assignments. The following grades must be used: 1,0, 2,0, 3,0, 4,0, 5,0. To differentiate the assessed assignments, interim values can be formed by reducing or increasing the grades by 0,3; the grades 0,7; 4,3; 4,7; and 5,3 do not exist. The grades for the individual assessed assignments have to be stated with one decimal place. When averages are calculated, only the first decimal place after the decimal point is considered, all further decimal places are deleted. 12 Grant of ECTS points (1) The prerequisite for the allocation of ECTS points is the submission of the individual achievement according to the subject-specific annex with at least a grade fair/pass. (2) ECTS points are allocated according to the subject-specific annex. IV. Master thesis 13 Form and grading of the master thesis (1) In the master thesis, the candidate demonstrates his ability to work independently on a topic by using scientific methods within a certain time limit. The topic of the master thesis must be designed in a way that it can be worked on within the time limit stated in para.6 sentence 1. (2) The candidate must have the opportunity to make recommendations for the master thesis topic. (3) According to 7 para. 2, the master thesis can be supervised by any professor of the University of Mannheim, who offers a course in the relevant subject area. Professors from other departments of the University of Mannheim can only dispense a master thesis, if it can be guaranteed that a second professor from the subject-specific department supervises the master thesis as well. The dispensing professor is the assessor of the master thesis. (4) With the agreement of the examination board, the master thesis can be written in an institution outside the university, if the supervisor is a professor of the University of Mannheim who offers a course in the relevant subject area. (5) The date for the dispensing of the master thesis and its topic have to be put on record by the students office. (6) The time period from dispensing to hand over of the finished thesis is four months. The selection of topics and supervisors must be taken into account. Upon request of the candidate the chairman of the examination board can extend the filing period only once for a maximum of two months, if a sufficient reason is given. The request to extend the filing period must be filed as soon as possible, latest ten days before the expiration of the handling time. Written approval of the professor who dispends the master thesis is required. The candidate has to hand in a written statement, where he explains why he is not responsible for the exceeding of the deadline. The chairman of the examination board decides if the reasons can be accepted. (7) As a rule, the master thesis is handed out each year by 1 st February. In accordance with para. 3, it has to be delivered to the supervisor in duplicate within the time limit by 1 st June latest of each year. The supervisor must inform the chairman of the examination board and the students office in writing about the filing of the master thesis. When filing the thesis, the candidate has to include a signed and dated document containing the following: I affirm that I have written the enclosed master thesis without help of a third party and that I have only used sources that are listed in the master thesis. The used sources or extracts of the content I have indicated as such. This thesis has not previously been filed to the examination board in the same or in a similar version." -5-
(8) The master thesis has to be supervised by the designated professor. The results of the evaluation of the master thesis should be imparted to the candidate latest four weeks after the filing. If a master thesis is assessed with failed (5,0), a further examiner, who is determined by the examination board, has to be consulted. If the individual valuations differ from one another, the grade is the arithmetic average. (9) For the evaluation of the master thesis 11 para.1 is valid. 14 Deadlines for examinations (1) The master thesis should be filed by the end of the 4 th semester but latest after the 6 th semester. The candidate can finish the master thesis ahead of schedule if he fulfills the prerequisites for admission to examinations according to the subject-specific annex. (2) If the candidate does not register the master thesis in time so that he can file the thesis according to the rules by the end of the 6 th semester, or if he does register the master thesis in time but does not complete the thesis in time, the master thesis counts as completed and will be graded as failed. (3) If the candidate exceeds the time limit stated in para. 2 for important reasons, the examination board can grant an extension upon request. V. Pass of the final examination 15 Evaluation of the assessed assignments, formation of the grade system (1) The master examination is passed if all parts of the examination are evaluated with at least the grade fair/pass according to 10. (2) The final grade of the master examination is calculated according to the subject-specific annex. (3) An excellent performance (better than average 1,3) will be awarded honors. (4) In the graduation certificate, all module grades are stated numerically (with one decimal place after the decimal point) as well as in words according to the following scheme: 1,0 to 1,5: excellent an excellent performance More than 1,5 to 2,0: very good a performance that is considerably above the average of the requirements More than 2,0 to 2,5: good a performance, that is above average of the requirements More than 2,5 to 3,5: satisfactory a performance that fulfills the average of the requirements More than 3,5 to 4,0: fair / pass a performance that in spite of faults still meets the requirements 4,1 to 5,0: failed a performance that does not meet the requirements (5) In addition, the final grade can be stated as a relative final grade according to the following ECTS scale: A the best 10 % B the next 25 % C the next 30 % D the next 25 % E the next 10% -6-
VI. Resits of examinations, failure of final examinations 16 Resits (1) Study-course-related examinations (FME=MAP or CA=TP), as well as certificates of performance which were assessed with "failed" can be resat once. (2) If the candidate fails the study-course-related resit, he can redo one failed resit examination throughout the whole study program. (3) Study-course-related examinations take place at the beginning of the semester break. The resits take place before the start of the following semester. There should be a time gap of at least four weeks between the notification of the examination results of the first examination and the resit. The resit is part of the semester in which the first examination took place. (4) If, after the first attempt, the study-course-related examination or the certificate of performance was assessed as failed, the candidate is automatically registered for the resit in the same semester. If the candidate fails the resit, he is obliged to absolve an equal course and examination, as long as the regulations stated in para. 2 are valid. (5) If a module grade consists of several continuous assessments (CA=TP), only those continuous assessments (CA=TP) that have been failed must be repeated. (6) Passed final module examinations (FME=MAP) and continuous assessments (CA=TP) cannot be repeated. (7) A master thesis that was assessed with failed can be repeated once. In this case the master thesis must be registered within 6 weeks. 17 Failure of the final examination The entire master examination is failed, if the master thesis or one of the study-course-related examinations was failed. VII. Master s degree document, graduation certificate, written confirmation 18 Master s degree document When the candidate passes the master examination he receives a master s degree document, which certifies the duration of study, the modules that have been taken during the master study course and their grades, the topic and the grade of the master thesis, the final grade up to one decimal place, and the ECTS grade according to 11. The master s degree document bears the date of the last examination. 19 Graduation certificate (1) On passing the master s examination, the candidate receives, in addition to the master s degree document, in accordance with 18, a graduation certificate which certifies the academic title. The graduation certificate is signed by the dean of the faculty to which the study course is assigned. The graduation certificate bears the date of the master s degree document and the official seal of the university. (2) One is only entitled to use the academic title after delivery of the graduation certificate. -7-
(3) In addition to the graduation certificate, the candidate receives a certificate in English with a description of the master study course and a translation of the performed achievements. 20 Written confirmation in case of failure of the final examination (1) Candidates who failed the master examination receive a written confirmation from the students office. This written confirmation contains instructions on right to appeal. (2) If the candidate failed the master examination, he receives, upon request, a written confirmation from the students office, containing all examinations passed and assessed assignments. It also states that the final examination was not passed. VIII. Breach of examination regulations 21 Absence, withdrawal, deceit, breach of regulations (1) An assessed assignment is regarded as failed, if the candidate misses an examination for no good reason or if he withdraws from the examination without cause after the examination has started. The same applies if a written assessed assignment is not produced within the scheduled time limit. (2) The cause for the withdrawal or absence must immediately be reported and proved to the examination board. In case of illness of the candidate or of a child or family member in need of care, a medical certificate must be submitted. In case of doubt, a medical certificate can be demanded from a doctor chosen by the examination board. If the cause is accepted, a new date will be arranged for the examination. In that case assessed assignments already produced do count. (3) If the candidate attempts to influence his examination result through deceit or the use of unacceptable means, the assessed assignment is regarded as failed. A candidate who disturbs the examination procedure can be excluded from continuing the examination by the examiner or invigilator. In this case the assessed assignment is regarded as failed. In serious cases the examination board can exclude the candidate from further assessed assignments. 22 Invalidity (1) If the candidate deceived during an examination and if this is revealed after delivery of the graduation certificate, the examination board is able to correct this examination result subsequently or can declare the whole examination or parts of it as being failed. (2) If the prerequisites for the admission to an examination were not fulfilled, without the candidates deliberately attempt to deceive, and if this fact is revealed only after the delivery of the graduation certificate, the deficiency is cancelled out if the candidate passes the examination. If the candidate obtained an admittance wrongly and also on purpose, the assessed assignment as well as the master examination can be declared as being failed. (3) The candidate must get the opportunity to make a statement before a decision is taken. (4) The incorrect master s degree document has to be redeemed and a new master s degree document, if applicable, is issued. In addition to the incorrect master s degree document the graduation certificate also has to be withdrawn, if the master examination has been declared as failed due to deceit. According to para. 1 and para. 2, sentence 2, a decision will be impossible after the time limit of five years from the date of the graduation certificate. (5) The candidate is stripped of the academic title in accordance with the law. -8-
IX. Final clauses 23 Inspection of examination records (1) After finishing an examination, the candidate has the right, upon request, to inspect the written examination records and the reports of the assessors within a certain time period. (2) The request has to be filed to the students office latest one year after finishing the last assessed assignment for the master s examination. The students office determines location and time for the inspection. (3) The examination records are kept on file in the students office at the University of Mannheim for three years. 24 Commencement These examination regulations came into force on 1 st September 2007. Approved and issued: Mannheim, 9 th March 2007 Prof. Dr. Hans-Wolfgang Arndt Principal Annex: Course-specific section 1) Political Science 2) Sociology -9-