Information on the Individual Part-Time Study Programme

Individual part-time studies are equivalent to full-time studies. Students merely have more time to complete the coursework and take exams. The part-time regulation is intended to enable students with additional personal or professional burdens to complete a study programme.

When studying part-time, two part-time semesters equal one standard full-time semester. If, for example, you study part-time from the first semester in a 7-semester degree programme, your standard period of study is fourteen semesters. If the application is submitted at a later date, the remaining semesters of the standard period of study will be doubled.

A change back to full-time studies is possible at any time.

Examinations in a part-time study programme have the same scope and length as in a full-time study programme. The scope and length of examinations are defined in the respective study and examination regulations (SPO).

This also applies to the time to complete your thesis.

However, as a part-time student, you can, just like full-time students, apply for an extension of the deadline for completing your thesis, providing a legitimate reason.

An application to change from full-time studies to part-time studies can be made at the beginning of every semester. If the reason for your application no longer exists, the Academic Department must be informed of this by the end of the current semester at the latest. You will then transfer to full-time studies.

You can apply for part-time studies several times. Transferring from Individual Part-Time Study to full-time studies is possible at the beginning of every semester.

As an enrolled student, you submit an application for individual part-time studies to the Academic Department at the beginning of a semester or within the re-registration period.

Please make an appointment with the Student Counselling Centre of Heilbronn University before submitting an application. Please bring the original supporting documents, as well as a photocopy of each, to the interview. After the counselling interview you will receive a certificate of attendance.

The next step is to make an appointment with the departmental adviser of your degree programme. During the interview, your departmental adviser will draw up a study plan with you.

Please submit the study plan, the “Application for Admission to Individual Part-Time Study” and the certificate of attendance at “Counselling for Admission to Individual Part-Time Study” to the Academic Department.

A prerequisite for admission to individual part-time studies is enrolment at Heilbronn University.

In order to be admitted to an individual part-time study programme, you must first have an interview with the Student Counselling Centre, for which you will be issued a certificate of attendance. For this interview, you are going to need the original documents in support of your application.

In addition to the form “Application for Admission to Individual Part-Time Study”, you need to submit a study plan that you have agreed upon with the departmental adviser of your degree programme.

You will find the maximum and minimum number of credits to be earned per semester in the By-Law on Individual Part-Time Study (see below), which can be found on the university website. This is to prevent you from being enrolled as a part-time student and actually studying full-time.

Part-time students are not entitled to BAföG support (§2 subsec. 5 sentence 1 BAföG).

As a part-time student, you are not entitled to receive a BAföG grant. However, as a part-time student, you can use other financing options. For example, a student loan or a scholarship.

However, student loans and scholarships are subject to various conditions and requirements. Therefore, a possible grant depends on your social, financial and professional background, as well as on the degree programme you are studying.

If you require further information on student loans and scholarships, you are welcome to get in touch with our contact persons at the university and seek advice.

If a residence permit has been granted for study purposes, then this permit is subject to the condition that the main purpose of the stay is to study. In the case of part-time studies, the main purpose of the stay, i.e. studying, will be called into question by the Foreigners' Registration Office, unless there are personal reasons, such as a chronic illness or family obligations. If such reasons cannot be proven, part-time studies may jeopardise your residence permit. Please seek advice at the Foreigners’ Registration Office before submitting an application.

As a student, you may work up to 20 hours per week without having to pay social security contributions. This means that your studies are your main activity. If you work more than 20 hours a week, your main activity is to perform your professional duties. You must therefore pay social security contributions from your income, such as income tax, health insurance, nursing insurance and unemployment insurance.

If you are enrolled in a degree programme, it will be sufficient to submit a certificate of enrolment to the health insurance company. You can therefore take out health insurance as a student. If you are planning to change from full-time studies to part-time studies, you should nevertheless enquire at your health insurance company in advance to find out whether there will be a rate change when you transfer to part-time studies.

If you, as a part-time student, work more than 20 hours per week, employment is considered to be your main activity. You will then be insured as an employee (this means that your employer pays half of your health insurance contribution) or as a self-employed person (this means that you pay the full health insurance contribution yourself).

To be on the safe side, you should, before you apply, contact all other social security institutions to which you submitted a certificate of enrolment.

Yes, part-time students have to pay an administrative fee and a fee to the Studentenwerk (a non-profit organisation for student affairs in Germany), like full-time students. Part-time students cause an administrative burden in the same way as full-time students do, and part-time students can also use the services of the Studentenwerk.

Within the framework of part-time studies, the times when your child is not being looked after can be taken into account by, for example, offering block courses and avoiding courses on Saturdays. However, options vary depending on the degree programme. You should coordinate this individually with the departmental adviser of your degree programme.

In addition, Heilbronn University offers childcare for students and employees of the university at the Kraki childcare centre in Heilbronn-Sontheim. Childcare hours at Kraki are from 7.30 am to 6 pm. Further information can be found on the university website under “Family-friendly university” - “Childcare”, or at the Studierendenwerk Heidelberg (www.studierendenwerk-heidelberg.de).

Childcare is also available on the Künzelsau Reinhold-Würth-Hochschule campus in cooperation with municipal childcare facilities. You can find further information on the university website under “Family-friendly university” - “Childcare”.

Within the framework of the family-friendly university, Heilbronn University offers help in finding suitable childcare.

When studying part-time, there are attendance times that you must observe, just like when studying full-time. You should contact the departmental adviser of your degree programme to clarify whether a limitation to certain days and times of attendance can be realised in the study plan within the scope of your degree programme.

In the course of your studies, you will not be able to do without visits to the university on days/at times other than those agreed with your employer. Individual part-time studies are not an extra-occupational degree programme.

As part of your part-time studies, you will be supported by the departmental adviser of your degree programme in creating a suitable study plan for the completion of your courses and exams. In addition, the Student Counselling Centre will advise you on the limits, options and general framework of part-time study.

During your part-time studies, you will have the opportunity to attend supporting courses on various topics as part of general studies.