Winter semester lectures start on 1 November 2020

The states of Germany have agreed on a joint approach for the summer semester 2020 and the start of the winter semester due to the spread of the coronavirus. Following the decision of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs, the dates for the application and admission procedure for *undergraduate degree programmes will also be adjusted for the winter semester 2020/2021.

The press release of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of 3 March 2020 in the wording

Should current developments require more far-reaching decisions on the design of the 2020 summer semester and on the application and admissions procedure for the 2020/2021 winter semester, they should be made taking into account the following key points:

• The semester times for the summer semester 2020 will no longer be postponed [start April 20, end July 17, 2020].
• The lecture periods for the summer semester 2020 can be arranged flexibly.
• The dates for the application and admission procedure for undergraduate programmes for the winter semester 2020/2021 will be adjusted.

In the winter semester 2020/2021, lectures at universities and universities of applied sciences are to begin uniformly on 1 November 2020 (for NRW this means on 2 November due to the public holiday).

The opening of the application portals at the Foundation for University Admissions for the winter semester 2020/2021 will be postponed. The opening should take place on 1 July 2020 at the earliest. The application deadlines will be specified within the next two weeks.

*Studies leading to a first university degree are referred to as undergraduate courses.