Jahresbericht 2017

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Assistance for Students Offered by the
Central Examination Services Office
The Central Examination Services Office is a centralized
point of contact that students can use for all exam-related
questions, with the participation of the secretary of the
examination board and the internship office. Its areas
of responsibility include all exam-related topics, from
admissions procedures during the application process,
to the mandatory industrial internships associated with
a given degree programme, to grading and examination
practices for the Bachelor’s and Master’s courses offered
by the faculty. The office provides advice and guidance to
around 5,000 students of the Department of Mechanical
Engineering on these topics.
To improve this service, an FAQ page has now been
published on the faculty homepage. This page is regularly
updated and will gradually become a comprehensive
source of reference. The FAQs allow students to find
general information about exam-related questions outside
of individual consultation hours. Students can then
contact the relevant persons directly if further clarification
is needed.
The study equivalence recognition table serves a similar
purpose and is also regularly updated. This table lists all
examinations and diplomas that are currently recognized
by the official process, listed by country, allowing stu-
dents to plan and evaluate potential study programmes
abroad more accurately and determine in advance which
programmes are most likely to be recognized when they
return. No other university offers as comprehensive a table
of this type.
Anerkennungen_andere_Hochschulen_WS17_18.pdf
Similarly, for industrial internships, we also provide
excellent support to students as they search for the most
relevant internship for them. We offer a sorted list of
locations and companies with around 460 entries, which
applicants and current students can use to gain a head-
start on finding a suitable employer for their manufacturing
internship. The list is not limited to companies from
Germany, with entries from throughout Europe and the
rest of the world.
Given the non-negligible proportion of students who drop
out of their courses, the early warning system operated
by Arno Buchner, the secretary of the Bachelor’s degree
examination board, is of invaluable assistance. The early
warning system was recognized by the Academicus prize
in 2016 (see Annual Report 2016). It is aimed at students
with below-average academic progress who are at risk of
failing their studies.
This integrated system is founded on examination data
from TUMonline. It identifies students at risk of exmatricu­
lation at an early stage, opens a dialogue with them, and
connects them with supportive resources. This allows
early shortcomings and the resulting risks for the continu-
ation of studies to be identified promptly. Some students
have already responded well to the resources proposed
to them and have sought assistance from the relevant
sources. This allowed them to significantly enhance the
results of their own efforts and ensure that their studies
unfold successfully. However, it will only become clear
after a few semesters whether this system can sustainably
reduce the drop-out rate in the medium term.