Wirtschaftsenglisch (Bachelor und Master)

Bachelor level

Module: Wirtschaftsenglisch 1

• Course: Business English I: Economics     
• Course: Business English III: Management

Master level

Module: Wirtschaftsenglisch 3

• Course: Business English V: Cross-cultural Issues
• Course: Business English VII: Legal Issues

Check the Modulhandbuch des Sprachenzentrums for more details.

Erstis: Do you really need to take a Business English course in your first semester?

• Consider your priorities carefully before making any selections.
• Remember, your degree programme may mean that you will spend one or more semesters abroad.

In WS 23-24, all Business English courses start teaching in the second week of the semester—the week beginning 23rd October 2023 (calendar week 43):

• This may mean that you need to make course selections before you arrive at the university.
• Lecturers cannot register you for courses via email and such requests will not be processed.

Students use FlexNow to be allocated to Business English courses.

• Once allocated, students will be enrolled to the course VC by the Wirtschaftsenglisch department.
• Instructions regarding MS Teams will be issued by individual lecturers via their VC forum.

For WS 23-24, all Business English teaching groups are taught in presence.

• Business English teaching groups taught in presence will use a real classroom in combination with the course VC (virtual campus).
• Remember to check the course VC regularly—not only is it where all course materials are made available, but important notifications concerning the course and exams will also be posted there. 

The registration process for Business English courses begins by students making selections in FlexNow (step 1)—this opens on Monday, 18 September 2023 at 07:00, and will close on Thursday, 12 October 2023 at 23:59. FlexNow is scheduled to allocate students to courses (step 2) on Friday, 13 October 2023 during the morning.

• Any students that FlexNow allocates to the waiting list should make use of the VC called "Business English FlexNow Waiting List WS 23-24".
• This waiting list VC will open on Friday 13 October 2023 at 10:00.

Be aware:

• You are encouraged to make your FlexNow selections promptly and as early as possible.
• You are able to change your FlexNow selections up until registration closes.
• The Business English teaching schedule sometimes has to be changed at short notice—individual courses might be added or cancelled.
• Students should refer to the online UnivIS timetable for Business English courses. Do not rely on a downloaded or printed copy.

Carefully read the more detailed description of the whole FlexNow registration and allocation procedure.

You make registration selections through FlexNow—this applies to Erasmus students too:

• Opens: Monday, 18 September 2023 at 07:00
• Closes: Thursday, 12 October 2023 at 23:59

For Business English courses, the FlexNow system requires you to make 3 selections from the parallel courses on offer.

• FlexNow will reject your request if you make one or two selections only.

Once you have made and saved your selections, check in your FlexNow account to see if you did so successfully:

• Look for the courses involved and the phrase "vorläufig angemeldet - noch keine Verteilung stattgefunden"
• Note: FlexNow no longer sends out a confirmation email acknowledging your selections.

If the course selections do not appear in your FlexNow account, then your attempt to make selections has been unsuccessful—try again.

• Read the FlexNow guidelines
• If the problem persists, reach out for assistance

The selections you have made remain provisional until after the FlexNow allocation.

• The allocation to one of your selections is described in step 2 of the registration process.
• You are able to change your selections up until FlexNow allocation.

How to avoid FlexNow doublebooking you

If you are taking two or more Business English courses then only make unique selections across the courses involved. Do not make the same day/time selections for different courses—FlexNow is known to doublebook students.

For example, when making selections for Business English I: Economics and Business English III: Management, you should make a total of six unique day/time selections (three for BEI: Economics and three for BEIII: Management).

• Avoid wasting your precious time – only make unique day/time selections.

Select day/times that you know you could attend

When making your three selections per course, only choose those day/times that you know you have space in your timetable for.

• The overall efficiency of FlexNow depends on students choosing day/times that they can actually attend.
• Remember, if your timetable changes, you are able to alter your FlexNow selections for Business English courses.

If you need to change the selections you have made, you can do so up to the closing date.

Open up the relevant course in FlexNow:

• Delete all three selections you made. Save this change.
• Then, enter in the three selections you need.
• If you encounter difficulties, do reach out for assistance

Help! FlexNow isn't offering me any Business English course selections

If you want to take a Business English course, and your module handbook allows you to do so, but FlexNow is not offering you any course selections:

• get in touch with the Wirtschaftsenglisch department
• use wirtschaftsenglisch.sz AT uni-bamberg.de
• do so before FlexNow registration closes
• supply all relevant details as outlined under “Contact details”
• be precise, the more information you give us, the easier we can help you

FlexNow allocates students to specifc teaching groups based on the selections that they made. This allocation has been scheduled for Friday morning, 13^th October 2023. Students will receive an allocation email from FlexNow which reads either:

a)      You received a Business English place. This email contains your details ...

OR

b) Your Business English selections were unsuccessful. Enrol to the VC Business English FlexNow Waiting List WS 23-24 ...

Just after FlexNow sends out the allocation emails, it removes the selections that students made in FlexNow and replaces them with the allocation details.

• The phrase "fest angemeldet" next to a specific course indicates successful allocation to that course.

Messages alerting students to the progress of FlexNow allocations are posted in the newsticker on the Wirtschaftsenglisch homepage.

OK, it happens. We help all students who end up on the waiting list to find a place in a suitable course. Do this:

Enrol to the VC called Business English FlexNow Waiting List WS 23-24

• use the password supplied in the “unsuccessful” allocation email from FlexNow
• this VC will be made visible in advance of the allocation, but can only be used between Friday 13^th October, 13:00 and Monday 16^th October, 10.30.

Once in the VC, you will see instructions, telling you to:

Click on the Check-in forum

Start a new discussion, giving the titles of any Business English courses that you are on the FlexNow waiting list for.

• No messages, no explanations, no requests, just the titles.

Use the following abbreviations:

• BEI
• BEIII
• BEV
• BEVII

The check-in forum opens on Friday 13^th October 2023 at 10:00. It closes on Monday 16^th October 2023 at 10:30 in the morning.

On seeing your post in the check-in forum, the Wirtschaftsenglisch department will check you in to the relevant waiting list forums.

• Please be patient, there may be some delay in checking you in;
• Only students on the FlexNow waiting list will be checked in.
• Monitor the forum—upon being checked in, you will receive a reply that says "Checked in".

Once checked in, you can make a waiting list request

Start a new message in the relevant waiting list forum

• Give at least three different day/time slots that you could attend.
• Refer only to the current Business English course schedule on UnivIS. Do not refer to a previously downloaded or printed copy.
• Do not include any information other than the day/time slots you are requesting to be put into.
• You must make your own request—third party requests can not be processed.

FlexNow waiting list requests will be processed on Friday, 13^th October 2023 between 10:00am and 11:00am, and again on Monday 16^th October 2023 from 10:00am until 11:00am.

Monitor your university email account during these times

• Make sure that you have your timetable available
• Be ready to respond to any communication regarding your request
• Once you are in direct communication with a member of the department, you can supply any further information relevant to your request

The Wirtschaftsenglisch department understands and is responsive to this issue.

We continue to offer a service to support students with grounds for switching the course FlexNow has allocated them to.

However, it is not always possible to meet such student requests.

A special VC has been set up to support any such students with legitimate reasons for needing to switch courses.

• Enrol to the VC called Business English Switching Requests & Late Registration WS 23-24  (no password necessary).
• The VC and the forum for making switching requests will open on Fri, 13^th October 2023 at 10:30 in the morning. The forum and VC close on Friday, 27^th October 2023 at 11:00.

Once in the VC, follow the instructions:

• Use social media to find another student willing to switch courses.
• Also, try using the Find a Switching Partner forum.
• Once a switching partner has been found, post a request in the Paired Switching Request forum, clearly stating all details as requested.
• The second student involved in the switch then replies to the post, giving their consent to the switch.

Once the second student has consented to the paired switching request, you might still be contacted via MS Teams in order to verify the details of the request

• Suitable evidence in support of your switching request should be made available during this contact
• There may be some delay in your paired switching request being processed

 Paired switching requests will first be processed on Thursday, 19 October 2023  

Previously successful requests to switch Business English courses have included:

• students who received the time and day of an obligatory degree programme course only after closure of FlexNow registration for Business English courses;
• students assigned to a student-workplace within the university of Bamberg occurring after FlexNow allocation of Business English courses.

To allow us to make best use of the department's resources, the following conditions apply to switching requests:

• Inappropriate or unclear requests will not be processed.
• Email or telephone requests will not be processed.
• Third party requests will not be processed.

Erasmus or overseas students who have difficulties with FlexNow registration should send an email to wirtschaftsenglisch.sz AT uni-bamberg.de:

• Clearly state that you are an Erasmus or overseas student
• Give the full titles of the courses you want to register for
• You will be enrolled into the VC called Business English FlexNow Waiting List WS 23-24
• You should then follow the instructions as outlined above: "FlexNow allocated me to the waiting list in WS 22-23. Now what?"

The department will only be able to assign late registration requests to one of the few Business English spaces remaining after the FlexNow waiting list has been cleared:

• Typically, there is little flexibility regarding student timetables.
• For some courses, it might not be possible to offer a place at all.

A special VC has been set up to support students whose FlexNow registration efforts somehow went astray:

• Enrol to the VC called Business English Switching Requests & Late Registration WS 23-24(no password necessary) 
• The VC and forum for late registration requests opens on Friday 13^th October 2023 at 10:30.
• The forum closes on Friday, 27^th October 2023 at 11:00.
•   Late registration requests will first be processed on Thursday, 19 October 2023  

Once in the VC, follow the instructions:

• Post a request in the Late Registration forum, clearly stating all details as outlined in the fourm.
• Monitor the forum to see if the request is granted or declined.

Remember

• Late registration is really to be avoided—there is no guarantee that students applying for late registration will receive a spot or of a time/day that fits into their timetable. FlexNow is the approved manner for course registration.

Erasmus or overseas students who have arrived after late registration has closed should send an email to the coordinator of Wirtschaftsenglisch.

• Clearly state that you are an Erasmus or overseas student
• Give the full titles of the courses you want to register for

Questions regarding registration to Business English courses should be sent to wirtschaftsenglisch.sz AT uni-bamberg.de (emails concerning registration issues sent to individual lecturers will not be responded to). In your email, remember to:

• state the full title of the course you are referring to (e.g. Business English I: Economics)
• give your full name (e.g. Maximilian Mustermann)
• give your seven digit matriculation number (not your ba number)
• state your degree programme (e.g. BWL, EES, IBWL, Erasmus, etc.) and level (bachelor or master)
• clearly state the nature of your inquiry - give full details of what you were trying to do and what happened or didn't happen
• supply a screengrab if helpful - this will often speed up the process of resolving your issue
• write in English—direct communication with the Wirtschaftsenglisch team, whether emailing or phoning, is expected to be in English

If a student is unable to attend the first lesson, they should email directly the lecturer of the teaching group involved, explaining the situation, requesting to be excused.

Any unexcused student failing to attend the first lesson of the Business English course they have been allocated to faces removal from the FlexNow list—the spot will be re-allocated to a student on the waiting list.