Academic Staff Council
News for the start of the semester
This year, the winter semester 2023/24 starts not only with a new Rector's Council, but also with a new curriculum in the largest Bachelor program. We would like to take this opportunity to provide you with some information about selected, teaching-related topics.
Teacher's Lounge
This room in the TC (1.04; see https://campus.wu.ac.at ) is intended to provide a place to relax between courses, but can also be used for networking and getting to know each other. You can reach the Teacher's Lounge by turning right after the Audimax, following the corridor and then taking the side staircase to the second floor. The Teacher's Lounge is equipped with desks, a coffee kitchen, seating and dining areas, a whiteboard and a printer. The Academic Staff Council provides coffee, milk, sugar, tea and napkins for the kitchenette. If anything is missing, please contact us at wiss.betriebsrat@wu.ac.at and we will arrange for it to be restocked.
We would also like to remind you that it is possible to book this room exclusively for meetings, events, etc. during the non-teaching periods. Please direct any such requests to wiss.betriebsrat@wu.ac.at. Suggestions for improvements the Teacher's Lounge are also welcome.
WUPOL Teaching and Sick Leave
Although the WUPOL "Regulations for teachers in case of illness" expired at the end of May 2023, we have received information from the Vice-Rector of Human Resources that it will continue to be applied. Therefore, if courses cannot be held as scheduled due to illness, the following will continue to apply:
During the period of illness, the employee will be entitled to continued payment of remuneration in accordance with statutory provisions, including any teaching allowance to which he or she may be entitled.
In the case of a weekly course, a maximum of 15% of the attendance time may be omitted (i.e. a maximum of 2 units in the case of a weekly course with 15 units). The course material may be covered by students through self-study, e.g., through reading assignments or homework. The same applies if parts of a block course cannot be made up within the same semester.
In addition, courses that are cancelled due to illness must be made up, either by the teacher him/herself or by a substitute. However, the use of substitutes should be limited to exceptional cases where the original teacher cannot reasonably be expected to make up the course units for health reasons. In this case, the substitute must be organized by the responsible program managers.
If the course is made up, this will be considered additional teaching, regardless of whether it is given by the course instructor or a substitute. If this results in the total teaching load being exceeded (a list in German can be found here ), a teaching allowance is payable. This requires an application to the Academic Controlling in the Vice-Rectorate for Academic Programs and Student Affairs (akadcont@wu.ac.at). However, in the case of all-in teaching, the payment is linked to the obligation to fulfill the teaching allowance in full during the current academic year, otherwise the paid teaching allowance will be withheld again
Teaching at exceptional times
With the transition to the new “BaWiSo” curriculum, the availability of lecture rooms may become tight. As the planning phase for the summer semester 2024 starts almost at the same time as the winter semester, we would like to take this opportunity to point out that the operational agreement only allows teaching to be assigned from Monday to Friday between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. (§ 31 para. 5 Uni-KV). Outside of these hours, there is currently no legal basis for entrusting teaching, as there is no operational agreement in force at WU. Only in the exceptional case that an employee voluntarily wishes to teach outside of these hours can teaching take place at other (exceptional) times. In the view of the wissBR, teaching also includes holding exams, which is why there is no obligation to hold exams on Saturdays, for example, even during the exam weeks.
Negotiations are currently underway to conclude an operational agreement on teaching activities at exceptional times. As soon as there are any updates on this issue, we will provide detailed information here.
09.10.2023