Almost € 8 million in summer term 2011:
What exactly happens with the tuition fees?
8 million Euros – that sounds like a lot, and it is. But, compared to TUM‘s (far greater) overall budget for Student Affairs and Teaching, it is really an “add-on”, admittedly one with tremendous leverage.
Founded on the principles of detailed concepts, in which students also had their say on all levels, TUM‘s (academic) departments received a total of just under € 6.8 million in the summer semester. These contributions are used for numerous measures, ranging from improving academic mentoring and amenities to clever additional courses and programs and expanding the Career Service. It goes without saying that all concepts – both present and past concepts – are freely accessible; everything is transparent, and the ideas put forward by students have also been taken into account throughout.
Close on € 1.3 million for TUM´s central facilities
Close on € 1.3 million were invested altogether in nine of TUM´s central facilities. Existing measures have been extended or added to and a lot of new services have been incorporated:
* The Functional unit for study and teaching is a key partner in everything connected with academic studies and tuition. It helps to optimize the development and organization of courses, assists the evaluation and enhancement of lectures and seminars (with the help of the EvaSys program, for instance, which is in operation throughout all TUM departments), and offers advice on methodical matters, etc. Needless to say, students are also involved in these procedures.
* The Carl von Linde Academy is extending its range of courses, adding more training programs and coaching options for tutors, as well the new “Learning@TUM” program designed to improve learning skills (see TUMstudinews 02/2011).
* The Student Service Center provides a “Student Counseling” and a “service for disabled and chronically ill students”. There is also a service desk for individuals interested in studying for a degree, where applicants can find out everything they need to know about studying in advance.
* The University Library finances mainly additional text books and other literature, including interdisciplinary academic works, eBooks, e-newspapers (see the section entitled “The world’s biggest online newsagent’s”) and literature systems software out of its tuition fees. It is also extending its opening hours, carrying out some restructuring and replacing the furniture in certain areas of the library.
* „TUM Mentoring“ provides one-to-one mentoring, in which TUM alumni act as mentors for TUM students, counseling and encouraging them on a one-to-one basis for the period of one year.
* The International Office helps students from abroad to look for suitable accommodation.
* The Language Center will expand its choice of languages as well as setting up a Chinese editorial office. From now on, moreover, there will also be a tandem program in English as well as a large selection of additional teaching materials in English.
* The Media Center is to expand the central technical infrastructure for Moodle, the learning platform (see TUMstudinews 01/2011) and boost the subject-specific, technical and didactic eLearning standards in the faculties.
* The existing measures offered by the Career Service, such as the check of job applications, are to be enhanced and expanded.