Determining a Study Programme's Curricular Value (average teaching requirements)

A study programme's Curricularwert (curricular value) represents the average amount of teaching required for one student, as prescribed by the current study and examination regulations. The required teaching input depends on the following parameters:

1. The type of classes (e.g. lectures, seminars, tutorials, lab courses etc.,
2. The duration of the classes, e.g. 2 Semesterwochenstunden (SWS) (SWS = teaching hours over one semesters / 2 SWS = 30 hours),
3. The teaching unit responsible for the classes.

A programme's Curricularwert thus depends on the programme's individual curriculum, and may differ from its standard curricular value (CNW).

The Hessian Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science and the Arts has defined standardised group sizes to be used for the calculation of a programme's curricular value. The may be different from real-life group sizes. Additionally, classes that require less preparatory work (e. g. lab courses) from the teacher have special weighting factors. The average teaching requirements for all classes and all modules add up to curricular value of the programme.

Standardised amounts of teaching hours are added for the supervision of exam papers and student research projects.

Teaching hours for elective classes or modules are weighted, as not every class or every module will be taken by each student. For example, if students may choose one module out of five, each will be weighted at 20 per cent. Mandatory classes modules are weighted at 100 per cent.

Each study programme is assigned to a Lehreinheit (teaching unit), usually to the one that contributes the largest share of classes and modules. Classes contributed by other Lehreinheiten are often called  'imported teaching'. Imported teaching from another Lehreinheit will take up a share of that Lehreinheit's capacities, and thus reduce the admission numbers of its own study programmes.