Biannual Report - Fachbereich Mathematik - Technische Universität ...

2 Teaching
Teaching of Mathematics in our department can be divided into three categories: teaching
in mathematical degree programmes, specific teaching activities for future mathematics
teachers (in secondary education), and teaching mathematics to students in the sciences
and engineering subjects (often described as ‘service teaching’). Each of these teaching
activities has its own characteristics in terms of mathematical content and style as well as
in terms of specific regulations of corresponding degree schemes.
2.1 Degree Programmes in Mathematics
There are currently three mathematics programmes: the Diplom programme in mathematics
(being discontinued), the Bachelor programme in mathematics (since 2007) and
the Master programme in mathematics (since 2005). The current Bachelor programme
incorporates the old Bachelor programme “Mathematics with Computer Science”. The
following table shows the enrolement numbers over the last 8 years:
Students in Mathematics programmes
Programme 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Diplom 750 760 571 443 341 260 151 90
Bachelor (incl. MCS) 230 207 264 363 502 624 674 629
Master 1 7 16 25 41 68 141 189
Teacher (secondary) 213 233 267 297 363 410 417 396
The sum total of the student numbers in our Diplom, Bachelor and Master programmes remains
roughly at the same level over the years, but there are some special circumstances to
explain some of the variations. Among these are the abolishment of student fees (“Studienguthabengesetz”)
with the beginning of the academic year 2008/09, the nearly two-fold
increase in students finishing school in Bavaria (2011) and Baden-Württemberg (2012)
caused by the transition from 13 to 12 school years, the last conscription calls in Germany
in 2011, and the introduction of an aptitude test (“Eignungsfeststellungsverfahren”) for
our Bachelor and Teacher programmes from the academic year 2011/12. In 2012, it was
also decided to discontinue enrolement of beginners in the summer semester, and as of the
summer of 2013 we do not offer enrolement for freshers in our Bachelor programme in a
summer semester.
New enrollments
Programme 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Diplom 183 194 75
Bachelor 54 31 114 167 235 277 275 173
Master 1 6 11 18 22 36 58 68
Teacher (secondary) 50 59 80 80 104 116 72 55
Looking at the number of students who turned up for their courses, it seems that the
introduction of the aptitude test has a stronger effect on our Teaching programme than on
our Bachelor programmes. We suspect that in both tracks it largely discourages some of
the more weakly motivated students from applying, and especially those who might not
have the intention to pursue university studies seriously.
96 2 Teaching