Help for Students
On this page, you will find all the help resources for students (including user manuals, answers to frequently asked questions (FAQ), glossary, etc.).
FAQ Students
After receiving your university account, which you can only create after enrollment, it can take up to 24 hours before you can use PAUL.
If you have any further questions, please contact the Center for Information and Media Technology Services (ZIM) directly by email at zim@uni-paderborn.de.
You can have a new password set in the Notebook Café (H.1.201). To do this, you must appear there in person during opening hours and present a valid photo ID, e.g. your identity card.
If you have any further questions, please contact the Center for Information and Media Technology Services (ZIM) directly by email at zim@uni-paderborn.de.
Common causes of incorrect password entries are
- Caps Lock (Shift Lock or Num Lock) is activated
- Upper/lower case mixed up in the password
- Keyboard layout other than the usual one (e.g. English keyboard)
If you have any further questions, please contact the Center for Information and Media Technology Services (ZIM) directly by email at zim@uni-paderborn.de.
PAUL has accepted your university account, but your status does not allow you to log in to PAUL.
If you are already enrolled at Paderborn University, created your university account more than 24 hours ago and still receive this message, please contact the Notebook Café (H1.201) or send a message to PAUL support.
Another reason for the error message "Access denied":
For security reasons, PAUL uses so-called session cookies, which are only stored on your computer for the duration of the browser session. If you have deactivated the use of cookies in your browser, you will receive the message "Access denied" after attempting to log in.
The user status of a university account must be "Students" or "Teachers" in order to log in to PAUL.
You can check your user status in the ZIM service portal (formerly IMT service portal).
You cannot log into PAUL with the status "Personal".
If your user status is "Student", you set up your university account more than 24 hours ago and you are still unable to log into PAUL, please contact the Notebook Café (H1.201) or send a message to paul@uni-paderborn.de.
To set up email forwarding for PAUL system messages, please proceed as follows:
- Click on “My data.”
- Click on “Forwarding.”
- Take note of the information provided there.
- Click on “Configure system messages.”
- Click on “Change.”
- Click on the checkbox next to the question “Forward messages to university email address?”
- Do not be confused by the words “Password-protected” or “Public” – at Paderborn University, messages can only be forwarded to your password-protected university email address (university account).
- Confirm your selection by clicking on “Save.”
- Your change will be visible because a check mark will now appear in the box next to the question “Forward messages to university email address?”
- From now on, a copy of all PAUL messages addressed to you will be forwarded to your university email address (directly to webmail). You can still view the original message in the campus management system “PAUL.” To do this, click on “Messages” under “My data.”
The University of Paderborn cannot guarantee that forwarded system messages will actually arrive at your university email address. Failure to receive this additional service does not constitute grounds for excuses for omissions on the part of students. Therefore, please check your system messages regularly in the campus management system “PAUL”!
Not every module starts anew every semester. Many modules only start in the winter semester and are only offered for online booking in PAUL in this semester.
If you were on leave of absence in the previous semester and were unable to register for a module in PAUL for this reason, please contact PAUL Support and ask to be added to the module in question at a later date.
You will only be able to register for the courses associated with the module in PAUL once you have registered for the module.
You should deregister from all courses that you do not wish to attend this semester. Otherwise, you may not be able to register for a desired course in a subsequent semester because PAUL assumes that you have already attended this course!
For courses offered by the Faculty of Computer Science, Electrical Engineering and Mathematics (CEM) and the Faculties of Mechanical Engineering (ME) and Science (S), please use this application form.
For courses offered by the Faculty of Arts and Humanities (AH), please contact the Office of Student Affairs KW.
For modules offered by the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics (BAE), you will find the relevant information on the website for the registration and deregistration of modules.
There may be several reasons why a PANDA course is not visible:
1. you have not fully enrolled in PAUL:
A complete course enrolment in PAUL is required for automatic enrolment in a PANDA course. This consists of two steps:
- Module enrolment: First, you must register for the relevant module in your degree programme.
- Course registration: Only then can you register for the individual courses within this module.
Important: Simply registering for a module is not enough - you must also register for the specific course so that automatic enrolment in the PANDA course can take place.
2. no PANDA course has been created for the course:
PANDA courses are not automatically created for every PAUL course. They are only set up at the request of the teacher. It is therefore possible that no corresponding PANDA course currently exists.
3. you must enrol in the PANDA course yourself:
Some lecturers use the option that students have to enrol in the PANDA course themselves. This often requires a password, which is usually communicated by the teacher in the first course session or by e-mail.
If you have registered correctly in PAUL but do not see a PANDA course, enquire directly with the lecturer whether a corresponding course has been institutionalised or is planned.
For courses offered by the Faculty of Arts and Humanities (AH), please contact the Student Office of the faculty AH.
For modules offered by the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics (BAE), you will find the relevant information on the website for the registration and deregistration of modules.
In principle, each student can enroll in courses worth a maximum of 44 ECTS credits per semester (Faculty of Science: 45 ECTS credits).
Please note the following information when planning your semester:
- A bachelor's degree program usually requires 180 ECTS credits, i.e., an average of 30 ECTS credits per semester. In principle, however, each student can take modules and courses totaling a maximum of 44 ECTS credits (Faculty of Business Administration and Economics: 45 ECTS credits) per semester as a limit.
- Students who wish to take additional modules and courses can submit a request for an exception to PAUL Support using the form provided before the start of the respective registration phase. You must justify why exceeding the limit is of particular importance for your individual studies and how you intend to manage this high volume of learning. Please also note any subject- or faculty-specific regulations that may apply. The completed and signed application form must be sent by email (preferably as a PDF, JPG, or PNG file) from your UPB/university mailbox to paul@uni-paderborn.de.
- During the respective registration periods, hardship applications to exceed the ECTS limit can only be approved if reasons are presented that were not already known before the registration period or revision period.
- Students are requested to register for modules and courses within the specified deadlines. However, one week before the end of the respective registration periods, students who have exceeded the maximum number of credits at that point will be informed by the course managers via email to their ZIM email address and asked to ensure compliance with the maximum number of credits by deliberately deregistering from certain modules and courses.
- If the number of registrations exceeds 44 ECTS credits (or 45 ECTS credits at the Faculty of Business and Economics, see information page) and if no exceptions have been granted, the most recently registered modules and courses may be automatically removed (by the representatives of the respective dean's office) from the campus management system “PAUL” until the total number of credits is less than or equal to 44 ECTS credits. Once removed, modules and courses cannot be reactivated.
- When calculating ETCS points, the ECTS (credit points) listed in the module overview in the campus management system “PAUL” apply. For the modules of the Faculty of Business and Economics, the credits listed in the module overview apply (see information page).
- All courses offered by the Faculty of Arts and Humanities are valued a fixed rate of 3 ECTS credits, regardless of the specific performance you wish to achieve. Pending registrations are not taken into account when applying the 44 ECTS rule.
You can deregister from exams and coursework in the campus management system “PAUL” via the menu path Study → Exam information → My Exams. All exams for which you have already registered are listed here. You can deregister by clicking on the "Deregister" button. If it is not possible to deregister in PAUL because the exam has not yet been scheduled, please contact the administrator responsible for you in Department 3.2 | Examinations Management (ZPS) by email.
It is also possible to deregister from examinations in PAUL after the end of the respective examination registration phase. The cancellation period ends 2 days before the examination date (applies to all examinations with an examination date from 01.04.2024 ). The exact regulations on the cancellation deadlines for examinations can be found in your examination regulations.
News on exam registration and deregistration can be found on the website of the Examinations Management (ZPS).
For all courses offered by the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, module registration automatically includes examination registration (implicit examination registration).
No further examination registration is required, but examination deregistration may be necessary.
Further information on the registration and deregistration of modules as well as exam registration and deregistration in the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics can be found here: https://wiwi.uni-paderborn.de/en/studies/studienorganisation/studienphasen-und-prozesse/an-und-abmeldung-von-modulen
In PAUL, you may also be able to register for examinations that you do not need for your degree programme according to the examination regulations. Therefore, please always refer to your examination regulations when registering for examinations.
Operating instructions
The guide gives you an initial overview of how PAUL works and your tasks when enrolling for courses.
Instructions for students (PDF; German version only)
These instructions show you how to register for a thesis in PAUL.
Instructions for students (PDF; German version only)
These instructions show you how to register for a final thesis (teaching degree) in PAUL.
Instructions for teacher students (PDF; German version only)
Glossary
Students and lecturers access PAUL via a web client, while other users use a so-called rich client. In both the web client and the rich client, terms are used in PAUL and the underlying CampusNet software in a very specific way, which may occasionally differ from colloquial usage.
The following glossary has been created to facilitate communication between PAUL users.
In particular, this glossary can help teachers and students to better understand the terms they are confronted with when using PAUL.
Support
If you have general questions and/or questions regarding access data or your university account, please contact the Central IT and Media Services (ZIM) directly by email at zim@uni-paderborn.de.
Contact form
You will find the contact form at the bottom of this page (up to now German version only).
Simply fill in the fields and the support team will answer your questions and/or forward your request to the responsible PAUL staff.
Do you have any questions about PAUL ?
Send us an e-mail to paul@upb.de.
To ensure that we can answer your question as specifically as possible, please provide us with the following information in this e-mail:
- Your name
- the user name of your university account
- Your matriculation number
- Your degree programmes and your subject areas or minor subjects
- a precise formulation of your question or problem
- the titles and numbers of the modules or courses concerned
- optionally a screenshot/screen shot (if this clarifies the description of your problem)
- optionally your mobile phone number for queries
Paderborn University takes the protection of your personal data very seriously and complies with the applicable data protection regulations.
The information requested about you in this form is required in order to be able to initiate the problem-solving process associated with your support enquiry as quickly and comprehensively as possible. As a result, the quality of service in the support area is increased and the quality of studying and teaching is sustainably improved. Your details will be treated confidentially and used exclusively for the processing of the necessary support activities. After processing has been completed, the information relating to your support enquiry will be stored for a period of eight months to clarify any queries that may arise and then deleted.
If you have any questions regarding the processing of your personal data or would like information about the data stored about you, you can contact the support staff at paul@uni-paderborn.de at any time.
By submitting this support enquiry, you consent to your data being processed in accordance with the above data protection notice. You may revoke your consent at any time with effect for the future. To do so, please contact the support staff at paul@uni-paderborn.de.
If you do not wish to use the form structure provided, you can alternatively submit your support request in an informal email to paul@uni-paderborn.de