General Questions

If you are not a student (as defined by the Bavarian Higher Education Innovation Law (BayHIG), Art. 87 Para. 1 Li 1) of a BVU member university, but would like to participate in a BVU course, you may enrol at the BVU as part of the group ‘other users’ with the status ‘other individual’ (‘andere Person’). As an ‘other user’, you will be required to pay fees associated with any courses you choose to take.  Please print out and sign the registration form and send it to the BVU. ‘Other users’ are not required to send a certificate of matriculation with their registration forms.  
You will find course descriptions including course contents, admission requirements, deadlines and schedules in the course catalogue. Please check, carefully, that you fulfil the admission requirements and pre-requisites as listed in the course description.

If you are not sure, if you meet the admission requirements or pre-requisites as defined by the course provider, please contact the course provider directly to discuss your eligibility for the course. Contact information for course providers is also found in the course description.
As an ‘other user’, you should also clarify your eligibility to participate in any examinations and your eligibility for certification/to earn credits (whether your expectations of the course are aligned with what is possible) directly with the course provider.

Answering these questions before you register for a course is important, because any fees are due at the time you register (please note how the fees are regulated by the BVU in the Entgeltordnung, which you agree to when you accept the Benutzungsordnung (Terms and Conditions of Use) during the online enrolment).  If the course provider determines that you are not eligible to participate in a course due to failing to meet the admissions requirements or pre-requisites, you may not claim any refund of fees that have already been paid.
To participate in the courses offered by the BVU, under private law in Germany, a fee will be charged according to the regulations listed in the schedule of fees in its current valid version in conjunction with the course description for each and every course. If the course description does not list a specific amount that differs from the standard BVU fee, the BVU will charge a user fee of 40 Euros per contact hour (SWS). The number of contact hours (SWS) for a given course is listed in the course description. After registering, you will receive an invoice on which an individual registration code is listed for each course, which must be stated as reference when making the payment. An example of a calculation of course fees is available on our website.


OPEN vhb:

In addition to the CLASSIC vhb program, which is primarily developed for the students of our member universities, the vhb also offers open courses (OPEN vhb). OPEN vhb courses make university knowledge freely accessible to the interested public. To use OPEN vhb courses, you do not need to be enrolled at a university, nor do you need a university entrance certificate.

Even if OPEN vhb courses are offered by professors from our member universities, please note that these are non-binding offers in the sense of a voluntary expansion of knowledge and interests. Participation in OPEN vhb courses does not entitle you to obtain ECTS credit points, a degree or a study place.

A list of our member universities is available under this link.

Creating virtual courses is costly and further costs are associated with the tutorial supervision provided during the course. As the BVU does not charge fees for its own services, it is financed solely from state funds. Therefore, we have to restrict the free-of-charge use of our courses to students of the BVU member universities.

The BVU aims to provide you access to the courses at all of the universities in Bavaria, regardless of your location and no matter which degree programme you have selected. Of course, some BVU courses do stipulate certain admission requirements (e.g., pre-requisites in specific subject areas). Information about such requirements is available for each course in its course description under the header “Nutzung” -> “Zielgruppe”.  If you fulfil the admission requirements listed in the course description, then there is no obstacle to your participation in the BVU course, even if it is a subject not normally part of your degree programme.

Special information for “other users”— individuals who are not full-time students at a BVU-member university—who have enrolled at the BVU:

If you are not sure whether you meet the admission requirements for a course, please contact the course provider to determine if you can participate, before you register. The admission requirements and the contact information for the course provider can be found in the course catalogue.

Information on open courses OPEN vhb:
In addition to the CLASSIC vhb program, which is primarily developed for the students of our member universities, the vhb also offers open courses (OPEN vhb). OPEN vhb courses make university knowledge freely accessible to the interested public. To use OPEN vhb courses, you do not need to be enrolled at a university, nor do you need a university entrance certificate.

Even if OPEN vhb courses are offered by professors from our member universities, please note that these are non-binding offers in the sense of a voluntary expansion of knowledge and interests. Participation in OPEN vhb courses does not entitle you to obtain ECTS credit points, a degree or a study place.

The BVU provides individual courses that complement on-site instruction. There are no full degree progammes at the BVU. Enrolling at the BVU is not equivalent to matriculating at a university in the legal sense; enrolling at the BVU does not give a person student status.
Participating in BVU courses, therefore, does not mean you are enrolled at a second university.

CLASSIC vhb
Students (as defined in Art. 87, Para. 1, Li 1 BayHIG) at BVU member universities pay no fees for participating in BVU courses. Enrolling at the BVU is also free-of-charge for students of member universities. Participating in examinations associated with BVU courses also carry no fees for students of member universities.
Other individuals (“other users“) will be charged fees for participating in BVU courses. Enrolling is free of charge. There is no extra fee for participating in exams. Information on any technical equipment or software that may be required can be found in the "Required technology" section of the course description.

OPEN vhb
OPEN vhb courses are free of charge. To use OPEN vhb courses, you do not need to be enrolled at a university, nor do you need a university entrance certificate.

Even if OPEN vhb courses are offered by professors from our member universities, please note that these are non-binding offers in the sense of a voluntary expansion of knowledge and interests. Participation in OPEN vhb courses does not entitle you to obtain ECTS credit points, a degree or a study place.

Since 2000, the vhb has supplemented the courses offered at the Bavarian member universities with online courses which can be credited to degree programmes (CLASSIC vhb). The vhb promotes the development of courses at the member universities. All students at the member universities have free access to CLASSIC vhb courses. The students can take a certificate of achievement and the credits earned in the course will be accepted as transfer credits if the course is a required course or required elective course in their degree programmes. Other people can also take part in CLASSIC vhb courses for a fee.

Since July 2019, the vhb has been offering open courses (OPEN vhb) in addition to the CLASSIC vhb courses, which are primarily developed for the students of the member universities. 

Even if OPEN vhb courses are offered by professors from our member universities, please note that these are non-binding offers in the sense of a voluntary expansion of knowledge and interests. Participation in OPEN vhb courses does not entitle you to obtain ECTS credit points, a degree or a study place.

Since July 2019, the vhb has been offering open courses in addition to the CLASSIC vhb courses, which are primarily developed for the students of the member universities. OPEN vhb courses make university knowledge freely accessible to the interested public. To use OPEN vhb courses, you do not need to be enrolled at a university, nor do you need a university entrance certificate.

Please note that these are non-binding offers in the sense of a voluntary expansion of knowledge and interests. Participation in OPEN vhb courses does not entitle you to obtain ECTS credit points, a degree or a study place.

If a member university has integrated an OPEN vhb course into a degree program and offers an examination in order to have the OPEN vhb course credited to the program, this will be indicated. If you are not sure whether you have taken the right course, please contact us.