What other advisory and service points should I know about at Saarland University?

The University IT-Centre (HIZ) is the place to contact for any IT-related issues or requests. HIZ is the joint IT service provider for Saarland University and for the University of Applied Sciences in Saarbrücken (htw saar). HIZ supports students, researchers and staff at both institutions and facilitates access to a comprehensive range of IT and communications services. To learn more, please visit our IT services page The University IT Centre manages the university-wide network, Saarland University’s webmail client as well as a wide range of software tools (e.g. SPSS, Adobe Connect) and provides both remote and on-site support and troubleshooting services. If you are experiencing problems with your computer or your network, if you’re having difficulties logging in or some other issue has arisen, please open an online support ticket or contact theIT-Servicedesk on campus for assistance. If an issue arises outside of normal office hours, you can also contact the fault reporting centre.

Academic staff at Saarland University looking to improve their proficiency in a foreign language or who want to develop their international/intercultural competence can choose from the numerous courses on offer at the Language Centre.
The Language Centre (SZSB) is a central institution located on the Saarbrücken campus. The courses offered cover a wide range of languages and are primarily for students, though members of university staff are also welcome to attend. Both intensive block courses and courses with weekly attendance are offered. Usually both beginner’s and advanced courses are offered. If you already have some knowledge of the language, you will probably need to take a placement test (registration required). Courses begin in both the summer and winter semesters. You will need to register with the Language Centre first before you can book a course.

The Personnel Development Team organizes regular English and French language courses, specifically for university staff. As part of the Trilingual Campus project, English and French language courses taught at htw saar – the University of Applied Sciences in Saarbrücken – are also being offered to Saarland University staff, while English and French courses taught at Saarland University are open to staff from htw saar.

The university has an Occupational Medical Officer, who deals with all workplace-related medical issues.

The Addiction Counselling and Social Welfare Officer at Saarland University can offer support to any university employee who seeks confidential advice on a subject such as addiction, performance problems and productivity, or social problems that may be affecting either them personally or someone else.

The Mental Health Counselling Service (PPB) is open to all students and staff at Saarland University. We offer individual consultation sessions or workshops led by qualified psychotherapists. You can raise and discuss any relevant issues or any matter that is affecting your mental health, such as burnout, relationship problems, anxiety, depressive moods or dissatisfaction with work. These services are provided free of charge and are not registered by your health insurance provider.

For advice and guidance on health and well-being and on diet and nutrition, please get in touch with the Occupational Health Management team, who compile and publish information on relevant topics.

The University Sports Centre (HSZ) is where you need to head to if you love sport and want to maintain an active lifestyle. You’ll find a very wide variety of activities on offer – all with a solid sport science foundation. And remember that staying active is a great way to improve your overall health and well-being.

The University Sports Centre offers more than 70 different types of sport and physical activities and runs around 600 courses and events every year. Saarland University supports employees who take part in courses at the Sports Center by allowing them to use one hour of paid work per week for physical activity. Most of the sport and physical exercise activities on offer are structured as courses that take place on weekdays, this is also the case with the general health and fitness courses, which are designed to provide a gradual but systematic increase in performance as the course progresses. The University Sports Center also offers a large number of compact courses and workshops that are held at the weekend. Most of the university sports programme is organized to coincide with the semester schedule. Slightly fewer courses and events are offered during the semester break.
You can choose from a huge selection of team sports, dance courses, fitness courses, martial arts and much more besides. Course bookings are only possible on specific dates of the year, so be sure not to miss out. Course registration dates are typically about 14 days before the programme is due to start, i.e. around the beginning of October for the winter semester programme and the beginning of April for the summer semester programme. We run courses at both the Homburg and Saarbrücken campuses. To find out which courses are being offered each semester and where they will be held, please visit the University Sports Centre website. Our tip: As many of the courses get booked up very quickly once registration opens, you’ll need to be quick to avoid disappointment.

The Uni in Bewegung (Uni in motion) initiative is a sports programme specially conceived for university staff. The courses are only open to members of staff and the activities offer include gymnastic conditioning, functional gymnastics, pilates, yoga, swimming, aqua jogging, fitness gymnastics and tai chi – all designed to counteract inactivity in the workplace and poor posture arising from sedentary behaviour. One special feature of the ‘Uni in Bewegung’ programme is the flexi-course concept. The idea here is that you register for a course from the ‘Uni in Bewegung’ programme, but if you find that you can’t make it one week because something important has come up at short notice, you are allowed to switch to another slot for that week, provided that you agree this in advance with University Sports Centre staff. The course start dates coincide with the start of the semester, i.e. 1 April and 1 October. You may also be able to join a course once it has started, provided that places are still available and this has been agreed in advance with University Sports Centre staff.

In addition to joining a course that takes place at a set time each week, you can also train individually at times that suit you at Uni-Fit, – the Sports Center’s gym. After a short introductory course, you will receive your own personal workout plan, which you can compile with a trainer so that it best meets your individual training needs and goals. As the Uni-Fit gym is open 68 hours a week, you can train according to your workout plan at times that suit your weekly work schedule. Trainers are always on hand to offer advice and guidance. Registration for the introductory courses is done online and you can also specify preferred dates. There is also a useful app, that notifies you about the number for people currently training at Uni-Fit. The app can also be used to register for the introductory course as well as for booking any of the other courses on offer.

If you prefer to train completely independently, the Saarbrücken campus has a fitness trail (parcourse) with outdoor exercise equipment that is open all day, every day. The main fitness trail is a circular course of 2.9 kilometres with nine exercise stations. For more information, please go to the  Campus in motionpage.

For those who want to keep active in the the office or workplace, the University Sports Center has put together its online office exercise package (Fit am Schreibtisch), which is a series of easy-to-follow videos that encourage you to add a few simple exercises to your working day and so avoid long periods of inactivity while at work. Take a look and give it a try!

The University Sports Center also manages and maintains a number of university-owned outdoor sports facilities that can be booked for use by student or staff groups.

If you have any questions or need advice on occupational safety issues (lab safety, genetic engineering, regulations governing biological agents (BioStoffV), laser radiation, etc.), please contact the Occupational Safety Unit for assistance.

In addition to offering guidance on safety and ergonomics in the workplace, the team at the Occupational Safety Unit are also available if you need to discuss fire protection, accident response procedures or hazard protection. A number of useful documents are also available online, such as the emergency response plan , information on fire protection, emergency call and alarm plan, escape und rescue routes , emergency assembly points .

The Occupational Safety Unit also runs workplace safety seminars at regular intervals. Topics covered include fire drills, building evacuation procedures and first-aid courses.

Saarland University has an Academic Staff Counciland an Administrative Staff Council. Employees at Saarland University can contact the relevant staff council to discuss any employment-related questions. The staff council websites provide a lot of useful employment-related information, including the Code of practice for the considerate and respectful treatment of employees at Saarland University.

A similarly important role is played by the university’s  Gender Equality Officer. She is involved in all university appointment procedures and provides advice on recruitment processes in general. The Gender Equality Office website contains useful documents, including the University's gender equality plan.

The Disability Advisory Body represents the interests of members of staff with a disability. If you have any disability-related questions, please contact the team for advice no matter whether your questions concern you personally or a (future) member of your team. If you are looking to recruit a new member to your research team or department, you must notify the Disability Advisory Body if any of the candidates in the recruitment process have a disability.

Many questions concerning issues of equality, dual career opportunities, balancing family obligations with work responsibilities,  gender equality and anti-discrimination are addressed on the web pages dealing with gender equality and work-life balance.